2010 just failed safety inspection. Guy said my brake pedal goes to floor and Ebrake isn’t holding. Did front brake (13+) conversion couple years ago and Bled brakes and seemed to be fine or at least as good as it was before. Pedal was always a little soft if you ask me. Anyways brakes work fine it’s just if you hammer on the pedal and keep it on there firm It wail travel quite far but it takes a few seconds, far from a problem. Any suggestions on how to fix that? Do I need to take it to Ford dealer to have it bled properly? I know some of these newer cars need the ABS activated to get air out of it or could it be something else? M.C. or booster? And the E brake won’t hold under light gas. Took 1 rear wheel off pad, rotors and calipers appear to be in good shape and cable was moving when pushed. I’m pretty sure there’s no adjustment and they’re self adjusting right? What would be my plan of attack on that issue?
Pedal slowly going to floor and E-brake?
- Thread starter Dhark
- Start date
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Johnbigdog
SHO Member
As far as the parking brake, it is self tensioning meaning that you can smash it to the floor and its never going to feel tight. The pedal is attached to a sping mechanism that pulls the parking brake cables. Once the max travel/tension has been met, the cable will not over extend to damage the ratcheting calipers.
You should be able to set the parking brake, put the car in gear and the should not move when you tap the accelerator.
I dont know if there is any part number difference between parking brake pedals.
If you turn of the ignition, press the brake pedal a whole bunch of time to use up the stored vacuum and you don't have a rock hard pedal, there is still air in the system. It needs to be blead.
If the pedal is rock hard, but the pedal still dropped with the engine running make sure your flex hoses are not damaged (have bubbles in them when the brake is pressed) if you don't, you may have a bad booster.
You should be able to set the parking brake, put the car in gear and the should not move when you tap the accelerator.
I dont know if there is any part number difference between parking brake pedals.
If you turn of the ignition, press the brake pedal a whole bunch of time to use up the stored vacuum and you don't have a rock hard pedal, there is still air in the system. It needs to be blead.
If the pedal is rock hard, but the pedal still dropped with the engine running make sure your flex hoses are not damaged (have bubbles in them when the brake is pressed) if you don't, you may have a bad booster.
krewat
SHO Member
What he said. I find with the rear e-brake on most Fords for the past 20+ years, apply the parking brake a few times in rapid succession. This will ratchet out the rear pistons, if they have enough room, and can actually firm up the pedal a bit too. If the rear calipers have too much room to move, they will cause the brake pedal to travel further than necessary.
On my '97 Cougar, '96 t-bird, '01 F250 SD, and all three of my Tauruses, I regularly apply the parking brake a few times when I think of it.
To me, it sounds like your rear brake calipers might be stuck, or not adjusting outward. Both symptoms together, low pedal, and e-brake not holding, point to too much movement in the rear calipers. This used to happen all the time to cars with drum rear brakes too... the adjusters would freeze up, and the rear pads were too far away from the drum, causing a low brake pedal.
Anyway, before going nuts bleeding, check out the rear brakes. Corrosion is a horrible disease.
On my '97 Cougar, '96 t-bird, '01 F250 SD, and all three of my Tauruses, I regularly apply the parking brake a few times when I think of it.
To me, it sounds like your rear brake calipers might be stuck, or not adjusting outward. Both symptoms together, low pedal, and e-brake not holding, point to too much movement in the rear calipers. This used to happen all the time to cars with drum rear brakes too... the adjusters would freeze up, and the rear pads were too far away from the drum, causing a low brake pedal.
Anyway, before going nuts bleeding, check out the rear brakes. Corrosion is a horrible disease.
Just pulled rear calipers off and inspected. Plenty of pad left. Slide pins were moving freely. Pulled pads out, wire brushed clips were they clip into and greased (They weren’t bad at all). Cleaned and lubed slide pins. I did notice on passenger side inside pad was unevenly worn front to back. Driver side was fine. On Both sides the caliper pistons notches were not oriented up and down like they’re supposed to, which is what attribute the uneven wear on the passenger side. Did a quick bleed on rear only didn’t seem to be any bubbles so I stopped. Cause car was in park I could only rotate rotor about an inch back and forth. Regular brakes clamped down and held rotor On both sides. The E brake only held on drivers side. When engaged the cable and mechanism moved a little bit on the drivers side but on the passenger side It seemed to pull the cable all the way in? So I’m not quite sure what’s up with that? After all that the brake pedal is still going to floor slowly under pressure when car is on. When car is off the pedal is firm. Hope that helps in getting some answers
krewat
SHO Member
I'm trying to remember if it was the '13 or the '16 (both leases) where I felt the pedal wanted to go down to the floor slowly. And that was brand-new. The other two (I now have an '18) didn't do that. I sometimes wonder if it was an internal leak in the ABS unit that allowed pressure to bleed off to the accumulator. Never had any problem believing in the brakes at high speeds, though 
Getting back to the rear calipers, I'm not well versed on the Taurus brakes, but on other Fords, the e-brake cable goes to a lever on the caliper. This should in turn work against the piston and push the piston out. Either there's something mechanically funky inside the caliper where it's not pushing the piston out, or there's just too much clearance because of other problems - like the misaligned slots you mentioned. Did you fix that?
If you manually move the e-brake lever on the caliper, say with a pair of pliers, does the brake lock?
Getting back to the rear calipers, I'm not well versed on the Taurus brakes, but on other Fords, the e-brake cable goes to a lever on the caliper. This should in turn work against the piston and push the piston out. Either there's something mechanically funky inside the caliper where it's not pushing the piston out, or there's just too much clearance because of other problems - like the misaligned slots you mentioned. Did you fix that?
