TL;DR My brakes violently pulsate and shudder when I press the brake pedal, trying to figure out why, have scheduled time tomorrow to see my independent mechanic who knows the Volt well. Scanned this forum and saw an EBCM software update helped someone with this.
I was driving home last night and gently pressed the brake pedal as I normally do to come to a stop. This time, however, there was a violent shuddering/pulsating, shaking the pedal and the car and reverberating through the steering wheel because it was so strong. There are no vehicle messages on the DIC and my VCX Nano won’t connect because I have to figure out how to update its firmware. When I shut the Volt off at home, the normal pump noises are funnier and louder.
Called my mechanic today and he said what I’m describing could be a warped rotor but he won’t know for sure until he test drives it and hoists it on the rack tomorrow. I’m open to that or maybe some debris got caught between the pad and rotor (did have pebbles stuck in my tires) or its something related to the Electronic Brake Control Module (EBCM), a bad or loose sensor, etc. Within the last year, I was told my pads and rotors look new, as they should in the Volt. Occasionally, when hitting a big Los Angeles street bump or pothole, the Volt would flash Low Traction on the DIC, then go way.
The violent pulsating presents at a full stop and in reverse too, but not when the Volt gradually slows itself in Low gear. Only when I press the brake pedal do things go nutty. Although I can probably get away with driving the 7 miles across crappy LA city streets in Low gear to my mechanic, the pulsating is so violent, I think I’m just going to schedule a flatbed tow to be safe.
I’m going to swap the electric drive unit fluid tomorrow too as the Volt’s maintenance schedule calls for that at 90k miles. Unsure if that’s related to this.
Prior to this brake spasm issue, for the past five or six months, I’ve experienced an ultra low speed/high pitch squeak when accelerating only, not braking. Vanishes at higher cruising speeds. I mention this only because maybe it’s a pre-symptom to what I experienced last night with the violent brake pulsating. Had the low speed, high pitch squeak looked at by my mechanic months ago when it surfaced and he didn’t find anything wrong.
Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers!
#Violent #brake #pulsatingshuddering #Volt #90k #miles..
