Hi,

Strange thing happened today. The max '96 was left overnight outside and the temperature dropped to -25 deg C. It started OK, and ran for about a minute (while I cleared the windows), and I backed out, out of my driveway, stopped and shifted into Drive and took off. About 500 feet from home there is a stop sign, I applied the brakes, and the brake was rock hard (it didn't allow me to depress the pedal to the floor), it seemed frozen. I jabbed the brakes a few times and they came back on. Worked fine all the way to work.

Couple of questions.
1. Could there be water in the brake lines that froze, but broke apart once I jabbed at the brake pedal?
2. Or is this a mechanical issue?
3. Has anyone experienced this before?

Thanks,

 

Same thing happened to me when I didn't let the car warm up on a cold day. My brakes jammed and I couldn't stop (there was a girl crossing the street at the stop sign ahead) so I pulled the hand brake up to stop (was only going like 10 MPH).

Someone said it was a sign that the master cylinder was dying. I'll probably replace that and bleed my system when the weather gets better.