Brakes acuated themselves???

I'm kinda worried about this one. I got in my car and headed to work this morning, and started heading to work. While I was driving at about 20mph the brake light came on, which has happened before, I'm a little low on fluid, but this time the car hit the brakes on its own it seemed. The wheels locked up twice in a row real quick (all hapened within the course of a second). I finished the drive to work carefully. Any ideas?

 

[prove_it]

could be an abs issue.

You can try pulling the abs main fuse and see if it happens again. Just take it easy.

 

[belize1334]

The abs on these cars is known to be the royal suck. It doesn't work when you want it and it interferes when you don't want it. I'd DEFINITELY unplug the abs control module which is underneath the Power Steering Fluid reservoir.

 

[toybreaker]

Check your t-case fluid for level and condition, stat

 

How do I check the fluid level in the tcase? I'm totally new to AWD, and I'm on GVR4.org on my phone cuz I'm at work

 

[prove_it]

ha ha toybreaker,
Real good point. really good point

 

[Terry Posten]

Yes, do the T-case ASAP. Just drain all the old fluid and refill. It only holds 1/2 quart of gear oil anyway. If you need info, goto www.vfaq.com

But, if you find that OK and still think it is the breaks, it also could be a voltage issue. The ABS is can be very sinsitive to full voltage from the batt/alt.

 

+1 for the above I had an ABS light on for a week or so( Broken sensor) I repalced the batter yesterday, Of course the lights was off but the ABS was going crazy, Everytime I touched the brakes, it would bouch back and groan like there was no tomorrow, at times I had to use the e brake to slow the car down to stop /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif I had to drive home 30 mins with it like that. I will be unpluging the fuse in mine later today.

 

aight... what do you guys think the chance is that it is the T-case? like would i be ok to drive it to work and back until wednesday (less than 10 miles total driving, at speeds not exceeding 35mph, usually 25mph)? i wont have the money or access to the tools needed to change the fluid out until then

 

Are you going to have money to fix it if you crash between now & then? What if someone gets injured?

 

[1990ggsxnj]

Any driving without checking the t-case is a bad idea. Ignoring the fact that it's unsafe, you could lock up and completely wreck parts that wouldn't have needed to be replaced (shafts, tranny, etc) if you just checked to ensure it was ok in the first place. If that risk is worth it in YOUR opinion, than it's your choice, but I don't know of anyone who's had issues like that survive very long after without all of the wheels locking up, swirving out of control for a second or two, and needing to flatbed home. You say you don't have the money but you will be in a worse case scenerio if it goes completely. It's not even that hard to check, just borrow the basic tools required.

And yes, Garfield beat me to the punch while I was writting my response. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worthy.gif

 

[Lonewolf64]

I recommend a 3 step process to solve your issues.

Step 1) Sell vr4
Step 2) Purchase Honda
Step 3) Profit

If you are going to knowingly drive your car to work with a possibly fucked T case then you don't deserve this car. Get a honda and then you can do whatever the hell you want to and it'll (somehow) still run.

 

are you serious wolf? it was just a simple question, i've owned a honda, and i will NEVER go back. i didn't realize it was THAT big of a deal, i'm sorry /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/uhh.gif i figured if it was just a real short drive i could get away with it. i'm in the military, and they don't like it when you can't get to work on time because of your car

 

[Lonewolf64]

Yes, it actually is a big deal. You could be killed or kill someone. if the Tcase does lock up, all 4 tires will immediately lock up and leave you with no control over the car. Now imagine that happening at any significant speed or if it locked up in a turn putting you in the face of incoming traffic.

Take everyone's advice and immediately check the T-case. If it is full of oil, you are probably ok to drive it home. You can go ahead and pull the ABS fuse while you are at it and address both this issues fully when you have time next week.

 

[Wizardawd]

Jesus, Can we get off the T-case thing. It's not his problem, while I agree it should be checked. Just do what they said and disable your ABS.

Wiz

 

[belize1334]

Go ahead and check the T-case cause it's good insurance and it's REALLY not very hard at all. You'll want the car level but you also want to be able to get under it so it's probably easiest to get some bricks or something that you can drive all four wheels up onto. Otherwise you can get just two bricks (or any block you want) and drive the passenger wheels onto a curb (sidewalk) while putting only the driver's side on bricks. However you do it, just make sure it's close to level and there's room to crawl under.

Locate the transfer case. It's a big penis shaped thing sticking backward off of the transmission with a drive-shaft coming out of it. If there's fluid leaking out of the place where the drive-shaft goes it's a bad sign.

Locate the fill plug. It's a 17mm(?) bolt on the front of the transfer case housing. Don't confuse it with something on the transmission itself and also don't confuse it with the drain plug which is bigger and flatter and located on the underside of the casing.

Remove the fill plug and wiggle your pinky around in there. If there's oil in there then there's no emergency. It may be dirty and want changing, but it won't kill it to wait a little while.

If it's dry then you're in trouble. As a second check, remove the drain bolt. Do it slowly so that if oil does come pouring out you can plug it up again quickly and not make a mess. If nothing comes out then it's REALLY DRY and you're REALLY IN TROUBLE. At this point you need to purchase new gear oil and fill it up while crossing your fingers that it isn't toasted already.

 

Aight, update: I decided to park it at my dorm (where I had it when I asked the question) anyway because the rod knocks gotten worse (not terrible, but you can hear it at idle now), so I'm just gonna leave it parked until I can source a decent used motor to put in it. I'll make sure I check the condition of the transfer case though

 

[CP]

Sounds like an ABS issue. One of the wheel sensors could have gone bad, causing your issue. Check to see if they're covered with gunk. As mentioned, it could also be an issue with your electrical system. When one of my Redtop batteries went bad, my ABS light would intermittantly flicker.

 

[iLLeffeKt vr-4]

If you never heard any grinding noises or anything unusual from underneath the car then your transfer case is just fine.
I also think your issue is abs/brake related.

I am not going to tell "you go ahead and drive the car" until you figure out what the problem.

Back in 2000 I drove my 91 eclipse gsx with no oil in the transfer case for almost 2k miles and at times cruising at 80mph for 2 hours or so (without knowing of course).The thing never locked on me so I consider my self a lucky bastard.

 

[Hertz]

Two things:

you didn't mention the strange behavior as happening under brakig which would lead us to the faulty ABS.
Second, I didn't see anyone point out that there was a recall on the transfer case. It is a serious issue and has taken out quite a few VR-4s