ok, the brakes work fine, until the car slows down to around 4 or 5 miles an hour. once it hits this speed the brakes suddenly stop working, and the car will contine to roll unless i pump the brakes to make the car stop. when this happens the "low trac" light comes on as if im skidding, which im not, the brakes just stop working at this speed. the brakes work fine at any other speed, but does this weird thing around 4 or 5 miles an hour. any help is appreciated
steven

 

Sounds like you might have air in your lines or your brake fluid is contaminated with dirt and moisture. Try flushing out the system and replace the brake fluid with fresh fluid.

Just my quick guess.

How many miles are on the car?

 

60,000 97 Z28, never done anything to brakes except change brake pads...

 

What does your fluid look like. If it's dark brown or black it might be time for a flush.

If the fluid is good, try this. Start the car, pump the brake pedel 5 times, on the 5th pump press and hold the pedel to the floor for about 20 sec. If the pedel slowy sinks you would have a leak in the system or the master cylinder could be bad.

 

Thats what my car did when the rear ABS sensor, screwed into the top of the rearend pumpkin, had gone bad. I took it out, cleaned it up, and presto! Have you had gears or something installed recently?

 

Ditto... when I had a problem with the rear ABS sensor on my Strange 12-bolt, braking would be fine until the car almost came to a stop. Then the LOW TRAC light would come on and the brakes would APPEAR to not work... it was just the ABS kicking in and pulsing them, but it seemed to take an extra 10-ft or so to stop. I'd look at the rear ABS sensor.

 

Hey that's good to know. See, you learn something everyday on this site.

Sorry Wolf Pac, I didn't mean to mislead ya.

Scott

 

The sensor thing is something I never thought of at first either. Fred (injuneer) and i conversed on the subject for a bit, traded stories on the problems we were having with our strange 12 bolt ABS/braking systems, and finally came to the conclusion that metal shavings from new gears really effect the magnetic sensors. I think he finally gave up on his, but i got mine working after cleaning.

 

Thanks for the follow up.

Scott

 

My car is doing the same thing, but only at like 1/2 mph, just as im stopping the low trac light will come on and i roll an extra foot or so...does anybody have a picture of where the rear abs sensor is and what it looks like? How do you 'clean' it?
Thanks,
Bill

 

I just did the rear abs sensor.. its suuuper easy. Jack the rear up, take of the tires, you should see a wire running to an electrical thinggie, which goes through a piece of metal ( i htink its the caliper?) and is held in by 1 or 2 screws. Its a bit bigger than your thumb, and on the other side of it you should see a whole bunch of metal bitties magnetically stuck to it. THis sensor is close to a toothed gear which i'm guessin is what i uses to calculate how much the wheels moving.

unscrew it, wipe off the metal crap.. clean it up, screw it back in, put the plug back in and your done.

 

you have a bad ground. find all the grounds in the engine bay and take sandpaper to them, make them SHINE

this fixed my problem, exact same thing your describing

 

I just had my car jacked up and i took off the back right tire and spent like 20 mins looking around and feeling and didnt see what you were talking about for the rear sensor. I found what i suppose was my gas tank sensor and something else plugged in below it, it was plugged into the bottom of where the back seat is...and a little tiny plug in sensor on top of the rear end, but nothing about metal shavings or anything. Could you please be more specific?
Thanks
Bill

 

I guess it depends on if you have traction control or not.

My rear ABS sensor is located on top of the rear end pumpkin. Get the car in the air, and let the rear suspension hang. Once the rear drops down, you can see the wires going to a sensor on top of the pumpkin.

Pull it out, clean it off. Screw it down until it hits the gear, then back it off 1 full turn. (This is how my strange 12 bolt is, i assume the stock 10 bolt is very similiar.)

 

Exactly how it is on mine. You do have rear disks right?