There's just no stopping Subaru with cold brakes

Q I have a 2000 Subaru Outback. It has been a great car and has about 96,000 miles on it. The problem relates to the brakes and happens only in the winter when the temperature stays below freezing all day.

During the day at work my car is parked in an unheated parking ramp. At the end of the day, when I go to back out of the parking space, I find I have no brakes. Even with my foot on the brake pedal as hard as I can, the car continues in reverse without stopping. I learned quickly to back up very slowly. It has happened the last two winters, and today with the temps below zero all day it was really bad.

Today, for the first time, the brakes did not work when I drove forward, either. I press down on the brakes and nothing happens. Last fall, I had a major brake job done on the car and figured with new pads and everything the problem would go away, but it didn't. I have the problem only when I come out of work after the car has been parked all day in this ramp.

The car is in an attached garage at home, and I don't have any problems in the morning. The problem disappears after a few minutes of driving. It's almost as if ice has formed on the brakes.

A When this occurs, does the pedal sink all the way to the floor? Or is the pedal firm and at normal height, but no stopping power? Is the "Brake" or "ABS" warning light on? Or both?

I checked my Alldata database and find no bulletins on brake system issues like this. You may be right in that something in the system is literally freezing solid. If the brake pedal feels firm and normal but the vehicle won't stop, perhaps moisture in the brake fluid is freezing and preventing the brake system from applying hydraulic pressure to the individual wheel brakes. Remember, hydraulic brake fluid is hydroscopic, meaning it will absorb moisture from the atmosphere over time. This is the No. 1 cause of contamination of brake fluid and corrosion in brake system components.

Since your vehicle is now six years old, I think your first step in trying to resolve this problem is a full and complete "bleed/flush" of the brake system to exchange 100 percent of the original brake fluid with new brake fluid. Many carmakers call for routine brake system bleeding/flushing every couple of years -- a maintenance suggestion I fully agree with.

If the brake pedal sinks to the floor during this loss of brakes, try several quick pumps on the pedal as this occurs. If the brakes suddenly "catch," the problem may well be a worn or noncompliant cup seal in the master cylinder allowing a bypass leak of brake fluid upon initial application, or a stuck hydraulic valve in the antilock-brake system allowing a bypass of fluid and pressure. I would think that if this were an ABS-related issue, the ABS warning light would come on and an ABS fault code would be stored in the system.

One other issue with ABS to keep in mind: Most ABS systems go through an "initialization" procedure when the brakes are first applied after start-up and the vehicle speed is under roughly 3 mph -- precisely the scenario you'd experience when backing out of a parking place. During this initialization, the ABS control module activates the electronic valves in the ABS control unit to insure they're fully functional if the system is activated while driving. Often, you'll feel a light ripple or buzz in the brake pedal and a slight loss of pedal height as this occurs. Could this be part of what you're experiencing?

Have the brake system thoroughly bled to flush and exchange the fluid. I'm hoping this will resolve the issue.

Q My neighbor has a very noisy Honda Civic that he remote-starts every day at 5 a.m. It wakes up my whole family earlier than we need to be up, and I can even hear it if I'm in the shower that early. The problem is that he lets it run 30 minutes, even in warm weather.

He doesn't seem to think the noise is harmful to his neighbors, can you tell me whether warming up a car that long is harmful to the car? If it is, I will show him your answer.

A Harmful to the car? No. Harmful to neighborly relations, absolutely. Assuming his Honda is relatively new and equipped with electronic fuel injection, this extended warm-up/idle period isn't going to hurt the vehicle. It's a waste of fuel and is completely unnecessary to normal operation, but about the worst thing it could do to the vehicle is initially overwork the catalytic converter and shorten its life.

As you've read so many times in this column, extended warm-up periods are neither necessary nor beneficial with today's automobiles. Even in extremely cold temperatures like we experienced recently, all you need is a 60-second initial warm-up followed by another 30 to 60 seconds idling in gear, then drive the vehicle gently up to temperature.

As much as I'd like to offer you a potential mechanical problem from this 30-minute warm-up, I think you'll need all your neighborly communication skills to resolve this issue. Or an electronic jammer tuned to the frequency of his remote-start system.