Power Booster Help (2003 Dodge Ram 2500)

[Charles LLeaf]

Greetings,

New to the forum here. Looks like a great place for shared info that I will certainly be referencing from time to time.

Right now, I am having an issue with the installation of a new Power Brake Booster for my 2003 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 Hemi 5.7. I put the new booster in and it doesn't work. It takes forever to stop my truck.

I am attaching a photo of what appears to be a nozzle on the booster (see the red arrow). Should anything be attached to this small nozzle? I can't seem to find out what it is for, nor what to do with it.

Also, could anything else be causing this new booster not to work?

Any advice here would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Charles

 

[rule18]

Welcome to RamForum. This thread's been moved to a more appropriate area, you'll get more views/responses.

 

[HemiLonestar]

No lol.....there should be a cap. You have a giant vacuum leak. Do you still have your old one to compare it with? If you had a different engine that wasn't FBW that port would be part of the cruise control system if I remember right.

 

[MoPowered]

Yep, sounds and looks to me like it’s vacuum leak, I can’t believe the truck is stopping at all.

 

[Charles LLeaf]

No lol.....there should be a cap. You have a giant vacuum leak. Do you still have your old one to compare it with? If you had a different engine that wasn't FBW that port would be part of the cruise control system if I remember right.

Thank you for the reply.

I don't have the old booster anymore, but I DO know that old one didn't have a cap, either. I bought the truck like this. I will see if I can find a cap for it.

In regards to the vacuum, I took off the big hose and there was no vacuum air coming out towards the booster. Tomorrow, I will check that hose to make sure it is pushed in all the way. There could be a big hole on it somewhere that I don't know about.

Again, many thanks.
Charles

 

[Charles LLeaf]

Yep, sounds and looks to me like it’s vacuum leak, I can’t believe the truck is stopping at all.

Yep, stopping, but barely.

Charles

 

[HemiLonestar]

This is what you should have:

 

[Charles LLeaf]

This is what you should have:

View attachment 228824

Excellent. Thank you. Just what I needed to see. Definitely missing a cap on that small nozzle. Will check the big hose tomorrow.

Thanks, friend.

 

[Charles LLeaf]

Just a heads up on my situation with my brake power booster and hard brake pressure which barely stopped my truck. I pulled off the larger black hose, as shown in HemiLonestar's photo above, and found that there was no air passing through it. None whatsover.

And so, I ran a small dowel through it, and found a blockage. It was the cap to that small nozzle we discussed above, stuck inside. I've been driving this truck for 4 yrs since purchasing it at a used car dealer, without that nozzle capped off, yet did have brakes all this time even though they weren't the best. The nozzle likely repositioned itself in recent days and really stuck good, blocking the vacuum pressure entirely.

Now that the large hose is cleared, and the small nozzle is capped, my brakes stop on a dime.

Sure appreciate your help here. You've all been a real lifesaver. I'll be sticking with this forum from now on, for reference. You guys are terrific.

Thank you, again.
Charles

 

[HemiLonestar]

You're welcome and thanks for following up. I can honestly say in 30yrs I've never heard of that happening and I've been witness to some back asswards **** lol.