brakes failed???

so I am pulling up to a stoplight behind a brand new 4Runner and everything is fine... gearing down hit the brakes and although the pedal is solid nothing happens.... I push harder and still not slowing down ..... grab the parking brake but too late and I goose the runner... no damage other than I lost one of my 100w baja lights on the front. Got all squared away with the 4Runner driver and check out my truck... no probs, lots of fluid, no leaks, pedal is solid. Ran it up and down the parking lot and locked everything up and now it works fine! Ghost in the machine? any ideas????

It would help to know what engine and year model your XJ has.

DOH sorry: 1995 XJ sport 2 door with 4.0 HO and 5 speed

So get this: suspect is an ABS sensor... basically everything works normally until you reach about 4 or 5 mph then your ABS thinks the wheels are locked and releases the brakes.... doesnt matter how hard you press.... nothing will happen. Shop had to diagnose which kinda bugs me but they say they have seen it before.

I found hte same type problem with the ABS on my old 99 Dodge pickup; every time I went over a certain raised section of railroad tracks and tried to stop at the bottom of the incline, the brakes would fail to grab. If I crawled over it, they would work but anything over about 15-20mph was enough to unload the rear (reduce the g-load) and the ABS would kick in...I like the simple mechanical circuit in a traditional brake system; no computer to decide it knows better than you.

Glad to hear nobody was hurt, but isn't it nice to know that an ABS sensor 'decided' you didn't need to stop?

That diagnosis makes sense, and it only makes me more happy that I argued with the dealer when buying my new XJ and I insisted on ordering it withOUT ABS.

Amen. (That's a churchlady expression.)

I saw a PrimeTime Live special on ABSs a few years ago that scared me to death. What obviously happened is that the Coercive Utopian Nanny State pressured automakers into marketing them before adequate research was done, & because every maker's system was slightly--sometimes crucially--different, even drivers who thought they knew how to use them were constantly being surprised. (One casualty was a veteran police officer who had taught hot-pursuit driving for years; he tried a high-speed panic stop in an unfamiliar car & was killed.)

I don't care how much better they've become by now; I agree w/Yucca that I want to decide all by myself when to stop my car.

I haven't looked at the "Suggestions for a New XJ" thread in a long time, but I hope that manual everything-- doors/windows/seats/sunroof, part-time 4WD, mechanical brakes--will always be at least available.

Well I know with my other car and my old truck that the abs could be de-activated by pulling a fuse.... so I think that is what will happen here. I am just glad the freakin airbag didnt deploy..... actually I want to get rid of that too... put my grant steering wheel on instead. Dont want it going off when I hit a rock or tree on the trail either

Yes; airbags are another Nanny State idea forced on the market before the bugs were worked out. "Oops, sorry about those 160ish people crushed by our miraculous life-saving invention."

Beware of governments that think they can remove all risks from life. They'll have us all strapped down in bubbles being fed intravenous tofu.

Churchlady said:

Beware of governments that think they can remove all risks from life. They'll have us all strapped down in bubbles being fed intravenous tofu.

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Intravenous tofu. Now that's a vision that'll not only ruin your day, that's good for ruining at least an entire week.

How do you spell "Yuuuccchhh!"?

I had a hard time deciding between intravenous tofu & liquified beets. They're both so GOOD for us.

did the pedal go to the floor, if so the master cyl. is failing., if it is related to abs you would feel the peadl kicking back trying to release the wheel it thinks is locking up.

Churchlady said:

I had a hard time deciding between intravenous tofu & liquified beets. They're both so GOOD for us.

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The difference is that liquefied beets actually taste better than you'd think. Intravenous tofu, on the other hand, has a classic kind of science-fiction horror to it, and I have a feeling it will prove to be a useful metaphor for future use.

Matthew Currie said:

Intravenous tofu, on the other hand, has a classic kind of science-fiction horror to it, and I have a feeling it will prove to be a useful metaphor for future use.

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I thought it had a nice ring to it.

And you're right; borscht is liquified beets & an easily acquired taste. It's children that beets terrify.

(There's an old Guindon cartoon I clipped out & kept on my fridg for years. It shows a park w/beaming children--money in hand-- shouting in delight as they run from all directions toward a Good-Humor type truck parked at the curb, little music notes jingling in the air around it. But instead of a giant ice-cream cone atop the truck there's a huge beet, & on the side are painted slogans like "Steaming hot beets"/"Garden-Fresh Beets". The caption under the picture: "THE BEET MAN! THE BEET MAN!!")

Dangerboy, pardon us. We're just giddy with relief that something like that hasn't happened to us & that it wasn't worse on you.