Intermittent brake problem on 2002 NM Pajero

[LeighP]

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction here (hopefully I can describe the problem - it's a little unusual).

The brake pedal seems to have a bit of pressure behind it, so that you need to push a little harder than normal to get it to move (not too hard, but harder than normal) - almost like it sticks. When it does give, it moves hardly at all (.5 to 1 inch), and the brakes come on fairly strongly - at it's worst, when trygin to pull into a car park, it almost looks as though the car is bunny hopping into the space, as I touch the brakes on and off to park.

The problem is this behaviour is intermittent - at times, the brakes are fine (still seems to stick a touch at the top), but I get a nice even movement of the pedal and brake application - at others, there is more pressure coming back through the pedal and they come on hard with the slightest movement.

Just recently had the car serviced and they flushed the brake lines and replaced the fluid.

The Booster Accumulator was also replaced 12 months ago (or more) as part of the recall that Mitsubishi did.

Any clues?

Thanks for your help.

Leigh.

[Uncle Fester]

Sounds like the same problem I had a while back, coincidentally just after having the accumulator done by MMA. Anyway after MMA Coffs Hbr told me $3000+ as my booster was stuffed (so they said) I went to the local Brakepoint Mechanical Shop and all was fixed for around $200 I think, they rebuilt one of the front calipers and have not had a problem since. Hope this helps.

[jm2004]

another brake problem

I would appreciate to hear the progress on this, mainly because I have a problem which has similarities to this:

I replaced the brake pads (with genuine part), got the discs machined in Aug this year (75,000km). Approx. a month later it started showing grabby brake symptoms but only intermittent, e.g. when warmed up (felt especially when in heavy traffic). Basically when I press the brake pedal, it feels like sucked in and a little stuck (and brakes more than otherwise).

I also noticed:
- when the grabby brake symptom appears, the car still drives straight (didn't pull to a side)
- all wheel rims are of more or less same temperature (measured by hand)
- brake booster is fine, no leak anywhere, brake pistons have been cleaned well and are moving smoothly on all 4 wheels.
Again like the above, it is intermittent. Other times the brake simply works fine. I got the garage to check twice, they even removed the tyres to check the brakes etc, and test drove with me for half an hour, symptoms simply hide when the tehnicians are around!

At the moment I continue driving it accepting it's a bit like a characteristic, but still not really happy with this. I've never had this brake problems before with all my other cars.

[Alymar]

This may or may not be of any help, but my NM had an issue where the brake pedal was firm and the vehicle didn't want to stop, no matter how hard you stood on the pedal. One brake specialist reckoned it was the vacuum booster (mine isn't a HBB syatem nor an ABS system). I didn't beleive them and decided to remove the master cylinder for inspection. What i found was the 2nd stage piston had broken off the pushrod, $165 later and BHSS had re-sleeved and re-sealed the master cylinder, haven't had a problen since.

[mrbitchi]

Might be some crap in the lines from when the pistons were pushed back to replace the pads. Take it to a brake place and have the system power flushed.