ohsimachi

Hello all,

I'm a new Lexus owner, I picked up My '95 ES300 to use as a daily driver to and from the train station.

When I'm braking at very low speeds (less than 10mph) I get a very short burst of pedal pulsing/vibration right before the car comes to a complete stop. During this pulsing the car feels like there is much less brake force being applied, and the car "slides" forward a bit more. As soon as the pulsing stops the brakes grab and the car will come to a complete halt.

At all other speeds the brakes work as they should.

Any ideas what' causing this?

ohsimachi

anybody out there?

mdbrown

Is this only when braking? If so I'd venture a guess it's warped brake rotors.

ohsimachi

Yes, only when braking at very low speeds. The vibration is rapid and sharp, and lasts for less than half a second, it almost feels like the ABS is pulsing the caliper.

At all other speeds the brakes perform well with no pedal feedback.

mdbrown

Rapid and sharp does sound more like the ABS system. I take it no warning lamps are lit. You might try taking it to a dealer and have them check for pending codes. A generic tool isn't going to get to the manufacturer specific codes.

ohsimachi

No, no warning lamps, but given the condition of my dash lights that doesn't mean its just not burnt out!

ohsimachi

bringing this thread back from the dead. So I've been driving my Lexus with the above described low speed pedal pulsing for about 6 months, but about 2 weeks ago I started getting symptoms of a warped rotor and possible stuck caliper.

I replaced pads and rotors on the front, and what I found while I was in there was that the front driver's side hub and everything around it was coated in super thick, gloppy black goop. two cans of brakekleen and and a couple of heavy duty brushes later I got it all cleaned up. One thing I noticed also was that the wheel speed sensor for the abs on the driver's front looked very new compared to the passenger side (new brackets, and the metal tube the wire goes into before it goes behind the wheel arch cover was very new and shiny).

So after replacing the front pads and rotors, and purging all the brake fluid for new, the low speed pulse is still there, but the rotor warp is gone.

Anybody have any ideas?

JonnysES

One of your speed sensors is misreading, it could be bad or it could be dirty inside the hub. I can almost guarantee it's a speed sensor issue. If you want to easily disable the system to make the car safer in the short term just take out the back seat and unplug one of the grey connectors by the door. This is the connector for the rear abs sensors. The brakes will work just fine but can and will lock up as if abs didn't exists because that will disable the abs system.