Spongey Brakes

[Bob Proctor]

I just had my 2002 24rb E450 in to the local Ford dealer for 45,000 mile service and noticed when I drove it home that the brake pedal now feels spongey. (It has always felt firm before.) As part of the servicing I had them lubicate the brake sliders, and they told me they also had to free up the pads(?).

Does anyone know of anything that might have been done during the servicing that could have caused the pedal to get spongey? I'm taking it back in on Monday and would appreciate any tips. I'm no mechanic, and their initial reaction when I called was to say there's nothing they could have done that would have caused this.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

[Bob Proctor]

It turns out the problem with the spongy pedal feel was probably caused by pad(s) being slightly out of position. During servicing the mechanic had noticed that the front pads were frozen and one of the rear pads was hanging up a bit, so he cleaned and lubed all pad slides. When he put it all back together the pads were no longer bedded in completely, but this corrected itself after driving for awhile and applying the brakes a number of times. No harm, no foul.