gnorton52

I've got a 2001 F150 4X4 that has a around 125,000 mi. on it. Just recently it began the ole "brake fade" that apparently is a common problem. Step on the brake, the truck stops just fine. Then while holding the pedal, it'll begin to go towards the floor....about two or three inches then stop. Release the pedal and "grab the brakes" again ...it'll hold a few seconds then fade again. The system hadn't been open up until that time. But figuring I had a M/C going out, I replaced it, bled the system but the problem is still there. Brake lines are ok, including the rubbers, calipers seem to be working fine. Although I've read a whole bunch of posts of the same problem, there hasn't been ANYONE that has posted a remedy??? ..... Is there one???

Good old Bill

Check your private messages, just sent you a lengthy one on the subject.

Jerry V.

On my 2002 f150 fx4 110k miles. I had let her sit 4-5 months. rotors got rusted and calipers rusted too. only outside of front calipers was grabbing inside was not. brakes grabbed somewhat at first then got mushy and finally soft to the point that the abs would come on. this happened about 50% of the time. went on for two weeks. no leakage. had them bled still had a problem till i discovered the calipers were not operating at 100% only the outside caliper woiuld grab. took it to my favorite shop and 100 bucks later he removed all the rust from all calipers checked and repaired a problem with the emergency brake which i knew i had grease all calipers and fixed my problem. i have ceramic pads so i suspected this too cause of the rusted rotors. alls well now.

gnorton52

Thanks Jerry, for the input. But the calipers on this truck aren't the problem. all calipers are working well, and the truck has been in constant use. I feel fairly certain that my problem lies with the ABS unit. Thanks again,

Down-N-Dirty

Hey guys, new to the site. Have gotten some great info from just browsing the forums. I am having the same problem, changed the mc and bled twice, once with a vaccum bleeder and once by hand. Still no luck. What did you guys find to be the problems? Thanks in advance.

cvwheeler

Did you get an answer to brake problems. I have a 2001 f150 with the same pedal fade problem. I completely rebuilt the front and rear brakes and replaced the mc twice. The pedal still fades. Help

Jerry V.

I bought the good brakes from Auto Zany a couple years ago. This was for my 2002 F150 Crew. I left the car sit outside (summer) for prox. 6 months while I used the new F150. When I switched back to using the 2002 I noticed the bad rust on the rotors...very bad. I figured I would run the car a little back and forth to town to scrape off the rust. Wow that rust would not go away. Took it to my local Tuffy they did a skin cut and cleaned all my brake area so I was back on the road. It seems. My brakes were never quite the same since then. Went to Florida for three months,same thing...mushy brakes but they were just checked and bled by Tuffy. something's not right. Had brakes but mushy. So two months and 4000 miles later came back home.( Michigan) Had to stop real hard one day... real hard... and the pedal went almost to the floor. Took it in to Tuffy. Rotors were sooo rusted. pads were destroyed on inside of two front rotors, other pads were in decent shape. China made crap. I got caught out of town in Indiana and had to go to Tuffy. So $716.00 later with new rotors and new pads I now have what seems to be original braking power. Bleeding requires from rear to the front left right left right.

gnorton52

Hey cvwheeler! ... Yes Sir! .. I've got the answer. The problem is with the ABS Unit. It's NOT the master cylinder, calipers, hoses, or booster. IT'S THE ABS UNIT!! ... It's "bleeding by" internally and there's NO WAY to repair or rebuild the unit. It's not in the electrical portion of the Unit but in the ABS block itself. Go to an Auto Salvage Yard and pick one up. (I did and it cost $100.00 bucks) It's a pretty simple fix. Remove your air cleaner box and there it is. Remove your lines, replace and bleed the system and you're done! FIXED!! Hope this helped you.

G.

cvwheeler

Thanks gnorton52, I suspected the ABS Hydraulic unit was at fault. I priced the HCU at Ford, they want $652 for a new unit. I'll call the salvage yards. Thanks.

Carl

Sycoholic

Ok. bleeding is not left right left right. Passenger rear, drivers rear, passenger front, driver front.

A sinking pedal indicates to me an internal leak of the master cylinder. Air in the lines can and will sometimes give similar issues. There is a bunch of bleeding involved when replacing the master and if not done properly, you'll experience similar problems to the one you're trying to fix.

The new master must be bench bled properly. Then the entire system must be bled. Vacuum doesn't always cut it. I've used a vacuum bleeder before when replacing brake components and have had air left behind still. The old fashioned two person bleeding is still the best. Realize that just a few pumps isn't gonna cut it as there's a lot more brake line these days. You can also have air in your ABS unit. Fun, fun, fun.

Rust is normal and is only worse with cheap rotors. Slight rust is ok, but if the rotors get really rusty, all that rust will become embedded in your pads. For the thrifty, you can put a nice finish cut on the rotors and burnish the pads with a pad on an angle grinder. Also, you'd be surprised what fresh brake fluid will do for ya. Consider having your fluid flushed if you haven't already.