Cadillac Problems:
When the car is in drive and almost at a stop (the brakes are working) then they stop working and the car goes forward until the brakes re-engage in a few seconds and the car stops. During the time that the brakes are not functioning there is a sputtering sound; similar to when the ABS brakes are in a skid mode and you can feel the brakes pumping.
This has happened 3 times since I?ve had the car. Once, as I was stopping for a red light; I was almost to a complete stop and then the brakes were no longer working and the car, since it was in drive, went forward. It only took a few seconds, and the brakes started working and I came to full stop. The car traveled a few feet but no one was in front of me, so I thought it was just a quirk. The second time was entering my driveway, and the car was almost to a complete stop and the same thing happened, just for a few seconds. My other car was further down the driveway, so it had time to fully stop before I hit it. It must have been about six months between the first an second incident. This time I was parallel parking and was in the space and I put it in drive to straighten out the car. I was almost to a full stop and it did it again but this time there was not enough room between me and the parked car in front of me, so I hit it. Like always the brakes did engage, but only after I hit the car. The duration between the second and third incident was only a week.
Have the computer checked for trouble codes. ABS faults will store a C12XX type of code (C is for chassis).
Another possibility is a malfunctioning master cylinder, but these symptoms sound more like an ABS malfunction to me.
I have had a similar issue with my 1996 Cutlass Cierra wagon. The ABS has been activating on occasion when applying the brakes lightly. I will be getting it into a shop soon if I don’t find any information about driveway repair of this problem. The brake fluid in the master cylinder was low last week, and was topped up. I’m going to check the level and see if I’m having a loss of fluid.
Thanks for the info!!
A Cadillac dealer did check the computer but didn’t find anything. But I don’t know what codes they looked at.