Cyberdave

Here’s what happened with my 2013 Edge SEL’s HCU (hydraulic control unit / ABS) and Master Cylinder. And then my question has to do with could having the front brakes replaced, if a mistake was made, over time, cause this failure? Back in 2019 at 60k miles I had the brake booster replaced under TSB 13N02 and the master cylinder had to be replaced as well. Now it has 110k miles. A week ago I was exiting the highway and the brakes appeared to not work as the pedal went to the floor and then started working that way. Was scary but in spite of no assist/booster they worked. There were no warnings or error messages at all. I took it the Ford dealer and they said it needed a new HCU and MC (“Found internal leaks present in the HCU and the brake master.”) and it was going to cost friggin $2000! I was gobsmacked. Like wtf?! I looked online and other people in the last few years have paid close to that. Once fixed, now the brakes work normally. Here’s the weird part. A year ago my regular shop replaced the front brakes (pads, rotors). Not long after, my wife who drives the car most of the time, said there was an odd noise/feel when slowing down or stopping. I tested it and when braking, slowing down from a slow speed to a stop there was a faint noise of something rubbing in the front wheel area. After some time, months, it was more noticeable. I checked here and online and read about warped rotors etc. but wasn’t sure that was the problem. It needed some other work this past May so when I took it to my regular shop I mentioned it to them and asked them to check it. They said they didn’t find anything wrong. Then later in May I was driving on a small side street and the brakes wouldn’t work unless it went to the floor. It didn’t last long though, went away. Now, since the fix, the brakes no longer make that noise. I am wondering therefore if it’s possible that when my regular shop replaced the front brakes that something was damaged which eventually caused (the friction/rubbing noise and) the failure of the HCU/MC? Is that possible or unlikely? Thanks for any insights!

Cool! How many miles? How's it going with it?

You also mention this in a prior post from this thread, at 40mph and lower braking causing this. My car started doing this the other day. The front brakes were replaced by my mechanic 2 or 3 months ago. Do you know what was causing this for your brakes? Thanks!

You're lucky! If it matters Consumer Reports gave the LX25 a lower score than the LX20. I looked at options and decided to go with Falken Ziex CT60 A/S. While they are not rated as highly as the LX25 by CR, in looking at other professional reviews and user reviews it sounded like a great tire. My other cars have used Falken for years and they've always been good. And I'm not giving Continental another dime! It should be noted in my research I found a lot of people complaining about the LX20 and/or Continental in general and trying to get them to replace their tires for breach of warranty for premature wear or other problems. It's worth looking into. I also noticed that the UTQG rating on the LX20 was 680 and the new tires of both are 740. I guess we'll see if that makes a difference. So far I haven't noticed any difference between the LX20 and the Falken's. We recently had snow and they worked fine.

So to follow up (and I posted a longer one in the thread I referenced previously), the LX20's only lasted 34k miles on my car which I am very disappointed with considering what they are supposed to be.

Hey folks, I'm coming back to do a follow up on the review and wear of this tire. I have since put 34k miles on them and had them rotated and aligned. Today when I took the car in for another rotation they said the tread wear was unsafe and I needed new tires. They gave me a quote which included a warranty discount from Continental for not making it to the 60k or 70k guaranteed life. The quote was for the updated LX25. I said I would think about it. I got it home and measured them myself. Am very disappointed in this tire and the tread wear and not even making it through over half of what was supposed to be the life time wear. I figured if I made it to 50k miles that would be fine. But 34k?! F Continental! Why would I buy another set of Continentals that only make it through half the supposed tread life? I have to find something else.

A few years ago I was going to be leaving my car in the driveway for a month as I was going out of town and the driveway was on a little incline. I didn't want a problem while I was gone so I put on the emergency brake. I get back a month later and once I started driving I realized there was a problem with the brakes. I had it looked at and the rear brakes were toast! That was a $700 mistake I will not forget! I had parked the car facing my garage. The guy at the Ford dealer told me I didn't need to use the emergency brake if I parked the other way around, that the "engine brake" or something would lock and keep the car from moving. That's what he told me anyway. At any rate, now I don't use the emergency brake unless there really is a need to and that means almost never. I moved so I don't have that driveway anymore.

This is turning into a really weird story if you want to know. Once I knew what it was (and after looking at a video online), I looked under the car and saw each exhaust had one. I couldn't see the one behind the exhaust but I saw the one in the front. As you can see from this photo it looks different, it's not the same one. I looked under my other car and nope not that one either. The road in front of my house is a busy one and it's bumpy but people don't often realize that. My theory is that someone going too fast over the bump lost theirs and it bounced into my driveway!

I did some googling and it looks like probably the answer is NO!

Ok thanks! Do you think it is OK to drive the car until I can get it put back on?

2013 Edge AWD Since it fell out onto the driveway I assume it probably came from the Brakes, Chassis or Suspension? Or maybe something related? Should I be concerned? Thanks for any info!

I took the car into Ford and they looked into it. They said that the brake light switch was sticking (which is why pressing the brake pedal again would turn the lights back off) and they were able to reproduce the problem even on level ground. They claimed it was not related to the booster/master cylinder work. They replaced it - $30 for the part and $135 for labor.

