'98 540i towed home for P.S. pump seizing, now brakes are hard to use

[scyrusurcys]

UPDATE: Problem has been solved, see post #2.

Just finished replacing my power steering pump after my previous pulley seized up and nearly shredded my belt. Now, with a new pump and a new belt, my brakes are not stopping like they should - the pedal is hard to press and stopping from even 20mph requires most of my weight on the pedal before the car will start to slow down. My battery died overnight and had to be jumped off but I don't know if anything electrical would cause the brakes to act this way. The car was showing the ABS warning light before this happened but there were never any reported problems with the brakes. Any ideas on what might have changed during this chain of events? I'm stumped.

[scyrusurcys]

Just finished replacing my power steering pump after my previous pulley seized up and nearly shredded my belt. Now, with a new pump and a new belt, my brakes are not stopping like they should - the pedal is hard to press and stopping from even 20mph requires most of my weight on the pedal before the car will start to slow down. My battery died overnight and had to be jumped off but I don't know if anything electrical would cause the brakes to act this way. The car was showing the ABS warning light before this happened but there were never any reported problems with the brakes. Any ideas on what might have changed during this chain of events? I'm stumped.

Problem solved. At the time the brakes were not compressing properly, the battery was very low on voltage (from dying overnight and being jumped off the following morning) - the initial OBC checklist would not scroll through the cluster, the cabin lights were flickering, and the engine was idling very rough (shaking the car) . After moderately drinking on this newfound issue last night, then cranking it up today, the lights are at full power and the OBC checklist is scrolling like normal.

Before I cranked it I did notice a tiny sliver of cracked vacuum hose (from the master cylinder to the back of the crankcase) so I patched that up with a crapload of tape to see if anything would change. Now I'm unsure if the culprit was the hose or the weak battery. There's no fluid leaking anywhere around any of the brake boosters, master cylindern, or brake lines so I think I'm in the clear with this issue. Regardless, a new hose is on order and I'm fairly satisfied with the current state of the vehicle. Now, to get back to driving my car like I've always enjoyed doing... until the next project!

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