Holy cow, a sudden scary turn of events! Our venerable, honorable, and reliable old 245 wagon has been running like a champ with no complaints (except a dimly pulsating battery light which I take to be the VC and/or alternator, but that's for another post). However, tonight I experienced the following:

At about 60mph, got a vibration that felt like an out-of-balance wheel. Slowed down a bit, then resumed speed with no further vibration. I had been afraid I'd had a flattened tire but then assumed it must've been the road surface or something. At a subsequent stoplight a few minutes later, caught a whiff of burning brakes or clutch, but no symptoms from the car -- stopped normally, pedal felt fine.

Got to our destination, unloaded our cargo (took about 10-15 minutes), and went to pull out of the driveway when...brake pedal goes to floor, car keeps going! Fortunately the ebrake functioned and I backed the car into the driveway, where it sits awaiting daylight viewing.

In doing a little searching on this board, I'm wondering if my junction block might be shot, or just the master cylinder, or something else? If the junction block is leaking, wouldn't I get a warning light? Of course that may not be functioning properly for all I know. And prior MC failures have given me some warning in the past.

Suggestions? I am a wrench turner on our Saabs but haven't done a great deal on the Volvo. I should note that we had the rear calipers, pads, rotors and shoes replaced about a year ago, but obviously no problems till now.

Thanks in advance!

David Ingram
david9000s@earthlink.net

My bet is the octopus/junction block for the loss of brakes. It works on balance, so if the alert switch seal in the block fails, there's no imbalance, because you've lost both sides at the same time.

The smell could've been brake fluid burning on the engine block after spraying out of the block, and the shuddering could've been a frozen caliper piston.

Needless to say, you need to hold an investigation. Volvo brakes are easy to work on, if a bit complicated.

Octopus is on lower firewall, driver's side. Crawl under behind the front wheel and look up with flashlight. Turn front wheel hard right for easier access.

"caught a whiff of burning brakes or clutch"
It may be boiling brake fluid caused by a seized brake? Though you should have felt some pull. Check the front brakes since each has both brake lines of the dual brake system.

You'd have to puncture both brake lines or lose both seals in the master cylinder to lose your brakes in the dual system that the 240 has (excluding ABS).
--
1980 245 Canadian B21A with SU carb and M46 trans

In further followup, the whiff of burning brakes still hangs around a cold car near the front right caliper. Spells a seized caliper to me, but would this really result in a complete brake failure, pedal all the way to the floor with no resistance?

Brakes worked today, albeit spongily. Thanks for the info guys. Can you confirm that boiling fluid would completely fail the brakes?

yes I can confirm from personal experience that boiling the fluid will result in NO brakes at all. often followed by temporary incontinence. get them fixed!

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