My daughter is home from college between semesters so I decided to take her to lunch.

Jumped the the car, fired it up, stepped on the brake pedal and it was hard as a rock. I'd just driven it the day before and all was well.

I did all the usual checking and couldn't see anything amiss, so I figured it had to be the booster.

Bought a remanufactured one from O'Reilly's Auto Parts and when I removed the old one, found that the engine side of the case has a 6" crack in it, extending from the outer edge halfway to the center. That's what was causing the vacuum not to hold.

Can't figure how that could have happened. The booster has been on the car since I bought it in 2001, but I don't know if it's original or not. New booster solved the problem just installing one nut under the dash was a real PIA.

Has anyone ever had a power brake booster do that before?

Thanks,

Jake