I bought a 2001 ford escape February 2015. For awhile there would be an occasional grinding and the rpms would jump around alittle bit.

Today when I was driving to the auto store, it started acting up. It almost got me and my son in a bad accident.

I was coming up to a stop sign. when I hit ths brakes the pedal was hard. I could barely get it stopped.

When I took my foot off the brakes I noticed it was like it was on cruise control setting, because I didn't need to use the accelerator to pull out of that road it just went. It didn't use the accelerator the whole way to advanced. It did it by itself. When I got to advanced auto, and put it in park the RPMS shot up to 6000.

Any idea what could cause this?

 

The symptoms you describe lead me to believe your vehicle may have more than one problem.
The reason I say that is , the grinding noise you feel/hear could very well be your brake pads may be gone.
If there is a large vacuum leak it will cause the engine RPM to go high and also leave no vacuum to provide power assist to the vacuum powered brake booster. Checking these two items would be a good place to start.
A defective PCV valve, PCV hose or grommet could be responsible for the vacuum leak.

 

My brakes are all new and there's no leaks anywhere. My transmission doesn't even seem like it's slipping or acting weird. That was the first time it never did that episode. And I've never had any other vehicle do that to even take a guess at it.
I know there was a recall a few years ago on 2001 ford escapes. But idk how to go about checking of mine was one of them.

 

However, for quote awhile now. I've been hearing this hissing noise, like a air leak when I left off the brakes. When I took it to get inspected they couldn't find anything. It's like the mustering hissing noise when I left off the brake

 

If there is an engine problem it can affect trans operation, but at this time from where I am sitting,,, I do not believe there to be a trans problem.

The hissing noise is most likely the vacuum leak. Wherever you took it to be inspected , if state insp they might not look to do repairs don't know.

If you take your vehicle ID # into a Ford dealership they should be able to tell you if there are any outstanding recalls.

There are times when problems are intermittent and can be difficult to chase down, however, you must tell the shop all the circumstances of when the problem happens.
At this point I would strongly suggest to have a good/qualified shop try to locate that vacuum leak , the hissing you hear. If it only shows up when applying/releasing the brakes , the booster is suspect, but needs to be verified before replacing anything.
This is a safety item and is of the highest priority as I am sure you will agree !!!
Please have it checked ASAP.


Curious about all new brakes,
When were they replaced , exactly what did they replace/do, if you do a lot of stop and go driving they don't last too long. Can we ask where you had the brake work done and mileage from then to now ?

 

They were replaced 6-21 at Monroe brakes and muffler. Here in Pa.

I'll definitely have ford look into it..

 

The hissing shows up when I release the brakes and it will continue to lol the brakes are reapplied. I know there's something somewhere that needs fixed. But what really caught me off guard was how it was acting wednesday. It was like cruise control took over. And I never use cruise control.

 

I called ford and gave then my VIN there are no outstanding recalls on my model.

 

Some questions come to mind and they are, if you had the brake system worked on approx 1-2 weeks ago and the problem has surfaced since then , why not have a different shop check out the work of the former shop. There should be some reputable shops in your area to do this. Did you have this problem before having the brakes done?
If you did, I definitely would not take the vehicle back to that shop.

 

There has always been a hissing in the brakes even before I had them changed. When it was acting up that's the first and only time it did it. Occasionally there will be some weird grinding it does and the rpms jump around. But it did that before the brakes were touches as well.