I have plenty of meat on the rear and front pads but the car feels heavy when I brake.

The feeling is like a loaded uhaul or a motorcycle with a passenger. You know how you have to over compensate for the weight. The only problem is I have no extra weight.

Any input is appreciated

 

lack of vacuum boost? check the vacuum hoses to the brake booster, and especially the one-way valve

(this is generic advise for most any car)

 

How many hose are on the brake booster and is there special way to check them?

 

one big fat one. there's a right angle plastic fitting on the brake booster and a black hose thats around 15mm in diameter that connects to the intake manifold vacuum tree.

this fitting on the brake booster can fail


or the hose itself can fail, or its connection at the manifold.


edit: the brake booster is the drum thing thats mounted on engine side of the firewall right in front of hte brake pedal, the brake master cylinder and brake fluid reservoir are mounted on the front side of it.

 

ps.s you didn't give the year/model car you have, or what national version it might be. 240/740/940 covers cars from the mid 70s through 1995, with numerous engineering changes over the years, and europe/asian versions are not always the same as US versions. many of the later models have ABS, they used a bunch of different brake calibers, etcetc.

 

White plastic check valve is 50$. Is it possible to leave this line connected after I disconnect the manifold?
Thank you for providing the answer to my last question before attempting to pcv! Happy man in Louisiana!