# So I almost died yesterday.. (Brake problem)



## GTI Jay (Feb 11, 2010)

Not joking in the least bit. I was driving about 65 - 70 on a rural highway with minimal traffic that has no stoplights but crossroads every now and then that only have stop signs for traffic entering or crossing the highway and this ***** pulled out to make a left onto the highway right in front of me but went slow because she was only going halfway to wait for the other side to clear up. EVEN THOUGH MY SIDE WAS NOT CLEAR  So I had to apply the brakes fast. I was slowing down but about 30 or so feet from the intersection my back end was swinging out to the right and i was going sideways at about 50 mph past this m***** f***** almost taking my entire front end off and her back end off  Im driving a 1995 VW GTI VR6 Golf and I dont like the feeling that if I have to hit the brakes my back end is going to swing out like that. When it was all over with i was pointing straight at the median with a massive thick cloud of white smoke and criss-crossing tire marks to my left and an open highway to my right. Is this problem because of uneven brake pressure to the rear or what? :banghead: sorry for my frustration with this. People need to have their eyes open while driving 

_edit: this was not happening around a turn it was straight level road_


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## harmankardon35 (Sep 16, 2009)

i hear ya...people do a lot of dumb things driving, but at the very least you have to have enough brain cells to MAKE SURE THE WAY IS CLEAR, if you cant do that then you shouldn't be driving. The worst is old people who dont even turn their heads...you see the big buick/cadillac pull up to a cross road, old fart with the big black wrap around glasses just pulls on out expecting everyone to stop 

as for the brakes you might have a leaky wheel cylinder (if you got drums)...or your prop. valve may be malfunctioning. Its an expensive part.


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## GTI Jay (Feb 11, 2010)

harmankardon35 said:


> i hear ya...people do a lot of dumb things driving, but at the very least you have to have enough brain cells to MAKE SURE THE WAY IS CLEAR, if you cant do that then you shouldn't be driving. The worst is old people who dont even turn their heads...you see the big buick/cadillac pull up to a cross road, old fart with the big black wrap around glasses just pulls on out expecting everyone to stop
> 
> as for the brakes you might have a leaky wheel cylinder (if you got drums)...or your prop. valve may be malfunctioning. Its an expensive part.



hahahahaha lol i know the old fart with the black headwrap goggles :laugh::laugh: i got one of those down my street. the lady i hit was about 80something and I swear she looked right at me when i was sliding past her with the blankest look on her wrinkly old face  that was the only time she turned her head was when i was completely sideways behind her :screwy: and thanks man. as for my brakes its a gti vr6 so its all wheel disk brakes. I did notice the the brake pressure regulator (if thats what its called) was a little wet to the touch and had a drop of brake fluid hanging from it a while ago. I am talking about the thing with the spring that attaches to the rear axle beam. I just posted in another thread in this forum about it it should be in the 1st page of the "brakes" forum. So i think its leaking a little but ive never had to add brake fluid and i just did a 2200 mile trip to virginia beach last month with no problems with it. I just suspect it might be leaking a little.. :sly: not sure if thats what caused this with me the other day


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## greyhare (Dec 24, 2003)

Is your car lowered?


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## GTI Jay (Feb 11, 2010)

greyhare said:


> Is your car lowered?


no sir. all 100% stock suspension


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## GTijoejoe (Oct 6, 2001)

I believe all VR6's come with ABS (does yours?)..... do you have any ABS fault codes?
My first question would be why didn't your ABS activate?


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## harmankardon35 (Sep 16, 2009)

if it has a brake proportion valve (the thing on the rear beam with the spring..and all the lines going to it) then it probably does not have ABS. My prop. valve was leaking a little bit as well, haven't noticed any real problems yet, in fact i think the leak stopped. The purpose of the valve is to give variable brake pressure to the rear, depending on how hard you stop. Its kind of a simplistic way to keep the rear brakes from doing exactly what they did to you and lock up, causing a big spin-out. Its a possibility that someone, sometime replaced the prop. valve in your car and didn't use the correct part#...if they used a replacement valve designed for drum brakes, it may be causing too much brake pressure to the back brakes. I'm not 100% on this but I think they can be adjusted, and in your case any less pressure to the rears is a good thing, for most of us we could get away with having absolutely NO rear brakes and stop fine even in a hard braking situation. Thats impossible to achieve when the rear wheels lock up :thumbup:


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## greyhare (Dec 24, 2003)

This is what the Bentley has to say about the regulator. There is a quick check that may tell if there is a problem. The only way to be 100% sure is to replace the regulator and see if the problem is corrected or have a brake specialist test the function of the regulator.


From the Bentley manual page 47-5:

Brake pressure regulator, checking.

The load-sensing brake pressure regulator is mounted underneath the car with an actuating lever connected to the rear axle beam by a small spring. When the axle changes position, due to a heavy load or during hard braking, the pressure regulator varies the pressure to the rear brakes.

With the car resting on all four wheels and the fuel tank full, observe the pressure regulator actuating lever while a helper depresses and quickly releases the brake pedal. The lever should move slightly when the brake is quickly released. If not, the regulator is faulty and should be replaced.

Note-
For this check to be accurate, the car should be emptied of all cargo and occupants, except driver.

Testing and adjusting the pressure-regulating function requires measuring brake system pressure at each wheel caliper, using two pressure gauges with a range of at least 160 bar (2320 psi). Because of the need for this specialized equipment, we recommend having this test performed by an authorized Volkswagen dealer.


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## GTI Jay (Feb 11, 2010)

harmankardon35 said:


> if it has a brake proportion valve (the thing on the rear beam with the spring..and all the lines going to it) then it probably does not have ABS. My prop. valve was leaking a little bit as well, haven't noticed any real problems yet, in fact i think the leak stopped. The purpose of the valve is to give variable brake pressure to the rear, depending on how hard you stop. Its kind of a simplistic way to keep the rear brakes from doing exactly what they did to you and lock up, causing a big spin-out. Its a possibility that someone, sometime replaced the prop. valve in your car and didn't use the correct part#...if they used a replacement valve designed for drum brakes, it may be causing too much brake pressure to the back brakes. I'm not 100% on this but I think they can be adjusted, and in your case any less pressure to the rears is a good thing, for most of us we could get away with having absolutely NO rear brakes and stop fine even in a hard braking situation. Thats impossible to achieve when the rear wheels lock up :thumbup:


Heres the thing, My car does have ABS AND the prop valve. I know this because i accidentally destrpyed the front ABS wheel speed sensor rings while changing out my cv axles this past summer. And i also have the ABS control module under the rear seat as well. And i know that the porp valve has never been repalaced before because the car was bought new in 1995 by my dads best friend and he had it up to about ~2004 when my dad bought it and had it ever since and just recently my dad gave it to me for a grad gift and he has all the records and stuff and there was nothing i saw about it getting changed out any time. Im just thinking that something is either causing one side of the rear brakes to clamp first or drag a little because of rusty parking brake cables.


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## GTI Jay (Feb 11, 2010)

greyhare said:


> This is what the Bentley has to say about the regulator. There is a quick check that may tell if there is a problem. The only way to be 100% sure is to replace the regulator and see if the problem is corrected or have a brake specialist test the function of the regulator.
> 
> 
> From the Bentley manual page 47-5:
> ...


thanks man ill grab the bentley and do this test when i get a chance :thumbup::thumbup:


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## Slimjimmn (Apr 8, 2006)

if the valve is wet then its leaking and needs to be replaced.


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