Legacy 95 with frozen brakes

[Louise the ferretlady]

Hello all!
You have been so helpful to me in the past, I hope you can help me
solve this new puzzle.
Here in Quebec,Canada, it's been real cold lately. And although my
trusty Subie always start when I turn the key on a cold morning,
lately it's the brakes that give me trouble. If the thermometer is
below -15 celcius, I find that braking is a real challenge. The pedal
is high and stiff, and I have to put a lot of pressure to stop the
car. As soon as the engine is warm, I get all my normal braking power
back. My brake light is on all the time.
All the expert out there, any clue to what is faulty? I have the car
in a nice warm garage while we change the clutch and fix the leaky gas
tank, so we can take care of brakes at the same time. I just need to
be pointed in the right direction before we take everything apart!
Thank you!

Louise the ferretlady

 

[Tony Hwang]

Hello all!
You have been so helpful to me in the past, I hope you can help me
solve this new puzzle.
Here in Quebec,Canada, it's been real cold lately. And although my
trusty Subie always start when I turn the key on a cold morning,
lately it's the brakes that give me trouble. If the thermometer is
below -15 celcius, I find that braking is a real challenge. The pedal
is high and stiff, and I have to put a lot of pressure to stop the
car. As soon as the engine is warm, I get all my normal braking power
back. My brake light is on all the time.
All the expert out there, any clue to what is faulty? I have the car
in a nice warm garage while we change the clutch and fix the leaky gas
tank, so we can take care of brakes at the same time. I just need to
be pointed in the right direction before we take everything apart!
Thank you!

Louise the ferretlady

Hi,
When is the last time you flushed the brake lines and put in fresh
fluid?

 

[John]

Hello all!
You have been so helpful to me in the past, I hope you can help me
solve this new puzzle.
Here in Quebec,Canada, it's been real cold lately. And although my
trusty Subie always start when I turn the key on a cold morning,
lately it's the brakes that give me trouble. If the thermometer is
below -15 celcius, I find that braking is a real challenge. The pedal
is high and stiff, and I have to put a lot of pressure to stop the
car. As soon as the engine is warm, I get all my normal braking power
back. My brake light is on all the time.
All the expert out there, any clue to what is faulty? I have the car
in a nice warm garage while we change the clutch and fix the leaky gas
tank, so we can take care of brakes at the same time. I just need to
be pointed in the right direction before we take everything apart!
Thank you!

Louise the ferretlady

Your brake fluid is old or you somehow have water in the system from
condensation.

 

[S]

Hi Louise!

Hello all!
You have been so helpful to me in the past, I hope you can help me
solve this new puzzle.
Here in Quebec,Canada, it's been real cold lately. And although my
trusty Subie always start when I turn the key on a cold morning,
lately it's the brakes that give me trouble. If the thermometer is
below -15 celcius, I find that braking is a real challenge. The pedal
is high and stiff, and I have to put a lot of pressure to stop the
car. As soon as the engine is warm, I get all my normal braking power
back. My brake light is on all the time.
All the expert out there, any clue to what is faulty? I have the car
in a nice warm garage while we change the clutch and fix the leaky gas
tank, so we can take care of brakes at the same time. I just need to
be pointed in the right direction before we take everything apart!
Thank you!

Louise the ferretlady

A good possibility is the check valve in the vacuum line to the brake
booster. This can pick up moisture and other contamination, and freeze
closed. Symptoms are as you describe; stiff pedal and not much brake
effect until the engine compartment warms up. Test this by warming the
check valve with your hands, or a hair dryer and see if this doesn't
get the brakes to work.

As I recall, the check valve on the newer cars is inserted into the
rubber vacuum hose, and there is no easy way to replace it. You can
probably do a reasonable job of cleaning/drying it out, tho, if you
remove the hose entirely (if you do it when the engine compartment is
nice and warm, it will come off easily) and rinse it well by flushing
denatured alcohol thru the hose. The alcohol will pick up any water,
and hopefully will also rinse out any oil residue. Be sure the alcohol
is fresh, as it will absorb water from the air just sitting in an
unsealed container, which dramatically reduces its "drying"
effectiveness. Use a hair dryer to warm the hose, and blow warm dry
air thru it for awhile to complete the cleaning process.

The brake warning light being on is probably due to low fluid level;
AFAIK the only thing that triggers it is the float in the reservoir.
Top off the brake fluid, and see if the warning light doesn't go away.

Hope this helps a bit.

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB
Laboratory Manager
Microelectronics Research
University of Colorado
(719) 262-3101

 

[Louise the ferretlady]

Thank you all for the advice, the fluid looks good, but we'll give it
a flush(bleed) just to be sure, and clean up the valve as advised. I
know where it is, we took that hose out to see if anything was
clogging it and found a there was a valve in there. Hopefully that
will solve the trouble! I'll keep you posted.
Happy Holidays!

Louise the ferretlady