Yes rear brake lights with spoiler light. Yes only on inclines (other ones I've parked on too) and not on level ground. I dont use cruise control but I could try it. With more testing I found that when I turn the car back on, I just need to press the brake pedal and not put it in gear, then turn it off, in order for pressing the remote to get the car to lock with no brake light on.

This is the weirdest thing. 2013 Edge SEL. The brake booster was replaced (under warranty) along with the master cylinder about 6 weeks ago by a local Ford dealer. Last week I parked in my driveway which is on a slight incline and when pressing the remote to lock the car the rear brake lights stayed on. (I am NOT using the emergency brake. ) I tried using the remote to unlock and relock the car and it didn't work. I got in the car and turned it on and off and that didn't work and finally what worked was turning the car on, putting it in drive, putting it back in park, then turning it off. Then get out and lock with the remote and the brake lights turned off. This happens when the car is parked either front in or backed in. It does not happen when the car is just on the street or in a parking lot on level ground. It is the weirdest damn thing! Does anyone have any idea why this is happening? Could it be related to the brake work that was done? Or something else? I haven't taken it in yet but I'm going to have to. ... Thanks!

When trying to decide what tires to replace for my car I looked at the LX20, Bridgestone 422 ECOPIA, and some kind of hybrid like the Toyo Celsius CUV. I really couldn’t afford to get two sets of tires – all season and winter tires. I needed one set of tires which would be good with snow but also good all around in general. By good with snow I mean not just starting from a stop which is not a problem with AWD but stopping and going around curves. My Michelin Latitudes after they down to about 6/32s would no longer stop properly on snow, the ABS kicked in and the car kept sliding. I did a completely new (google) search for all season tires good on snow and two tires came up. Nokian WR G3 and Toyo Celsius. I had never heard of Nokian before nor about the Celsius. The first thing I looked at was a report by Consumer Reports about these tires being a new inbetween tire – inbetween all season and winter – being called an All Weather tires. In their tests CR said both tires were very good. I began to look into them in more detail. While numerous Nokians were available at Discount Tire near me for my wife’s Subaru Forester, they were not for the Edge. But the Celsius were available from Ford and the Ford site showed them as including not only a generous $140 in rebates but a “No Regrets Trial” period from Toyo – 45 days or 500 miles. I checked the Toyo site and it said the trial was either exchange or refund. Since only the Toyos were available for me, I looked into those and found a number of independent car sites who tested the tires in winter and said the test results were good. I also looked up and found a number of tire sites with consumer reviews from people who would want a tire like that in the northern US states and Canada. The reviews were all mostly positive, people liked the tires and they worked well. There were however a few people who complained that the tires didn’t seem to be able to be balanced properly, that there was noise and vibration. One person complained that when they were going between 60 and 70 mph the car started vibrating. Given the number of other positive reviews and the fact that tires can vary by vehicle and maybe there were install problems with those people, I would probably be OK with getting the tires. So I decided to get them. I was really hoping they would be great because I didn’t want to go through the bother of returning them. I kept my old tires just in case. After installation I checked the tires pressure and tread. The tread depth was uniformly 10/32. I did some driving around. I had read that some people said these tires had more rolling resistance and as a result they would get a couple less mpg. I noticed that on first driving them. They didn’t seem any noisier than the Michelin’s either by listening or by using a sound measuring app on my phone. What did seem more pronounced however was the tires transmitted bumps and other imperfections in the road. It got worse when I went over 45 mph on a less than perfect road and on the highway. On the highway (around here) there is a bump every 50? Feet and so it felt like I was driving over a washboard. I can see now how someone would describe that as increased vibration. The tires were balanced correctly because they worked fine on perfect stretches of road. The problem of course is that where I live there aren’t too many stretches of perfect road. I decided to return them. I have a theory about why the tires were a problem on my CUV but yet why they may be fine on other people’s sedans. I noticed that the tires had a different profile than the Michelin’s. The Michelin’s don’t look like they are inflated all the way whereas these looked like they were overinflated. When I took them back to Ford service the guy checked them because he said they looked over inflated. I am wondering if this is due to a firmer sidewall which makes the tires less flexible and thus more prone to transmitting road vibrations. My car has a firm suspension so it needs a tire that has a more comfortable and flexible ride. A firm suspension coupled with a less flexible tires means more vibrations and noise. So a car, a sedan, with a more cushioned suspension may work just fine with these tires. (I'm sure the rubber formula is a factor also.) Anyway about 5 days later I went back to the dealer to talk to service about returning them. They said I would have to talk to the parts manager and they were out that day so I had to go back a couple days later. I figured there was going to be some red tape and this could take some time. When I went back they had to figure it out but it didn’t end up taking that long. One gotcha though is that while the trial gives you a refund of the cost for mounting and balancing, when you have your own tires put back on, you have to pay for that. So it cost me $80 for a trial of the tires. But at least I got a refund for everything else. I think also I was fortunate that this dealer is customer friendly and oriented. One who goes to a less friendly dealer may end up having more problems returning them. Also note that on Consumer Reports tests, the Celcius rates at 64, the Nokian at 66, and the Conti LX20 at the top at 74. I describe the Conti LX20 which I ended up getting in the post "Anyone have Conti CrossContact LX20 experience?" and that's what I remain with, probably the best bet for the money for me anyway.