Bad Brakes

[DogDay]

Mk3 diesel with mk2 238 mm vented disks on the front & standard drums on the back.

When I press the brake pedal down not a lot happens for about 3+ inches...   it just seems to take way too much travel & pressure to stop the car - am losing confidence in it. The brakes just feel soft. I have some very big & long hills (13%) on my 55 mile commute...

The front disks & pads are new, and I put new brake fluid in & bled the buggers until it was clean & bubble free front & back.

whats next - master cylinder? what else could it be? there are no leaks, but my hand brake only works on the drivers side at the mo (another bloody job!) - but all four wheels will lock if i stamp hard enough...

DD

[mattneck(Beavis)]

have you tried the servo trick? and when you bled them, did you push the pedal too low, possibly shot the master cylinder, we had the same on mine, pedal hit the floor during bleeding

oh and also my enine came from a non servo model so, we had no servo assist, have you tried expelling all air form the srvo bby pupming the pedal till tis tight with engine off, then place foot on pedal and it should drop with engine start up 

[DogDay]

servo trick?

i pumped the brakes like you suggested and yes the pedal went rock hard, but when the engine started it went soggy & mushy again.

maybe i've been spoiled by driving the missus's 07 reg astra - but i'm sure the brakes have degraded quite significantly recently...

DD

[mattneck(Beavis)]

yeh thats jsut to check yuor servo is alright, so it aint that, as i say i had that problem, next job is the master cylinder, mine was sh!te, swapped it and the difference was obviously immense 

[DogDay]

cool dude - thanks - guess I know what I'm doing today.... 

DD

[Rmachines]

I have this problem. my brakes are pretty pathetic, even though its only a 1.4L  they don't feel good at all.

The first thing i did was make sure the auto adjusting mechanism on the rear drums was working, apparently mine isn't and it made it worse so im currently in the process or pulling the shoes back out further.... I wont be able to let you know if it made any difference until i have some shocks on my car but i'm hoping it will firm it up a bit. 

[DogDay]

bugger bugger bugger bugger!!!!!!

changed the master cylinder no probs - whilst re-bleeding the brakes notice that the little anti-rattle spring clips in the caliper are missing - have a spare set so decide to quickly whap them in - blooming caliper bolt has sheared

got a replacement from the local stealers (£4 for a bloody bolt & sleeve ) but cannot get the sheared bit out so far have managed to drill a small hole through the middle of the remains of the bolt but don't want to fcuk the thread up - had a set of the bolt removal thingys... have sheared / snapped two of them so far (and 2 drill bits) - have tried with an impact driver - no dice - HELP!

DD

[DogDay]

oh how i love re-tapping threads into cast iron with limited access

still - alls well that ends - sorted

done now - & what a difference - much better brakes & the pedal doesn't hit the floor anymore. Next job rear brakes & handbrake - but not this weekend...

DD

[mattneck(Beavis)]

You ever suffered with glazing? I only ask cause I think mine have gone that way a the moment, as the stopping has got worse with an immense amount of pad, no disk wear, and they were only fitted in august! 

[DogDay]

not off hand no... have you tried pulling the pads out and taking abit of sandpaper to them?

better still a new set of pads would answer that one one definatively & even if it didn't fix it you'd stil have spare set of pads! and besides - what a great excuse for getting a set of green stuff pads 

DD