2010 Ford Explorer Brakes not working

Tiny
ANCDIRECT
  • MEMBER
  • 2010 FORD EXPLORER
  • V8
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 13,000 MILES
I have a 2010 Ford Explorer, Eddie Bauer, V8, 4WD, ABS with 13,000 miles.
Up until 10,000 miles the brake pedal required very little travel and very little pressure to stop.
At 10,000 miles my brake pedal started to travel half way down before the brakes would start to engage and to do a panic stop the brake pedal has to travel past the gas pedal almost to the floor.
I took it to the dealership and they kept it for a week and replaced the front left caliper because it was leaking and the HCU because the Ford tech line told them that they thought a valve was stuck open for the ABS.
They then bled the brakes using the scan tool connected under the dash 3 times.
The tech told me he had never done one of those before.
After getting the vehicle back there was no change in the brake pedal travel.
The brake pedal still had to be pushed about half way before there is any real resistance and before the brakes start to work.
I then took it to a different dealership after waiting 3,000 miles to get an appointment.
I took the service manager on a road test and let him drive it. Then when we returned to the dealership I then road tested an identical 2010 Explorer with the service manager and he agreed that it felt way different than my 2010 Explorer and he agreed that something was wrong with my brakes.
The new dealership said my front rotors were glazed and needed machined and my front pads replaced which they did and then tried to give me my vehicle back.
I road tested it after the work with their service manager again and there was still no change in the brake pedal travel.
Now the dealership says that they can't find anything wrong with it and I will have to get used to the brake pedal long travel and weak brakes. I am not sure how much they have inspected it because they have not had much time to work on it.

Symptoms:
1) Long brake pedal travel started happening in one day.
2) Driving at 45MPH and doing a panic stop on dry smooth road does not cause ABS to activate.
3) Driving slow in a paring lot and pushing quickly on the brake pedal does not cause the vehicle to do a quick snap stop instead I feel like I am just pushing air out of the vacuum booster with a light "woosh" sound from under the dash
4) Front brakes glazed in only 3000 miles (what I drove while waiting to get it into second dealership.

Here is what I have seen other people recommend:
1) Air in the lines, HCU, or master Cylinder
2) Internal leak in Master cylinder (my fluid level does not change)

Can you please help.
I have now had it at two dealerships for a total 17 days, who have both given up and told me that they can't find anything wrong.

Anything I info I could give to the dealership to try would be great.

Thanks.
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011 AT 10:20 AM

3 Replies

Tiny
MERLIN2021
  • MECHANIC
  • 17,250 POSTS
Tell them to get the area rep invoved, they troubleshoot problems like these. I agree its not normal
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Tuesday, March 29th, 2011 AT 10:39 AM
Tiny
ANCDIRECT
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
Ok that is kind of vauge. Is there anything I can tell the dealership to look at? Or any way to convince them? Neither dealership appears to want to solve this so if I go back to the service manager and ask him to get his area rep involved he may just say no. If he does refuse then what should I do? Thanks for being fast.
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Tuesday, March 29th, 2011 AT 10:50 AM
Tiny
MERLIN2021
  • MECHANIC
  • 17,250 POSTS
Because it happened fast, my thought is a combination valve is stuck, or th rear hieght sensing valve is malfunctipning, if it has one.
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Tuesday, March 29th, 2011 AT 12:43 PM

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