1997 Camry brakes and egr problems.

[dominicano1025]

I recently bought a 1997 Camry 4-cylinder. There is a light on the dash that might be related to the brakes. I will post a pic. The next day when I was driving, the brake pedal would go almost to the floor when I went to brake and the car barely braked. The car was also pulling very strongly to the left. After a few minutes, everything was back to normal. Another time, I was driving and my car and the brakes were engaged. I was going about 60mph and noticed that the car was being held back. When I stopped at a light, there was smoke coming from my brakes, so I pulled over. Then the brakes were very hard, did not sink to the floor, but still barely braked. The car does this randomly. It will be braking normally one minute, and when I go to brake the next, it randomly either sinks to the floor and barely brakes and pulls to the left, or gets very hard and barely brakes. The brakes also squeeks when this happens. I am thinking it might be a brake master cylinder but I am not sure. Another thing, the check engine light came on, and the code was P0401, which is insuficcient EGR flow. The car gets TERRIBLE mileage. Like barely 200 per tank. The hose that goes to the EGR valve is apparently broken and taped up with duct tape. Could this be what is triggering the CEL and bad mileage?

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[Mister_Perkins]

that hose doesnt go to the EGR, it actually goes to the Intake manifold. you may suck dust and dirt into your motor if the duct tape comes loose. The light pertaining to the brakes means that one of your bulbs is blown or going bad in the rear of the car. have a helper confirm all your lights are working. If they are, keep checking because one will stop working soon.

Your brakes sound like the calipers are sticking .. could be more than that though since your pedal goes soft. Before replacing the MC, try bleeding all the brakes starting with the passenger rear bleeder.

Pull the calipers off and grease the slide pins