I think my vacuum pump suddenly went bad, the effect was loss of power assist on the brakes, and inablity to shut off the car by taking out the key.

My first lesson learned, is everyone with one of these cars should practice the drill of turning off the engine without the key. Once you do it, it is obvious, and triviously easy. Next to the valve cover, as looked at from the driver side, is a lever with the word "stop" on it in Red background. Press it down, the engine turns off.


I was like an idiot trying to turn the diesel off by disconnecting the battery. The guys were all saying, that's weird, you disconnect the battery and the motor kept running. Even though its diesel, and I should have known better, seeing is another story. Then I disconnected the fuel line at the clear filter and waited till the engine ran out of gas. After I learned from another thread, how to turn of the engine, I thought my return appreciation to the list is preach that everyone practice turning off the motor without the key. Try the manual shut off lever the next time you open the hood, or check the oil, you'll be glad you know how, if someday you need it.

What type of vacuum pull should the vacuum pump have? Does a working vacuum pump have power like a "shop vac", like an Orick, Hoover, etc, or is is low level and just be dimpling one's finger when pressed to the line between the vacuum pump and the brake booster?

My vaccum pump is just creating the finger dimpling level of vacuum, and I just cannot imagine that that feeble level of vacuum could make a difference in providing braking assist.


Just in case anyone reading this does not know how to locate the vacuum pump, ( I didn't until I had this problem) it is located at the front of the engine, driver side right near the air conditioning pump and the power steering equipment. The pump is not driven by an exterior belt, rather it is fairly integral appendage to the engine. The pump can also be located by following the path of a single thick metal hose encased with a black plastic cover that runs to the brake booster.