Slow accel...hard down shifting..NO BRAKES

[vile]

2003 pathy SE 81k:

so I'm entering the highway, and even with the gas pedal depressed almost to the floor, it's hardly accelerating at all. I can only explain it like im towing a veryvery heavy load, or as if i shifted from first gear to 5th(if it was a manual)...suddenly what felt like a 2 gear downshift, it bursts to 6000 rpm, hesitates, and shifts up a gear. Now again it wont accelerate, then same scenario as stated happened again.

As i start to pull off an exit, my BRAKE PEDAL WENT TO THE FIREWALL....NO BRAKE PRESSURE!!! It took about 5-6 pumps before i regained pressure and didnt collide into 30 cars :/ At NO POINT durring this trip did the car stall, it was running the whole time.

The sluggish accel and the No brakes happened again before i got it to the place i bought it, but this time the check engine light came on. ALSO, now when im in park and tap the brake pedal, i hear a clicking sound coming from the shifting column (i hear this is a disengage lock, but it was never audible untill this issue)

Im literally a few days from warrenty expire (60 days/3000 mile used), so i believe when i goto the shop, they are gonna tell me its fine and the computer codes will be erased (no evidence of what happened)and im screwed

can anyone give me an idea what caused this?

[Pathfound49]

The poor acceleration sounds like a bad crankshaft sensor. You should take it to your local auto parts store, get the codes(if any) read, and write them down. Do this before you return to the place you purchased it. If they clear them, and tell you everything is fine, at least you have some ammo to fire back at them before the warranty runs out.

Post the codes here. A few of the members here love digging up remedies and fixes for people in your situation.

Good luck with your pathy.

[ARKQX33V6]

Brake pedal failure indicates loss of pressure. It is a closed system than has some expansion with anti-lock device, but the system is built to compensate. The brake fluid must be checked, if is in too long the hygroscopic effect of the poly glycol has absorbed too much water and with water in H2O and if large amounts of water in vapor turns to gas and finally to a liquid the heat of the brakes will cause the liquid to become a gas but the O2 may remain and take up space that the fluid should. The effect is like having an open container.

Warranty work is supposed to protect you from mishaps of things mechanical, but dealers will do their best to void, not acknowledge what the warranty protects.

Check your brake fluid for colour, smell ans compare it to a new bottle of the same fluid DOT 3, 4 OR 5 depending what is in your system.

Have you added brake fluid to the system? If so did you add the correct fluid?

[Towncivilian]

Check your brake fluid for colour, smell ans compare it to a new bottle of the same fluid DOT 3, 4 OR 5 depending what is in your system.

Have you added brake fluid to the system? If so did you add the correct fluid?

DOT5 is silicone based (IIRC) and if put into a DOT3/4 system, the two fluids do not mix. Not only that, but DOT5 fluid doesn't absorb water, but instead it sits on top of the fluid. 2003 FSM says the system is spec'd for DOT3.

[vile]

unfortunately this happened within hours of leaving for a vacation, and i had to get it to the place i bought it before i left or warrenty would have expired while i was gone :/ i should have had it scanned at autozone to catch the codes before the dealer cleared them so i had some back up..

I didnt add any fluid or change anything since i bought the car less than 60 days ago, i guess i shouldnt assume when they "checked all the levels and saftey requirements" that they would actually do it.

I will be pickin it up tomorow and i will post, if anything, what they discovered. I have a funny feeling they found "nothing wrong" but a few simple fixes that didnt cost them anything, and a cleared ECM.

[Towncivilian]

If you ever find yourself in a situation without brakes, I would downshift (shift into 2 on the gear selector) and turn overdrive off to add engine braking. Use the handbrake sparingly too to help slow things down (you don't want to lock the wheels and fishtail, though, so be careful; you may want to practice this in an empty parking lot first). You probably know this and just didn't mention it in the opening post, but just in case you didn't, I'm sure this information will be very useful.

Your steering column clicking is the way it should be. It's the gear shift interlock which requires the brake pedal to be depressed before you can shift. Maybe you just never noticed it before.

I'm curious to see what the shop will find. Keep us posted!

[vile]

couldnt get it today, the guys i needed to speak to was out..

but to towncivilian: Theres no way i didnt notice the interlock noise before, its loud and you can feel it through the column. the noise stuck out like a sore thumb when it started happening. Is it possible some kind of fuse blew and this is the result of an ovverride?