View Poll Results: Is your brake pedal hard when you press it to start the car in the Morning?

Yes. There is not much travel distance when I press it for startup

45.10%

No. It's like normal braking

29.41%

Sometimes

25.49%

Voters: 51. You may not vote on this poll

Hard brake pedal at start up

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

12-17-2007, 12:32 PM

#11

hmc

Senior Members

Thread Starter

Join Date: Oct 2005

Location: Carlsbad, California

Posts: 340

Likes: 0

Received 1 Like on 1 Post

My Ride: 2007 BMW 550i Sport Pkg, 6MT

There is a new bulletin for E90/E91/E92/E93 regarding this exact issue (However, there is not one for E60 yet). Bottomline is that this is not normal.

SUBJECT
Additional Effort Required to Press Brake Pedal Prior to Engine Initial Start

MODEL
E90, E91, E92, E93 (3 Series) produced up to 9/07

SITUATION
A customer may report increased brake pedal effort prior to engine start. This situation can occur if the vehicle sits for extended periods of time. Although the brake pedal can be depressed, the customer may note a change in pedal feel.

CAUSE
The vacuum check valve, fitted at the brake booster, may leak due to component tolerances within the valve assembly.

CORRECTION
Replace the vacuum valve and hose assembly for the brake booster; refer to Repair Instruction RA 34 33 051.

PARTS INFORMATION
Part Number Description Quantity
34 33 7 577 336 Vacuum Pipe 1

WARRANTY INFORMATION
Covered under the terms of the BMW New Vehicle Limited Warranty.

Please refer to the latest KSD for all applicable labor operations and allowances.

If the appropriate labor operation is not contained in KSD, then a work time labor operation should be used.

Defect Code 34 33 00 14 00

Reply Like

12-17-2007, 02:15 PM

#12

UUronL

Contributors

Join Date: Mar 2005

Posts: 2,573

Likes: 0

Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts

My Ride: 2006 530i Sport Silver Gray - Black Leather - Anthracite Maple Manual Transmission Premium Audio Cold Weather Package Rear sunshade Sirius Radio Autobahnd Roadblock (3M) film kit

Quote:

Originally Posted by hmc' post='505742' date='Dec 11 2007, 10:09 PM

I don't think it has anything to do with transmission. Actually it's worse for manual cars (imagine you are on hills when you start and brake pedal is hard)

My car doesn't...

Either way, I only skimmed the initial posts - for some reason I thought it had to do with the interaction with the automatic... some kind of "shift lock". I guess it's not related to that and not limited to the auto.

Reply Like

01-07-2008, 09:14 AM

#13

hmc

Senior Members

Thread Starter

Join Date: Oct 2005

Location: Carlsbad, California

Posts: 340

Likes: 0

Received 1 Like on 1 Post

My Ride: 2007 BMW 550i Sport Pkg, 6MT

I complained this issue to the dealership and they replaced booster and check valve. The problem persists.

The dealer ordered another 3 boosters and vacuum tested these boosters and they all leaks. The shop foreman says there is no spec requiring vacuum to hold over night which I don't really buy because my other 2 cars (11 year old and 8 year old), as well as the loaner 2008 BMW 328i, all hold vacuum over night.

Reply Like

01-07-2008, 05:58 PM

#14

pinguhk

Contributors

Join Date: Sep 2006

Location: Hong Kong

Posts: 21,274

Likes: 0

Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts

My Ride: Mini Cooper

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeRwEEzy' post='505378' date='Dec 11 2007, 01:53 PM

for me, engine off=hard brake pedal all the time until start up. as the engine starts and my foot is still on the brake, the pedal eases up and softens to normal feel.

Reply Like

01-07-2008, 06:08 PM

#15

wasupdu

Senior Members

Join Date: Oct 2006

Location: Milwaukee, WI

Posts: 511

Likes: 0

Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts

My Ride: 2007 Mercedes CLS63 AMG Designo Graphite with white leather interior Keyless Go, Heated/Ventilated seats, Parktronic

Yeah, the brake pedal is a tad stiff at start-up, bu it goes away instantly. No biggie as far as I'm concerned. Now if the brakes didn't squeal occasionally then I'd REALLY be happy. I've had it checked out before (brake squealing) and all they say is to do more heavy breaking to wear off the glaze on the brake pads. Whatever.....I've had nearly a dozen cars in my lifetime (Jap, American, German, Italian, etc...) and I've never had a brake squeal unless there was a problem.

Reply Like

01-08-2008, 05:39 AM

#16

elyk

Senior Members

Join Date: Oct 2006

Location: Toronto

Posts: 523

Likes: 0

Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts

very much like what has already been described,

- brake starts up stiff before start up
- softens instantly after start up
- only occasionally do i experience this

never thought of it as a recall problem, however, should we be concerned?

Reply Like

01-08-2008, 06:07 AM

#17

Gene

Super Moderator

Join Date: Jan 2008

Location: So. Cal (SFV)

Posts: 17,508

Likes: 0

Received 3 Likes on 3 Posts

So I have had my BMW now for 8 days (new, 2008 535i). Never experienced the problem discussed, read this thread last night...now this morning on start-up I had a hard brake pedal at start-up, soften as the engine kicked in. Nothing new done to the car aside from filling it up with gas and really cold this AM (39F, cold for Los Angeles standards). So should I consult my service center regarding this problem?

Reply Like

01-08-2008, 08:29 AM

#18

madoon

Senior Members

Join Date: Feb 2006

Location: Bahrain

Posts: 751

Likes: 0

Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts

My Ride: 2005 525i : Alpine White, Steptronic, Black Interior with Amethyst Leather & Popular Grain Brown, 17" 122-Style Rims, Adaptive Bi-Xenon Headlights, Auto Dimming & Folding Mirrors, Advanced A/C, Sports Steering Wheel, Electrically Adjustable Steering Column, Extended Lighting Package, PDC, Sliding Armrest, Bus Navi, Hi-Fi Sound System (MP3 DVDs), CD Changer, Rear Sunshades.. MODS:M-tech front bumper, Painted Grill, Installed Aux-In, Garage Door Opener (Overhead Compartement), ///M Steering wheel, Wood hand brake trim, Wood gear-shift lever. 35% Tint all around.. Got, ACS Roof Spoiler, but not installed..

happens to me rarely, when the car hasnt been started for more than a day.
or maybe i just havnt noticed it..

Reply Like

01-08-2008, 10:26 AM

#19

monacobmw

Contributors

Join Date: May 2006

Location: Miami, Florida

Posts: 719

Likes: 0

Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts

As a South Florida driver, I may have something to add.

The temperature is mostly above 60 degrees here all year round.

Last week, the temperature dropped into the 30's and 40's.

My brake lost all compression before startup when the temperature dropped below 50 degrees. I thought that this was weird. Now that the temperature is back to normal, the brake is back to normal.

I wonder if temperature contributes to the problem.

Reply Like

01-08-2008, 11:07 AM

#20

HPLouis

Members

Join Date: May 2007

Location: New York City

Posts: 212

Likes: 0

Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts

My Ride: 545i Sport 6M

Sam thing happened to my car. When the weather was warmer, it never happened but once the weather got cold, I started getting the hard brake pedal after teh car sat overnight.

When I asked my SA about it, he said that a few people complained about the same problem and he said that it's normal.