Brake in cold weather

[Denillenium]

Hello to all,I had a weird problem with my Vibe 2009. It was a cold day (-36 Celsius) and on the highway, my brake pedal is suddently really really hard to push. I had to push the pedal with my 2 feets to brake a little. I stopped the car. Wait a minute and start back the car. The pedal was still hard to push. 15 minutes later, I restart the car and the brake are fine! My brake was fine when I left home. They got stuck only on the highway. My dealer are not sure what happen. They changed something around my power brake but they are not sure if this will fix it.They also told me that I wasnt the only one with this problem. They had another guy with the exact same problem.Does someone know something about this??Thanks(Sorry for my english and sorry for my car knowledge)

[Mavrik]

Almost sounds like the lines are freezing? reminds me of how a clutch feels when driving in cold weather. Even if the car is warmed up, it can get a stiff feeling. Never needed to use both feet though.Never noticed a braking issue with my 04 Vibe and it saw temps of -28F a lot up here in alaska.

[Sublimewind]

That's one of the strangest things i've ever herd.... I've had the stiff clutch, but never have I once pushed the brakes and had that happen...I'd be concerned, and keep a close eye and definitely inform anyone that drives it, about it... There should be nothing to freeze in the system.. but a vacuum leak could possibly cause that, I suppose, most are vacuum actuated... but being that they came back..i donno...

[dragon64]

Does it feel like pressing the brakes without the engine running? Sounds like you may have a ice blockage at the check valve to the brake vacuum booster. After the engine get hot there is enough heat trapped under the hood to thaw out this blockage and operate normally.

[Sublimewind]

well, looks like the OP either wrecked the car or completely forgot about this place or post... lol..

[rob-a]

My wife has had this happen twice., both in summer so it has nothing to do with the cold. Can't figure out what it is. It just happened again yesterday and of course I'm not there. (Canadian forces helo driver, Afghanistan). In her case it was always while going slowly while parking, a shift from drive to reverse and the transmission does not shift, and kind of idles forward (despite being in reverse) at the same time the brake pedal becomes frozen and she doesn't have the strength to push through. Thank god for the emergency brake. Sure enough a shut done, small wait and restart and the problem is solved. I'm pretty sure the brake is a direct line to the wheels, it shouldn't have anything to do with the transmission....I would appreciate some help.. Its hard being away from home and have this crap happenThe car is an 05, 80000 km, brakes were checked in march when I put the summer tires on, plenty lefton the pads. Anybody???

[star_deceiver]

For the 09 1.8L, there's a recall for that. For rob-a, it almost sounds like the engine stalled causing the lack of movement in reverse and the hard brake pedal. But that's just my 2 cents.