Brake Disc Caliper problems of the 2008 Mercury Milan

Abs computer got fried and needed $2000 repair. Car has had intermittent hard brake pull to left since purchase in 2008. Just had to replace front calipers and rotors at cost of $680.

No brakes after abs comes on during driving on slippery roads or wet roads. Pedal goes to the floor. Will not reset. All of the brakes and calipers have been changed or checked. Have to pump to have brakes to get pedal to be able to stop.

Upon braking while driving over uneven pavement or loose gravel, or while accelerating through a turn, the abs [or traction control] malfunctions causing the brake pedal to sink to the floor and the braking distance to be dramatically increase. This has occurred four times now, twice with my children in the car, and the last time nearly had me get into an accident. While driving on the freeway at 55-60 mph, the vehicle in front of me had to brake suddenly due to a merge in front of them. I hit the brakes as normal, about 50% pedal depression, and the car started braking normally until it passed over a small patch of loose gravel on the freeway, at which point the pedal sank to the ground and the vehicle no longer proceeded to slow down. I had to veer to the left, nearly colliding with the center median and ended up passing the car in front of me because of the braking distance increasing. I have had this issue looked into and even a tech at the local Ford dealership says that it is a faulty abs hcu (hydraulic control unit), and that the valves sticking in the hcu cause the pressure to go into a semi-infinite loop instead of exiting out back to the calipers. This causes around 80% of the hydraulic pressure to be wasted, and braking requires depressing the pedal nearly to the floor. The tech admitted that there are new hcus available that do not have this problem, and there is a potential recall pending. The tech instructed me to remove the abs fuse as well as the abs pump fuse, which stops the problem from happening. I have confirmed after 10,000 miles that with the abs fuses out, the problem does not occur. I have contacted my attorney regarding this issue and am waiting on said potential recall for a repair to my vehicle.

While city and highway driving, vehicle wouldn't brake properly, brake pedal had to be pushed all the way to the floor, and still coasted to a stop, several times leaving me almost hitting the car in front of me as they slowed down or stopped. Had front brakes replaced at dealer in November, then rear brakes, including calipers, in mid December, (12-16) still the brake pedal went to the floor. Causing me to drive with extreme caution untill I could take it back to the dealer for some answers. The dealer kept the car for 4 days, (Dec 19-22) said it could possibly be the hcu pump and would be $1118. 00 additional dollars. They replaced the hcu pump, they called and said the problem still existed, and the pump was defective, and replaced it again. Ended up costing $902. 15 for the work. Extremely frustrated, the problem with the brakes are dangerous. The car has 99536 miles, and I feel trapped because of all that led up to this explanation and expense. Finally got the car back on December 22. Seems better, but not great at this short time I've had it back.

Twice in the last month my wife or I have experienced the same problem with the brakes. The problem is intermittent. Twice when approaching a stop sign at speeds between 20 and 30 mph and while braking and hitting a bumpy road section ( heat causing asphaly to form bumps at intersections) the brake pedal went too the floor and became quite unresponsive. We live in a rural area. In my wife's case she eventually stopped 3 or 4 feet past the entrance to the intersection. Fortunately neither time did we have an accident. The first time I took it to my mechanic. Who pulled all 4 wheels and found the brakes operated properly with no signs of overheating of the brakes disks, pads or calipers. In my case the brake only actuated , and was soft, well below the normal brake position. I pumped the brake 3 or 4 times to get the brake back to its normal braking height. The fluid level in the brake resevoir was between min and max. Within two weeks the same thing happened to my wige. I checked the brake fluid. And it was normal. My mechanic had no idea what was amiss. I googled "brake pedal sometimes goes to floor 2008 Mercury Milans" and found a number of similar experiences by other. I called my Ford dealer and he looked up any recommendations by for and found none. The threads on the various forum point to a problem with the abs system. Ford does not seem to acknowledge the problem yet there seem to be numerous instances.