1995 Avalon, 100k, everything works on the car but the brakes will stop the car after about 10 to 15 minutes of driving all by themselves. By this I mean, you will be on the freeway just driving along and the car will just stop, the front brakes will actually stop the car and lock up without applying the pedal. Once stopped, the car will not move. If you wait for about 10 to 15 minutes, you can then drive the car again but it still feels like the front brakes are applied a little. I am getting ready to replace the front rotors and pads as they are now warped from heat, but what if that is not the problem? It will just warp the new front rotors as well. Any suggestions?

I would start with the ABS system. It may have a bad check valve that is allowing brake pressure from the ABS pump to go to the front calipers when it is not supposed to.

Good Luck!

Look through the fuses and relays.

Pull either the fuse or relay for the ABS system. See if that helps (as Clay said).

Other than that, driving with the brake pedal down?

I would suspect the brake booster more then the ABS remove the line from the booster (vacum) cap it off and road test see what happens becareful brake pedal will be very hard to depress.

Thanks all for your answers, I had also posted this question up in a Toyota forum and was told to check the brake lines. They said they can collapse with age and act like a one way valve. I am off to the parts store to pick up new pads and rotors, looks like I will be picking up new lines as well.

Audi 5000s do this a lot, and it's ALWAYS the master cylinder. Next time it happens, crack the brake lines at the master cylinder and see if the brakes release. Easy to do, could save you a buncha time and money. The Cap'n

Thanks Cap't, I picked up a new MC while I was out since I found a leak coming from the one that is on there. It is most likely the culprit so I figured I would cover that base while I was in there.

Thinking back on my post, it's kinda funny to be describing "unintended deceleration" in an Audi 5000 ...................... The Cap'n

Cap'n....

Don't get me started on that 60 minutes inaccurate beat down of the Audi 5000. It was a really good car that got a bad rep by "journalists" looking for ratings, not the truth.

I worked for VW/Audi at that time, and there was NO proven case where the brakes could not overcome the engine, even at full throttle. Plus they had to rig the transmission in a way that was totally impossible to happen accidentally to get the throttle to open all the way.


Sorry... I am sure that as an experienced Audi mechanic, you know all this....





Thread hijack and rant over........