Hi guys,

Anybody ever have this issue:

I start car (2009 acura tl Sh-awd) in the morning, go off the drive and have no power assisted brakes...The pedal is super stiff as well... After 5-10 hard pumps, I heard a faint "click" sound under the hood and the pedal went soft (as it should be) and the brakes are working perfectly.

Any ideas what it could be? I just some research and found a few things about a check valve and the tubing for the vacuum hose/line is contaminated with moisture (so it's freezing) ?

Is it a common issue with these cars and how to fix?

Maybe need a fluid change in break lines. I had mine done at 4 year mark.

Air or water in the brake lines?? I would NOT mess around with brakes that don't function properly. Get those checked out quickly!

In the event your neighbor is looking for her cat, well I have some bad news

(just kidding!)

new brake fluid contains almost no water, over time the fluid absorbs water from the air and rusts the insides of the braking system. This same water can also freeze during cold conditions and cause brake system problems!

Replace brake fluid every 2-3 years! After you do that, see if your master cylinder is leaking at all and check the level of brake fluid. the fluid should be clearish-yellow with no mold growth in the container. The container is below the driver side windshield.

^^^^ +1 This.

Exact same thing happened to me a few days ago. Parked outside all day on a really cold day, and when I started driving the brake pedal wouldn't go down, I stomped on it and the car barely slowed down. My car is 5 years old and to my knowledge has never had the brake fluid flushed. Just took it in for the flush so hopefully that will solve the problem. By the way the local Honda dealer charges only $80 for it whereas the Acura dealer wanted $130.

another person complained of this problem with their 3G TL and it turned out to be a check valve in the brake booster vacuum line.

I haven't had the problem since flushing my brake fluid, despite parking outside on some very cold days since then. So I think the problem was water in my brake lines.

As mentioned above, moisture forms in the vacuum hose between the brake booster and the intake manifold, which then freezes when it's really cold. For the first few brake applications the pedal is rock hard and then returns to normal once some heat builds up. I had the same problem, have seen this problem before and a new hose / check valve fixed it both times.

Parts Diagram
Part Number 6 in this diagram, P/N 46402-TK4-A01