Had a scary experience where the brakes were firming up on the van to the point where I was almost unable to stop at a low idle during a trip to grab some wood for another project. Luckily I made it through the valley and up the mountain to get back home to diagnose and repair the problem part and share it with you!

If you run into problems where your brakes are getting really stiff and your braking ability is significantly reduced, the vacuum pump is a common culprit to diesel vehicles in particular. It is needed to assist the master cylinder to allow for a pressure difference and give the user essentially more power to press the brake pedal down. This particular van is a 2003 Ford E-350 7.3 Powerstroke diesel, but could be used across multiple platforms of Ford trucks that used the 7.3 Powerstroke, although the location may be different.

The location on the van was surprisingly quite accessible and the replacement was a fairly easy plug and play. You have the option to buy the vacuum pump with a pulley already installed, or you can buy the raw part and remove and replace the old pulley onto the new pump. I chose to remove the pulley because it turns out a lot of the pumps with the pulley were unavailable, and I also wanted a good warranty since they don't seem to be made as well as they once were.

Options for the part and reviews were far and few between, and ultimately I settled on one from Autozone. I also was able to do the loan-a-tool program from Autozone as well to remove and install the pulley with that kit. It was pretty slick, and ended up being well worth the extra few minutes to swap the pulley over to the new part.

Didn't need too much in terms of tools but here's what I used:

- 24" Long 1/2" Breaker Bar https://amzn.to/4d1RWaq
- Phillips & Flathead Screwdrivers
- 10mm Combination Wrench
- 3/8 or 1/4 Socket Wrench
- Socket Set 5/16 for the air box bolts (1/4" Adapter if necessary)
- Medium Sized Crescent Wrench
- Channel Locks
- Pulley Remover and Installer ( You can loan these from any major auto parts store, but I might buy one because it was super easy to use and they're pretty cheap, the link is the brand they had) https://amzn.to/3B4jyOO
- 10mm offset closed wrench (I wished I had one of these because it would have made getting the bottom bolt out a lot easier https://amzn.to/3MDWxVE



Lastly here is the link to the part I bought from Autozone, make sure to check the fitment if you have differing years and configurations.
https://www.autozone.com/engine-manag...

The fix worked great and I noticed instantly the brakes were working a lot better. Happy to get her back on the road, and there will be a few more mechanical videos in the near future. Hope you enjoy and please let me know if you have questions or if you can help someone else make it easier drop a line down in the comments.

Thanks for watching and sticking with me, I know its been a while!


#homemechanic #rvlife #econoline #vehicles

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