1991 Ford Explorer To stop the car the pedal must be presse

PDEBIJL

MEMBER
1991 FORD EXPLORER
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
170,000 MILES

Bought the car at the auction about 3 years ago to take my 3 dogs out to play.
The brakes have never felt good. The brakes seemed to apply with a delay and the pedal pressure was always significantly more than any of my other cars. An emergency stop, like locking the wheels, could never be made, so I always drove the car with extreem care. At one time I did need to stop quickly and presed the brake pedal so hard that the bolts for the booster broke.
Replacing the Booster & Master cylinder did not change any of the brake characteristics.
As the front brake pads were wearing the pedal pressure needed to stop the car became even greater. Replacing the pads and the Brake Fluid returned the brake action to its original.
Could the Anti-Lock system cause the delay and the poor braking performance?
Any guidance for my next attempt in improving the brakes would be greatly appreciated.

1 Reply

JAMES W.

MECHANIC
2,394 POSTS

If your anti-lock brake system fails, you should have normal braking, just without the anti-lock assist. Do have vacuum to your power booster? If you unplug the large hose from it, it should kll the engine. Are your rear brakes working? Do you get a "brake" light on the dash? The proportioning valve, mounted on the frame below the master cylinder, controlls the pressure applied to the front and rear brakes. If this valve is stuck in the center position, which very rarely happens, you will have no rear brakes. You may want to pull a rear drum to see if the rear shoes are moving and the drums are shiney. Word of warning. If you have someone step on the brake pedal while you are watching the movement of the shoes, don't press too hard or you'll pop the rear wheel cylinders out and then it's a whole new ball game. Hope this helps and thank you for your donation, Jim.