I have a beautiful '88 red RX7 vert with 135K and have had her since she was new and its my 4th RX. Lately sometimes the brake pedal won't go down hardly at all but it stops ok and I don't have to apply extra pressure. When the brake thing first started an Rx owner friend said it could be the brake booster. Happens intermittently and today I went to the store and when I got into the parking lot the car acted like the parking brake was on and the pedal was tight. When I came out everything was back to normal but as I started the drive home the car would not move when I shifted and then it cut off. I waited and started it back up and about a mile later while in middle of a residential street the car would not go forward so I put it in reverse to back up onto the side of the street but it would not move. I was on a slight hill so put it in neutral so it would roll backward to the side of the street but it would not even do that. Weird? Nothing I did worked. I called our friend who is a home based master mechanic who works on our cars and he came to get me in the wrecker. He got in and it started and it moved just fine...of course it did!!! I told him everything I just wrote here. He checked the clutch play and it was fine. He looked through the wheels and said he thought maybe a caliper may have seized up. He followed me 1.5 miles home and the brake pedal was working again correctly and the car drove normally . He will come get the car at some point OR I will try to drive it the short distance to his home but I thought I would check in here to see if anyone has a clue. It was the strangest thing I have ever experienced especially not being able to roll it backward down the incline in neutral. Any help would be appreciated and thanks in advance.

Terri

 

i agree with your friend. it sounds like a caliper (or two) may be sticking for whatever reason. my MR2 Turbo used to do a similar thing, it turned out to be the parking brake cables. mine would do it on cold days, mostly mornings, so it was somewhat predictable. yours sounds a bit more random. at any rate, i would start by inspecting the brakes at all 4 corners.

 

Thanks for your post. My mechanic who is also a close friend and works out of his house is an old school master mechanic and he is positive its the right front caliper. It took me a long time to find one...scarce as hen's teeth. Even Rock Auto was a bust. I just PRAY its the right one. NAPA said its an exact fit....so here's hoping. Seems that when it seizes up and the car won't move.....if you wait a few minutes while the caliper cools down....its fine until the next time but I am not taking any more trips except the mile to his house.....fingers crossed.