ecurbnosre

On a drive through a very muddy (4 or 5 inches) road, I lost my brakes. The brake peddle went all the way to the floor with some braking action if you pumped the peddle but not enough to stop the vehicle. I assumed that there was a fluid loss as I had a brief locking of the rear brakes coming out of the garage and assumed there was some fluid on the lining.


Upon inspection of the fluid level, it was full for both front and rear. After being towed home I pulled the wheels and found no leaks and the rear lining was still in good shape although it had traveled 90K miles. I therefore assumed that the rear brakes section of the master cylinder had failed sometime in the past and as I drive the vehicle only occasionally I had not noticed the difference in peddle height. My diagnosis was that now the front section had failed. However, there were no warning lights or error codes.


After replacing the front pads and installing a new master cylinder and doing a one man bleed with a hose and jar of new fluid, I tried the brakes and found no change. There is minimal resistance in the peddle and it still goes all the way to the floor.


Now, I am suspecting the ABS control module. As the muddy road may have caused at least one rear and one front wheel to come to a stop actuating the individual wheel dump valves in the ABS unit, it is possible that those valves did not reset themselves after the wheels were again turning at the vehicle speed.


Has anyone had experience with this kind of problem and is there a way to reset the ABS unit by disconnecting the battery or by some other method?