I got a hard brake pedal on my 2006 Station wagon today. It is a little strange that ...


1. The brake pedal is OK for the first half of the travel, and then I have to push the hell out of it for the last half of the travel.


2. I can test the vacuum assist by turning the car off, pump the pedal a few times until it goes hard (vacuum is gone), start the car, and feel the pedal pushes down a lot meaning it passes the vacuum test.


So, it acts like there is vacuum there but not enough.


What is wrong?

 

Of course that is not normal, I would have the codes read to see if anything shows up there.

 

Well, vacuum assist is totally gone now so the booster is likely broken

 

have you pulled off the vaccum line going to the booster, while the engine is running, and check to see if there is vacuum?

 

What the heck! it only $1,100.00. Been there.

 

did not have time this week to mess with this. Will do some trouble shooting tonight

 

Yes, checked vacuum at the booster connection, there is strong vacuum at the line.

 

Booster is only $150 from rock auto.
Vacuum pump on the other hand is $350.

 

but pay a dealer to do it = $$$$$

 

Second-hand brake boosters are pretty common and cheap.

They don't fail very often and every E60/E61 that is broken has one. I think they're the same for all engine sizes too.

Fitting isn't that bad - the main headache is that you have to completely bleed the entire braking system because you need to disconnect the brake lines to the master cylinder.