power brakes fadding at idle...vacuum pump dying?

Having some "low speed" or "low rpm" brake issues...

normal driving speeds/rpms the brakes are solid. It seems when I take it out of gear when I'm coming up to a stop it appears to brake fine the first pedal push or two...then as I get slower and real close to the stopping point I find that the brake pedal is suddenly harder to push with loses braking ability. I need to push extra hard to safely stop.

As soon as I drive off (rpms up) the brakes work just fine again as long as I'm driving down the road and the rpms are above idle range...until the next time I come to a stopping situation at idle.

It's kinda like the vacuum pump is putting out enough vacuum somewhere above idle but not at idle...

Is there a vacuum resivoir (no I can't spell it) involved in the braking system? I know there is one for the door lock system but not sure if it's connected to the driveline system.

Is the B4 pump rebuildable? My old Rabbit pumps were.

OK, just found this thread...will try that...

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=162913&highlight=vacuum+pump+rebuild

Get one of these. It will check everything in the vacuum system.

http://mityvac.com

Ol'Rattler said:

Get one of these. It will check everything in the vacuum system.

http://mityvac.com

Click to expand...

Got one...well it broke. they only seem to last a while...been thru a few hand vac pumps...

well it was that plastic vac line behind the battery...how do I know????

the car died yesterday...battery has been getting corrosion build up for a while...I keep cleaning it and it keeps coming back....

well it died yesterday evening and the positive post was separating from the case...guess acid was getting on the plastic vac hose cause about 2 inches of it was half eaten away...

I'll be pulling the new battery back out after work today and do a through cleaning and inspection of the battery area...