IML: Vacuum Issues '63 LeBaron

["Eric" <gearhead@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Brandt,
Soggy brake pedal or hard brake pedal? The earlier post mentioned soggy 
brakes which would indicate something like a failed master cylinder. A 
permanently hard brake pedal would indicate a maybe a failure of the brake 
booster which I think would cause a hiss. I had a failure of the booster on 
my '72 Newport a few months ago (still driving w/manual brakes to the 
benefit of my right calf muscles) and as I recall, the day before it went I 
heard something like a whistle that got progressively worse until my motor 
would barely idle due to the vacuum leak in the booster. I took the hose off 
the booster and plugged it up. That took care of the whistling noise and the 
rough idle. That could be a good start in the diagnosis process for your 
LeBaron. That would be the largest of the hoses from the rear of the intake 
manifold running over to the right side of the brake booster.

The larger of the three vacuum hoses running through the firewall is for the 
auto parking brake release. One of the two smaller hoses in this grouping of 
three feeds vacuum from the fitting on the rear of the intake manifold to 
the interior side of the HVAC (heater) control system. The other small hose 
comes from the interior heater control system and goes back into the engine 
compartment and feeds the vacuum control unit that sits ontop of the heater 
core. The routing for that hose is: from 3 hose grommet in firewall then 
upwards along the left edge of the HVAC housing and then across the top of 
this housing. Be sure to use the factory clips to keep it off the exhaust 
manifold.

I recently had to fiddle with these so they are fresh in my memory, feel 
free to inquire if you want more info.

Eric
'63 Crown Four-Door
'72 Newport Custom sedan

********************************************
Subject: IML: Brakes - Update (1963 Le Baron)
Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 08:59:12 -0700
From: "Brandt Daniels" <bdaniels@xxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I looked under the hood the 1/2" vacuum tube that was coming out of the =
bulkhead was disconnected when i got the car so I dont think that is =
what is causing the hard brakes and the hissing sound. Then I looked to =
where it came in the car and saw it went up into the dash and i couldnt =
see where it was going so i removed the gauge panel and i saw where it =
ended. no hissing coming out of there when i stomped on the brakes. then =
I found the end of another vacuum tube that wasnt connected to anything. =
then I looked in my original service manual and saw that there was some =
kind of vacuum nozles behind the tranny shifter buttons I saw it was for =
the parking brake, and thats never been connected as far as I know since =
ive owned the car. that still doesnt account for the hissing of the =
service brake coming from behind the guages.=20
    Unfortunatly when I went to go start the car after removing the =
guages the car wouldnt start and it was getting late and dark out. so i =
had to stop for the night. but anyway when i turned the key I got =
nothing. no clicking of the relay at all. the interior lights worked =
still. but the headlights werent shining at all. so now im confused as =
to why the car wont start. I kinda need the car to start before I can =
listen for the hissing sound of the power service brakes.

-Brandt
Lake Forest, CA
1963 Le Baron



-----------------  http://www.imperialclub.com  -----------------
This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please 
reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be 
shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the
Administrators should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm