About a week ago I had cruise control on and hit the brakes. They were so stiff I had to jam them very hard to get them to engage but they seemed to be fine after that. I assumed it was an isolated incident but yesterday it seemed to be back. Now everytime I brake the pedal is difficult to depress and it wants to stay in the down possition. I'm 100 miles from a dealer and would like to avoid a trip if anyone has advice (I'm out of warranty)

 

Could be a problem in the master cylinder.

Get it looked at soon. You may find you have no brakes when you really need them.

 

Second on the Brake Cylinder... had the same problem in my old car... the brakes needed to be bled and the master cylinder needed to be replaced. DO NOT drive it... I almost got into a few accidents that way... Don't mess with the car if the brakes dont work...

 

Ok so after some more exploration of the brake problem what seems to be happening is the break pedal is actually staying in the down position. I physically have to lift it up with my foot. When I hit the breaks it's stiff but the worst of it they don't come off. I'm dropping off at the dealer tomorrow but I've never heard of this before. The master cylinder makes sense but last time I had an mc fail the symptoms were different. I noticed the linkage behind the pedal is quite rusty. Would it be a bad idea to wd40 all the linkage to check before I make a 200 mile trip just to have the dealer charge me an assload to do the same thing?

 

That might have something to do with it not returning.

The "hard to apply" part doesn't seem like it would be just corroded linkage.
That is more likely to be in the master cylinder.

Try the WD-40. See what happens.

 

I did just hear about a massive brake recall fro
from jeep..... Only heard about it on the news. Still have not got any paper work on the mail.... Good luck.