Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting brake failure/ hissing..vaccum leak?

entered my vehicle from a friends house, started her up, went down the street to the stop sign...attempted to stop, and i have no power assist to my brakes, its all manual, i have to apply alot of pressure to get the brakes to slow the car down. got home, and popped the hood to check brake fluid, fine. checked lines, fine.

started the car back up, and there is a very loud hissing/sucking noise coming from some line under the hood, i heard it a couple months ago, very light noise, not noticable if you arent listening for it, but now it has gotten very loud, almost louder than the engine itself.

i called a friend that works for transportation on the base here, and he said it could be my vaccum line, that has disabled my powerassist to my braking..can i get any suggestions? thanks.

There is a hose coming out of thr brake booster (big round thing behind the master cylinder)just to the left (looking from the front)of the master cylinder. Make sure the grommet is not leaking and work your way up the hose. The plastic valve in the middle of the hose may be leaking too. If you cannot find it, pull the hose off of the booster and put your thumb over the end. If the noise stops the booster itself is leaking.

This probably sounds obvious, but you need to find the hose that has the vacuum leak and replace it. You can buy vacuum hose at almost any auto supply shop for about $1/foot (just make sure that you buy the correct diameter). You might also want to check and see if you will need a few hose clamps (which are also very inexpensive).