My wife was an hour out of town when she called informing me she had no brakes. Scary right!

So I get there, look all around the engine while I've got the battery disconnected, resetting the computer thinking it's the "brake failure, pull over ASAP" issue we've had a couple times. Right before I close the hood I notice this detached, see attached.

I plugged it back in, finished hooking up the battery and she ran like a champ again. I traded her cars and drove it home. 10 miles from home it did it again, no brakes, or atleast no power assisted brakes. I had to stand on the pedal to come to a stop. Lifted the hood and there it was disconnected again.

What part is this? Is there a clamp that rotted away and came off that holds it in place? I can't find any diagram online that tells me.

 

That is just an adaptor piece that connects all of the hoses from the brake vacuum pump, turbo pipe, and intake manifold. If there is a leak in those line ( or in your case if it is broken) then you have no vacuum assisted brakes. The system is always hydraulic based so you will always have that unless there is a leak somewhere with that too.

 

Thanks for the response.

I attached a pic of it unattached. What would you do to secure this so it doesn't come off?

If it were to come off in heavy, fast traffic, there will definitely be an accident.

 

Yeah that thing is definitely broken and needs to be replaced

 

Exactly. It's not "unattached," it's broken. Pushing it back together is pointless.

It's a check valve, btw. When it comes apart you lose all the vacuum to your brake booster, hence virtually no brakes.