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