Brake booster damaged - blower to be blamed? - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

HOTDBZ · 06-30-2003, 18:09

Hi guys,

Just thought you might wanna know this. I have a turbocharged AU XR6 and everything has been running really sweet till yesterday when my brakes started to fail. Everytime I try to step on the brake, there seems to be alot of back pressure and a hissing noise. Of course, this also meant the car couldn't brake properly (also shat in my pants when I had to drive out from my parking lot). The brake pedal could only be 1/4 depressed and the car kept rolling forward.

So I brought my car down to New Oak Ford (my favourite dealership) and guess what? They diagnosed the issue to be the brake booster failure. So after they pulled the boost drum out of the car, they found a large crack and the outer plastic casing appears to have warped due to intense heat. Going back to the car, we found that the crack may have been caused by the hot air blowing out from the turbo compressor outlet down to the exhaust. That was the only heat source we could identify that is close enough to the booster and able to cause such damage.

So, there you go. Another lesson learnt. Now I'll need to set up some sort of a heat shield that protects the booster drum from the blower. This is something you guys may want to take note of if you are looking into turbocharging your beast.

ebxr8240 · 06-30-2003, 18:51

Ceramic coating does wanders..I guess a shield could be made and attached on bolts that hold booster made, fitted before fitting booster back.
Check also that boost wasn't entering booster? The check valve my be r/s as well..

rossi · 06-30-2003, 19:02

I don't agree. I have a 94 fairmont XR6 and the old man has a 96 XR6 wagon, and both our booster went as well.

The old man's had a crack, and mine had what you would call a 'blow in'.
Kinda like a blowout, but inwards.
It's a typical ford plastic booster problem. I even went to the wreckers to get a replacement one and found FOUR that had cracks in them.

The only reason I would say that yours blew is because it's a plastic one and it's a Ford thing. My brother has a NC fairlane, and he's got a Steel one. Never had any probs.

The faster you go, the harder you have to stop.

HOTDBZ · 06-30-2003, 20:00

Thanks guys, I might just look into the head shield thingy. Rossi, I think it's still a better idea to have a heat shield in place, just in case Ford turns around and pulls the "boohoohoo, I told you it was the turbo that caused it, now, get lost, you're stuffed, pay for the booster coz we will not replace it under warranty"

rossi · 06-30-2003, 20:22

Better safe than sorry I suppose.

FalKeen · 06-30-2003, 20:27

had mine go on my old ef, the actual rubber seal thing on the nside split
and yes i shat my pants aswell when the thing didnt stop leaving a car park, made a nice little screech when i wrenched the hand brake on to avoid the car in front

FalKeen · 06-30-2003, 20:31

oh and sorry the reason was explained to me that because the car occassionally back fired only on start up (shitty old ex taxi!) it blew the brake booster

HOTDBZ · 06-30-2003, 20:32

Ahhhhhhhhh....the trusty handbrake!
Sounds like we had the same experience Falkeen.....

FalKeen · 06-30-2003, 20:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by HOTDBZ

Ahhhhhhhhh....the trusty handbrake!
Sounds like we had the same experience Falkeen.....

haha yeah except my only concern was the car infront, not the car i was driving - different to your situation im sure

p.s. stop driving it SO HARD!! :s6:

rossi · 06-30-2003, 20:38

Aaah! It's clear as mud. That's makes perfect sense.

That's like the time I changed radio stations and my tyres deflated.

See.... it's all related.