Hey,

Well not too long ago went for a little drive, probably around 40 minutes all up. Now, when I get into my car, the brakes always worked fine and everything. Once they got warmed up from a decent length's drive, I would start to hear a little bit off, I don't know how you'd explain it, a "hiss" maybe, coming from what seems to be the brake pads rubbing against the rotors or something. Anyway, I didn't mind that as all it was, was a little noise. No loss in braking performance, so it didn't have me worried. Eventually, if i used the car for a fair while and the brakes seemed to really warm up, then the car seemed to shudder or something when applying the brakes. That didn't happen often, but once every now and then, but the brakes still seemed to work fine... minus the shudder there, it seemed normal.

Now, before was just driving and everything was fine. Was almost all the way home when I came to a round about. There were no cars so I didnt have to give way, but I still put the brakes on a little as approaching the roundabout, just in case. I noticed something weird, instead of having to just push the brakes a little bit to get quite a good response, it seemed the pedal went down atleast half way before I was able to slow down as much as i had wanted. Once pulling into my street, I was able to push the brake pedal right down where it could go no further and even when pushed in all the way like this, the performance was weak - there was stopping power, but not that much. Only enough to really help at slower speeds, of around 30-40km/h, but with this type of braking performance on a highway or something, then i'd be in trouble.

It seemed like the right side rear tyre really heated up from the drive, or the brakes, or whatever is causing the problem. I mean, all of the tyres seem hot, but this one excessively, or maybe it's just me and they're all equally as hot. Also, something to note : I was able to smell something, it smelt like something had burnt or really heated up, like there was a lot of friction between two things and it gave off that sort of "burnt toast" smell maybe, if you like.

Either wake im stoked and ask my dad to have a look and he was stoked too, not sure of what it could be. Just on a last note, when the car is still and in park, if you push the brakes down all the way (which they normally would go down all the way anyway) and then slowly let go of them, there seems to be like a little "clunk" as you let go of them?

Do you guys have any idea what this could be? Could it be one of the tyres seems to be getting locked up or something? Bad brake pads or rotors? Brake fluid?

I've got no idea!

Thanks for any and all help!

Check Pads, Rotors and Lines, he that does nothing, check the booster and master cylinder

stumped

pretty stumped myslef too really. so just gotta check the lines, pads, etc?

There have been instances of brake hose failures on BA and territory.
Territory have just been recalled for new brake hoses.

I am expecting a letter any day. I may have to book it in myself. I am disappointed that it has been 2 weeks since I read about the recall and I have heard nothing from our service dealer or the Ford dealer we bought the car from.

sorta sounds like you've cooked the brakes after some spirited driving. I know you said you haven't, but has all the same symptoms.
Is this still a problem once everything has cooled and sat for a while?
Tried bleeding the brakes? If you find air then possibly a leak somewhere? Hence the burning smell? Is the brake fluid good?
Done a seal in the Brake Master Cylinder? Bypassing internally like this would give a soft pedal and poor performance... few things to think about for you.

thank you very much for the input. On that day I did give it to it a bit, but not like hooning.. just instead of gradualling building up to 100km/h i would give it to it to get there a bit quicker etc, but it was deinitely not TOO intense, and i wouldnt expect a short trip of going a little harder to screw up the brakes in one hit. Perhaps, it was a combination of this, and that there was already friction between the pads and something else thatcaused it, as i dont see how a pad can burnt out so quick like that from a 20 minute drive, even if it was hooning?

Ill check the brake fluid, probably bleed the whole system and replace the brake fluid actually. Im pretty sure that it works fine when cool, haven't got back into it yet, but i used to get shudder when braking after it really warmed up before, but when it was cool there was no shudder, so im guessing it will be the same with this, when its cool it will work... but i would rather not get in there, and then all of the sudden everything get "warm" and then i need to brake.. but cant :p About the master cylinder, if it was bypassing, wouldnt it return a soft pedal all the time, not just when all heated up?

I had to replace the front left ABS sensor in my BA as ABS was activating, but not doing anything... this obviously caused shudders and poor braking performance. May not be related to your issue, but if your pulling it all apart it might be worth a look.

where or what would i look for, for the ABS activating?

Almost sounds like a sticking caliper getting hot and boiling the fluid.
Go get a quote done and fix it yourself.

It would make this real loud clunky / shuddering noise, and then just brake normally (with loss of performance) and occasionally the ABS light would come on.

Hi krzysiek, what ended up being the problem? I have had an almost identical problem with my EF XR6 tonight.

I wasn't doing any really hard braking, in fact mostly taking it easy on the brakes. There were no braking problems until just about home and the brake pedal went almost to the floor as you described. It came back after pumping the pedal. There's plenty of brake fluid, so it can't be a leak causing the soft pedal.

When I stopped the car, I could smell something burning around the left rear wheel, and could hear the brakes hissing and crackling. Also the clunking sound on releasing the pedal that you described. The left rear brake pad got so hot that the paint on it has blistered and burned off. They are EBC Green Stuff pads rated for 600 degrees, so it must have been mighty hot. And I have lately been hearing the hissing sound you mentioned after driving for a few kms.

I'm sure whatever happened to your car is now happening to mine. I suspect a seized caliper. Will check in the morning once it's cooled down. Thanks for your help.