The Chevrolet Colorado is a type of truck that is smaller than full-size pickups. The 2017 version is popular for its ability to carry heavy loads and handle different terrains.
A brake vacuum pump helps your car's brakes work more easily. If it breaks, you have to push the brake pedal much harder to stop the car, which can be dangerous.
Engine vacuum is the pressure difference created when your car's engine is running. It helps many parts of the car work better, like the brakes, by providing the necessary force to assist in stopping.
The camshaft is a part of the engine that helps open and close the valves, which lets air and fuel in and exhaust out. It's important for how well the engine runs.
The power brake booster helps you stop your car more easily by using vacuum pressure. It makes pressing the brake pedal less tiring, especially in larger vehicles.
European cars are vehicles made by manufacturers from Europe. They sometimes have unique parts that can fail more often than those in cars from other regions.
An emergency braking situation is when a driver has to stop the car quickly to avoid hitting something. This can be very stressful for the car's parts.
A catastrophic failure is when something breaks in a really bad way, causing a lot of damage. In cars, this can mean the engine stops working completely.
The valve cover is like a lid for the engine that keeps important parts safe and helps keep oil inside. It's important for the engine to work properly.
Sorry Chevy fans. Chevy Colorado. I'm not familiar with all the different vehicles.
New vehicles. This is somewhat new. What was going on with this vehicle?
The owner of this vehicle happened to be out driving near our shop and hit the brakes and
all of a sudden they didn't work very well. They went from being normal brakes to pressing on the
pedals, pressing on a rock. So they pulled into our parking lot and said, Hey, I got some problems
with my brakes. We looked at the vehicle and verified it. It was actually quite frightening
to just drive the car around our parking lot, push the brake. You had to push exceptionally
hard to even stop and it seemed to lock the front wheels up and stuff. It was actually really
scary. Initially I thought, okay, the power brakes have stopped, which was the case, but
it seemed like there was some other problem as well. But at the end of the day, basically there
was no power brake and we determined the brake vacuum pump, which is located on the back of the
engine had failed. It wasn't providing any vacuum to the power brake booster. So that was the diagnosis
in a nutshell. And a pump on the back of the engine. Is that something that's new? That's not
how they used to be, right? No, they never used to have them. Basically power brake booster,
vacuum boosters used to and still do on some cars operate from engine vacuum as an engine's running.
And this is not a diesel. It's a gasoline engine. There's a lot of vacuum created in the intake
manifold. And so you can use that vacuum that basically is free energy to provide power brakes.
They basically do that, but it seems manufacturers have found it more reliable to actually have a
separate pump to generate the vacuum. It's on a turbocharged vehicle. For instance, a lot of times
the engine may not be in so much in vacuum, but under pressure, that doesn't create the vacuum
you need for the brakes. So I guess a vacuum pump is pretty common on a lot of vehicles.
Let's have a look at what this was here. This is a new pump. This goes on the back of the engine.
Is that right? It bolts onto the back of the engine. It's a little fiddly to get out,
but it basically it unbolts. And if you look in the center of that pump,
you can see a sort of a raised area. That's the part that's driven by the back of the camshaft.
And as the camshaft rotates, it drives the vacuum pump. That little blue thing down at the bottom
left is just a cap that came on the brand new one. But that's where the hose goes to the
power brake booster. So as the pump turns, it generates vacuum and that provides you power
brakes. So what looks different here? Yeah, so what looks different here? This is the broken pump.
So this pump failed. We've replaced a lot of vacuum pumps on cars, mostly European,
because they leak oil. There's some oil flowing through them and they leak oil.
It's not critical, but it's irritating and messy. So anyways, this is the first time we've seen one
fail where the actual little drive piece just snapped apart, but it actually broke the housing.
Initially, we determined what was wrong, vacuum pumps bad, let's order a new one,
then we pulled it out and realized we're in for a little more work than we expected because
of the housing being cracked. You can see that like chunks of metal, not just the brownish
color stuff, but you can see the aluminum on the housing is broken off like quite a lot of it.
So it was a pretty catastrophic failure and would have been even worse had the person been in an
emergency braking situation. In order to proceed further, we had to pick out those pieces. There
was bits of metal that didn't come out. We had to pick those out at the back of the engine. So we
had to remove the valve cover again, another ordeal and more expensive parts and labor to take
everything apart. But it was really important to get the chunks of metal out so we could actually
put the pump back in and make sure there wasn't metal floating around inside the engine. So
we managed to get everything out of there. And yeah, it's a fair bit of work and lucky for the
customer that these things apparently do fail. This is the first one we've seen. But in doing
a little research, we find that it's not uncommon for these to fail. And sometimes it actually wipes
the camshaft out too. So the owner was lucky. And that's a very expensive operation. Yes,
that is very much more expensive operations. So after repair, everything is good. The brakes
are working properly. Brakes are working properly. It would have been less expensive,
not necessary. Had to just add a vacuum hose to the intake manifold. But I guess the engineering
department and their wisdom chose to make it more complicated. They always probably have reasons for
it. But sometimes it doesn't seem apparent when you fix it. So this is a four cylinder, six cylinder?
Four cylinder, 2.5 liter. And how common is this engine among Chevy products? Yeah, it's pretty
common. So this isn't just Colorado's that might have this issue. This is across multiple. You know
what, I actually don't know what other platforms have it. But I'd say it's probably more in the
truck market, not in cars. Yeah, I think you're going to find it in trucks. And of course, the
Colorado's a small truck. So you're not going to find this 2.5 in a 1500 Sierra. And is that something
that's on the V8s or the V6s that they do this sort of pump? Some car some manufacturers do.
Vacuum pumps are very common, as I said, on European cars. But this is the first time we've
ever seen one actually break apart. If you're looking for service for your Colorado Chevy
products in Vancouver, BC, the guys to see are Pollock Automotive. You can reach them online
at PollockAutomotive.com. You can book your appointment right there. Or you can call them
604-327-7112. They'll answer the phone and they'll talk to you or they'll get back to you if they're
really busy. Pollock Automotive in Vancouver. You have to book ahead. They're always busy,
always, period. Best auto repair in Vancouver. Call them. Get your stuff fixed. Keep running them
alive. Thanks so much for watching and listening. Thanks, Bernie. Thanks, Mark. Thanks for watching.
About this episode
A 2017 Chevy Colorado faced a critical brake issue when the owner experienced a sudden loss of braking power. The diagnosis revealed a failed brake vacuum pump, which is responsible for providing the necessary vacuum to the power brake booster. The discussion highlights the unusual nature of this failure, including the need for extensive repairs due to a cracked housing. The episode also touches on the engineering choices behind using a separate vacuum pump instead of relying on engine vacuum, and the implications for other Chevy models.