If you manually move the e-brake lever on the caliper, say with a pair of pliers, does the brake lock?
I did realign notches on pistons so they are up and down and the little *** on the back of the pads seat in the notches. Both e brake levers moved when e brake pedal was pushed. The drivers side seemed to work and clamped the rotor and I couldn’t move rotor at all. But the passenger didn’t seemed to clamp the rotor, I could wiggle back and forth. But when the brake pedal was pushed Both rotors clamped down and I could move rotor at all. And again the ebrake caber seemed to travel much further On the passengers side. So I’m thinking like you said it something to do with the internal part of the ebrake on that passenger caliper. The hydrolic part of the caliper seems to be working fine.I'm trying to remember if it was the '13 or the '16 (both leases) where I felt the pedal wanted to go down to the floor slowly. And that was brand-new. The other two (I now have an '18) didn't do that. I sometimes wonder if it was an internal leak in the ABS unit that allowed pressure to bleed off to the accumulator. Never had any problem believing in the brakes at high speeds, though
Getting back to the rear calipers, I'm not well versed on the Taurus brakes, but on other Fords, the e-brake cable goes to a lever on the caliper. This should in turn work against the piston and push the piston out. Either there's something mechanically funky inside the caliper where it's not pushing the piston out, or there's just too much clearance because of other problems - like the misaligned slots you mentioned. Did you fix that?
If you manually move the e-brake lever on the caliper, say with a pair of pliers, does the brake lock?
So...try testing it. Out everything back together, find somewhere that has a nice long straight hill, steep the grade, the better. Wait till no one is behind you, then get up to speed limit. Then apply the brakes lightly, gradually pushing harder till you stop. As you as you keeping gradually harder, this should result in a somewhat violent stop. Do this a couple times, all downhill. Try to get a good feel for how far the peddal has to travel before the car is trying to rip your face off. It should be consistent.
Then, while the car is facing down hill, mash the brakes till the pedal is on the floor. Slowly release till the car rolls. If the pedal isn't all the way up before the car staters to roll, you have air in the hoses, lines, or possibly trapped in the master cylinder. If the brakes don't let go till the pedal all the way released, then this could either be a design, or it could be a faulght in the brake booster.
Then, while the car is facing down hill, mash the brakes till the pedal is on the floor. Slowly release till the car rolls. If the pedal isn't all the way up before the car staters to roll, you have air in the hoses, lines, or possibly trapped in the master cylinder. If the brakes don't let go till the pedal all the way released, then this could either be a design, or it could be a faulght in the brake booster.
I have nothing like that near me where I can try that method. My car brakes just fine when driving and no worries about it stoping ever in any situation, even having to mash it in an emergency. It’s just after initial push, if you keep hard pressure it will slowly go to floor. And I feel like it’s always been like this
Then simulate it. Left foot brake. Get the pedal to the floor. With your right foot, ease into the throttle, keeping steady load. Don't go over 1,500 rpms. Maintain that. Now ease off the brake, slowly.
LilCop2002
SHO Member
When you did the conversion did you change the brake booster and/or the master cylinder?
SHO_Fast
Meet the new Boss...
Hello Dhark. Not sure if you found a solution to your problem, but I may have an answer.
I had a rear caliper fail on my 2011 SHO and it caused a similar situation. What broke was the ratcheting mechanism inside the caliper that would keep the caliper from fully retracting after the pedal was released.
So every time the brake pedal was pressed the broken caliper would have to extend completely before the brakes would fully engage. When the pedal was released the caliper would fully retract. The pedal was soft and would go all the way to the floor, but the car would stop. I replaced the master cylinder but that did not solve the problem, so I took it to the dealer. The dealer did not find a problem, even insisting it was normal!
The dealer didn't find the problem, but I did. Here's how I found it;
Get a second person to operate the brake pedal. Pull the rear wheels off and look at the rear calipers and their pad assemblies. You may be able to see a gap between the pads and rotor, or notice a difference between the retracted positions of the two caliper pistons. Have the other person operate the brake pedal while you watch the caliper piston and rotate the rotor back and forth. Check both sides carefully. If you have the same issue as I did you will notice one of the rear pistons has a long travel before it engages and stops the rotor. And it will retract al of the way when the brake pedal is released.
Good news is that it is an easy fix to replace the bad caliper.
This only applies to the rear calipers, there isn't anything in the front calipers that could cause them to act like this.
Good luck!
I had a rear caliper fail on my 2011 SHO and it caused a similar situation. What broke was the ratcheting mechanism inside the caliper that would keep the caliper from fully retracting after the pedal was released.
So every time the brake pedal was pressed the broken caliper would have to extend completely before the brakes would fully engage. When the pedal was released the caliper would fully retract. The pedal was soft and would go all the way to the floor, but the car would stop. I replaced the master cylinder but that did not solve the problem, so I took it to the dealer. The dealer did not find a problem, even insisting it was normal!
The dealer didn't find the problem, but I did. Here's how I found it;
Get a second person to operate the brake pedal. Pull the rear wheels off and look at the rear calipers and their pad assemblies. You may be able to see a gap between the pads and rotor, or notice a difference between the retracted positions of the two caliper pistons. Have the other person operate the brake pedal while you watch the caliper piston and rotate the rotor back and forth. Check both sides carefully. If you have the same issue as I did you will notice one of the rear pistons has a long travel before it engages and stops the rotor. And it will retract al of the way when the brake pedal is released.
Good news is that it is an easy fix to replace the bad caliper.
This only applies to the rear calipers, there isn't anything in the front calipers that could cause them to act like this.
Good luck!
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