Brakes seized while on highway.

[CO-Bronco]

Well I'm counting my lucky stars today that's for sure.

We were drovong home from the 2nd Annual Bronco Stampede (Ontario Bronco Club) and it ended in some excitement. If it wasnt for some quock manouvering and the Ontario Provincial Police and Clarke's Towing responded to a very dangerous situation promptly and safely in not sure we would have walked away from this one in one piece.

The Broncos brakes seized(?) on the 401HWY, in a reduced 2 lane construction zone right after a blind curved section. Before assistance our back end of the Bronco was directly on the yellow line inches away from the flow of traffic.

I'll post more once we're back home to Sarnia and again after the service desk gets a chance to pull some codes.

Update #1:
Home now, Bronco's at the dealership.

It all happened within 15seconds, felt an instant loss of velocity with the inability to increase acceleration in 6th. Dropped it down to 5th, then 4th and realized I had to quickly find a place to pull off the highway.

By that point I had just enough inertia left to swerve left and came to a full stop 95% out of the traffic lane.

No matter how hard I tried, the Bronco would not move. Brake pedal 100% off the floor with full hydraulic pressure, almost like the brake booster pump regulator had failed. Even the 95:1 crawler gear ratio wouldn't spin the tires.

Strangest thing is the entire brake system depressured and was apparently back to normal once we offloaded it from the flatbed onto the dealership lot (100km, ~1hr trip). Perhaps overheating of some type, or something in the electronics control module reset?

Either way it's at the dealership until they at least try to pull error codes/data.

I've read multiple issues with 2.3L faulty vacuum lines but that has lead to plenty of error codes and the lack of breaking power, so that doesn't appear to be my issue.

Anyone else run into this issue?

Sponsored

 

[Herbie]

Well I'm counting my lucky stars today that's for sure.

We were drovong home from the 2nd Annual Bronco Stampede (Ontario Bronco Club) and it ended in some excitement. If it wasnt for some quock manouvering and the Ontario Provincial Police and Clarke's Towing responded to a very dangerous situation promptly and safely in not sure we would have walked away from this one in one piece.

The Broncos brakes seized(?) on the 401HWY, in a reduced 2 lane construction zone right after a blind curved section. Before assistance our back end of the Bronco was directly on the yellow line inches away from the flow of traffic.

I'll post more once we're back home to Sarnia and again after the service desk gets a chance to pull some codes.

Update #1:
Home now, Bronco's at the dealership.

It all happened within 15seconds, felt an instant loss of velocity with the inability to increase acceleration in 6th. Dropped it down to 5th, then 4th and realized I had to quickly find a place to pull off the highway.

By that point I had just enough inertia left to swerve left and came to a full stop 95% out of the traffic lane.

No matter how hard I tried, the Bronco would not move. Brake pedal 100% off the floor with full hydraulic pressure, almost like the brake booster pump regulator had failed. Even the 95:1 crawler gear ratio wouldn't spin the tires.

Strangest thing is the entire brake system depressured and was apparently back to normal once we offloaded it from the flatbed onto the dealership lot (100km, ~1hr trip). Perhaps overheating of some type, or something in the electronics control module reset?

Either way it's at the dealership until they at least try to pull error codes/data.

I've read multiple issues with 2.3L faulty vacuum lines but that has lead to plenty of error codes and the lack of breaking power, so that doesn't appear to be my issue.

Anyone else run into this issue?

I'm glad you were not hurt.

 

[RHeinz]

Glad you are safe! Any chance the vehicle has adaptive cruise control?

 

[CO-Bronco]

I'm glad you were not hurt.

Thanks @Herbie. It could have ended a lot differently should there have been some inexperienced or easily frightened drivers passing by for those ~7min before the police and tow truck came to help.

 

[AK SNO RIDER]

It's wild how both the 2.3 and 2.7 Broncos have totally different brake systems yet both are having complete system failures of various kinds.

This winter my FE suffered a total brake failure while slowing for a red light. I got lucky in that it was late and night, no traffic, and happened in front of the Ford dealer so I just dumped it in their parking lot.

 

[HBTFD]

It’s an electrical/module issue. Hopefully there are codes that will allow for quick diagnostics.

