Chevrolet T-Series, Owner'S Manual

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Avoid needless heavy braking. Some people drive
in spurts — heavy acceleration followed by heavy
braking — rather than keeping pace with traffic.
This is a mistake. The brakes may not have time to
cool between hard stops. The brakes will wear out
much faster if you do a lot of heavy braking. If you
keep pace with the traffic and allow realistic
following distances, you will eliminate a lot of
unnecessary braking. That means better braking
and longer brake life.
If your vehicle’s engine ever stops while you are
driving, brake normally but do not pump the brakes.
If you do, the pedal may get harder to push down.
If the engine stops, you will still have some power
brake assist. But you will use it when you brake.
Once the power assist is used up, it may take
longer to stop and the brake pedal will be harder
to push.
Hydraulic Brake Systems
If your engine stops running, or if your primary
brake system stops working, your vehicle has a
reserve power assist system to help you slow down.
Just slowly and steadily apply the brake pedal until
you can safely get off the road. The pedal will seem
harder to push down. Do not pump the pedal;
the system will not work well or at all that way.
You may find that the steering wheel seems hard
to turn when you are turning and braking at
the same time. Also, the primary brake warning
light may come on and the warning tone may
sound. This is normal because the main hydraulic
brake system and power steering both use the
power steering pump. If this ever happens, let up
on the brake pedal a little. When you let up on
the brake pedal in that situation, it lets the steering
get a little more help from the pump.
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