Pontiac Brake Booster
The brake booster is used on Pontiac vehicle to boost the leverage given by the
driver on the brake pedal. This device is located under the hood and is sitting
on the driver side at the back of the engine compartment. Pontiac brake booster is a vacuum operated device which is sometimes called as the heart of the power
brake system.
Basically, the brake booster of your Pontiac vehicle uses the vacuum that is
produced by the engine to increase the braking power that the driver provides.
In operation, the master cylinder which is mounted directly in front of the brake
booster forces the hydraulic fluid to flow out of the cylinder. The fluid passes
through the ABS hydraulic modulator assembly in order to provide even braking
power to all four wheels of the Pontiac vehicle. The fluid then flow through the
brake hoses until it reaches the brake caliper where it forcedly presses the brake
pads against the rotor. And thus the braking takes place.
Pontiac brake booster uses the byproduct differential of the engine vacuum (which
is basically the negative pressure that is produce when the burning process of
the air and fuel occurs) and the atmospheric pressure to multiply the force applied
to the brake pedal. The increased force is applied to the pushrod of the master
cylinder, generating more hydraulic pressure from the master cylinder.
Pontiac brake boosters are generally very reliable and need no regular maintenance.
Some brake booster have small filter in the vacuum case which allow a cleaner
vacuum to be used. But just the same, this type of filter need to be inspected
regularly and should be replaced periodically to ensure a consistent flow of vacuum
to the booster.