I have a 1998 (2.0 4-cyl) Ford Contour. I was on my was going to work today, when my breaks suddenly didn't work. It was like there was something under the break pedal. I had to press it extremely hard to get the breaks to engage. They hardly went down. I took it into a body shop and they said that the upper intake manifold was bad. I'm not sure how that makes my brakes hard to press. But, I'm trying to find where I can buy my parts. Or better, how can I "rig"it to work without buying a new part till I can buy a new car!

Chris

 

The brake booster gets vacuum from the upper intake manifold via a hose. See where the hose attaches tot he manifold.

If the manifold is truly broken you should have some rough idle issues as well. Did you get a CEL coming on?

If needed you should have no problem getting a manifold from a junk yard at a reasonable price.

 

That makes perfect sense. I did not receive a coffee other than a code that has been on there forever. Crankshaft position senor. Could it be just the intake manifold gasket?

 

Oh. I forgot to say that my car is idleing very very rough.