Vacuum Pump

Seattle · 07-01-2010, 12:58 PM

I lost mine on my trip last week. It was a little scary not having brakes but I was lucky enough to find a Ford dealership close to the breakdown point. Aside from the A/C only blowing through the defrost vents are there any other ways to tell if it's going out? Would be good to know for those that have not had the problem.

**daveb** · 07-01-2010, 01:21 PM

Wow that sucks. Did it happen like all of a sudden and did you get a check engine light?

Seattle · 07-01-2010, 01:31 PM

I did not get a check engine light.

I had pulled into a rest stop, all was fine, went to pull out and noticed A/C was not blowing through the vents. As I was backing out the brake pedal was rock solid and not slowing the van very quickly. The pedal then got soft again and I cautiously moved on. At the next stop the pedal was solid again and took me basically standing on the pedal to slow down and stop. From there, I nursed it to the dealership.

John and Dana · 07-01-2010, 04:21 PM

Wow! I can't imaging trying to stop one of these beasts without power brakes! Glad to here you are are ok and were not left stranded on the side of the road.

John

charlie56 · 07-01-2010, 07:42 PM

Happened to me on our first big trip. Try 30 miles of dirt road without brakes or power steering just to get to a place where we could get a tow.

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**BroncoHauler** · 07-01-2010, 08:24 PM

Power steering? Shouldn't that be all hydraulic?

UJOINT · 07-01-2010, 09:49 PM

Mine went out back in Feb. No signs, just heard a clicking and then it went. It was intermittent for a while, but then began to make more noise & I had no brakes. The dealer wanted too much to repair, so I drove it home & then to a buddies shop so I could fix it.

The funny thing is that the van was scheduled to be at the dealer that day anyway for some body work.

charlie56 · 07-01-2010, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BroncoHauler

Power steering? Shouldn't that be all hydraulic?

I'm not sure what to tell you. Perhaps the two pumps are on the same belt? All I can say is I had no power steering and working the brake pedal really toned up my thighs that day.

It was a loud bang when mine blew up. It took Colorado Ford in Needles 5 days to get the parts and fix. If you have ever been through Needles California ... Spending 1 day there was long enough. We rented a car and took off for Phoenix.

**BroncoHauler** · 07-02-2010, 08:35 AM

Five days, and five days in Needles on top of that? Ughh. You can parts from just about around the world in less time than that, and Needles is on a major interstate relatively close to some large cities.

etbadger · 07-02-2010, 09:08 PM

The (admittedly anecdotal) high rate of vacuum system failure we found reports of online is one reason we switched our brakes over to hydroboost. The failure rates of the hydraulic system seem lower, and the reserve boost is greater.

-e