Hi All, I have a 530i Sport that I ordered new with an 7/06 build date. I have noticed since new, that the brake pedal is hard (no vacuum) after the car sits for while. I have documented the problem with my dealer. The dealer replaced the brake booster vacuum hose and seal 4 days ago. They said these parts were defective. My wife drives this car so I did not get a chance to verify the fix until this morning (4 days after fix). After sitting overnight, I noticed on startup that the pedal felt hard. So it appears the fix did not address the issue. The Dealer did say the problem only occurs after shutdown so vacuum is ok when car is running. Have any of you noticed a hard brake pedal on your e60 at start up? Thanks, Sean
Hard Brake Pedal Sean - I have about the same 08/06 vintage 530xi. I also have noted that the brake pedal is hard on startup, and it doesn't seem to matter if the shutdown is five minutes or five days in the past...it's always hard. I figured that this didn't have any real meaning if the car would stop when I pushed on the brake...and stop it does (that's why I'm cleaning wheels so much). I can only infer that you and I and many others grew up with that old admonition about the pedal sinking to the floor being a bad thing (which it was, then). I guess the E60's alive when the engine is running, and sleeping, or getting ready to when it's not. Now, I'm trying to figure out why it suddenly goes to sleep on its own while I'm sitting in it, and talking on the BT. It never did that before...
I am not stepping on brake pedal when I get out of car. BTW, my 01 330Ci holds brake vacuum for days. Well after replacing the brake booster vacuum hose and gasket the problem still remains. My SA has requested that I bring the car back. they want to get to the bottom of the problem. i will keep you posted. In my research I have seen this problem on 07 e60s with build dates prior to 5/07. Again, the brakes work fine under normal operation. After shutting the car off (5 minutes or longer) the brake pedal gets hard. Vacuum is leaking out of the brake system after shut down. My concern is if the vacuum leak is occuring while the car is running becuase if so then unfilterd air could be making its way into the engine. I have seen posts on bimmerfest where an e60 driver had the vacuum check valve replaced which fixed this problem for a while but then it returned.