 

[CO-Bronco]

It’s an electrical/module issue. Hopefully there are codes that will allow for quick diagnostics.

All I know for sure is it'll have the slickest license plate bracket in the entire service bay . Hope you're doing well amigo!

 

[Herbie]

Thanks @Herbie. It could have ended a lot differently should there have been some inexperienced or easily frightened drivers passing by for those ~7min before the police and tow truck came to help.

Not to mention that y'all drive 130 kmh up there. I know those stretches well as my family has been going up to the Muskokas since 1945.

 

[HBTFD]

All I know for sure is it'll have the slickest license plate bracket in the entire service bay . Hope you're doing well amigo!

For sure. Hope your back in the Bronco soon.

 

[Dom]

DAMN! Glad to hear everyone came out of it safely. That had to be a pretty nerve racking situation. Sounds like you handeled it perfectly.

 

[Lil Red Broncette]

Very scary, glad you are all okay.

I've long gotten used to the possibility of brake failure and have experienced a number on my 40+ years of driving, but all such concern was about loss of braking, or very significant reduction. A hazard in the northeast with brake lines rusting. The idea of brakes going full on at highways speed conceptually worries me more.

It is sad when there is so much electronics and software controlling these things that glitches can result in much bigger faults than older systems.

My thoughts revolve around either errant parking brake activation on its own or whatever hardware provides automatic emergency braking decided you needed to stop. Either of those should have had a dash indication and I assume you had zero indications.

The fact it worked right after being towed makes me wondering if simple shutoff and turn on would have recovered the issue. Did you try this when you were stuck on the road?

 

[RHeinz]

It is sad when there is so much electronics and software controlling these things that glitches can result in much bigger faults than older systems.

You have made an interesting statement, but not unusual here.. Do you really think the automotive industry as a whole would be moving to this technology if it was less safe or caused them more reliability issues?? You have to assess the reliability issues in a fleet context, not individually.

I’m pretty sure cars are a LOT more reliable than they were 20 or 30 years ago. Don’t you?

Speaking from an industrial reliability standpoint, there is NO argument regarding the improved system reliability!

EDIT: In all fairness, I want to add that in the late 60’s (holy crap), I could troubleshoot any engine in a car in a matter of say 5 minutes. Now, NOT! If you need to troubleshoot ON THE TRAIL, you’ll have to bring a lap top with you into the wilderness. At 72 years old, I hope for the BEST and have my credit card ready!

 

[Rednek]

I had a similar issue this winter my park brake locked on pulling out of my driveway,good thing it was slippery and was able to pull into my garage and remove rear park motor to release caliper i later replaced the caliper motor and reprogrammed the abs module so far no further issues after 24000 km.

 

[cracKen]

Since those of us driving manuals use the parking brake every single time we park, i wonder if the extra use (compared to autos) is causing malfunction on the parking brake motors. Even if the parking BRAKE light wasn't lit on the dash, did you try pushing the parking brake button inward to see if it disengaged? Or dirt/mud got into the pistons on one of the brake and made it stay engaged? But with it in crawl gear, it should of been able to push through a sticky piston. So that's why I'm leaning towards the parking brake engaging.

I think its worth jacking up your car next time it happens to see which wheel you can and cant spin. Front wheels locking up will tell us something different. One rear vs both rears locking up also tells us something different.

 

[NC_Pinz]

Since those of us driving manuals use the parking brake every single time we park, i wonder if the extra use (compared to autos) is causing malfunction on the parking brake motors. Even if the parking BRAKE light wasn't lit on the dash, did you try pushing the parking brake button inward to see if it disengaged? Or dirt/mud got into the pistons on one of the brake and made it stay engaged? But with it in crawl gear, it should of been able to push through a sticky piston. So that's why I'm leaning towards the parking brake engaging.

I think its worth jacking up your car next time it happens to see which wheel you can and cant spin. Front wheels locking up will tell us something different. One rear vs both rears locking up also tells us something different.

Even on automatics, the parking brake is used more than you think. I actually set mine every time I park, and it automatically sets for hill hold if you are on any kind of incline...whether you want it or not.

Sponsored