Whats Up With My Brakes?

[adam_young 0]

Last time I drove my car I thought the brakes felt a tad strange and today I realised they are defo not 100%.

 

Its most obvious whilst driving in heavy traffic. You come up to a junction and brake fine. The next junction and you press the pedal and it feels really firm under foot. Its as if the servo isn't working.

 

I've got a feeling its been like this since the rear beam was swapped - it certainly wasn't like it before and I have only done a few hundred miles since.

 

Any idea's?

[hengti 2]

I've had this before now and it is utterly *bizarre*

 

My master cylinder packed up shortly after it started doing it last time ...

 

 

Presume you've checked that the servo's working?

 

Maybe there's some sort of blockage in the system - a chunk of grit floating around in the pipes that only ocassionaly lodges itself and causes a blockage? - might explain why the pedal feel is intermittent

 

If it's not the servo, I'd bleed all the old fluid out and replace with new - probably the safest first step

[Anthony 1,003]

Check the servo and check the condition of the various pipes leading to it - if these have perished (which they can do) then it would cause poor/intermittent servo assistance, and could also be part of why your engine wasn't idling very well (unmetered airleak)

 

It's unlikely that it's anything to do with the rear beam in my opinion, especially as when I did it I didn't unplumb the brakes so effectively they haven't changed.

[adam_young 0]

Thats a nice theory Anthony. Will check it out.

 

Sorry mate I presumed you had unplugged the brakes to fit the beam, but I guess they just stayed attached to the caliper for the swap over. Its just my handbrake didn't work at first, but to be fair it seems ok now and will hold the car on a hill.

 

Loads of stuff are buggered since it came back from its gearbox swap - even the CD player crackles and cuts out!

[Anthony 1,003]

Sorry mate I presumed you had unplugged the brakes to fit the beam, but I guess they just stayed attached to the caliper for the swap over. Its just my handbrake didn't work at first, but to be fair it seems ok now and will hold the car on a hill.

Nah, where at all possible I leave the brakelines attached and unbolt the whole lot as one and move it to the side. Unplumbing the brakes opens up a whole can of worms typically, usually brake lines with siezed unions (that sheer when you attempt to undo them) and rear calipers with snapped bleed nipples (which makes bleeding the brakes a headache). Much easier to avoid all that if you can.

 

Not sure why the handbrake wasn't working properly, as it was fine after I dropped the car back down on the ground - certainly it held the car stationary when I was doing up the wheelbolts anyhow. All I can guess is that there must have been some oil/grease on the rear disk(s) that reduced the rear brake effieciency until it had burnt off after a few miles - I didn't get to test drive the car after doing the beam as the gearbox was still broken at the time, otherwise I'd have spotted there was something amiss and investigated. Please accept my apologies, but if it's working now that's the main thing.

 

As for the electrical gremlins - clearly I didn't do the work so I can't comment on exactly what was done, but the obvious candidates are the gearbox and ignition amp earth, battery terminals, and the connections into the positive distribution block. Some of them would have been disconnected and the others are close by so could have been knocks - check they're all tight/secure and not corroded.

 

But getting back on topic, if you're intermittently getting no or low servo assistance, it must be something to do with the servo itself or the vacuum supply from the engine. If your car is a vacuum sunroof model then check the pipes for that as well, as that connects near the brake servo and leaks can cause issues with the servo. Most problems with the brake system itself would generally show up as either the pedal going to the floor with little resistance, or with one or more brakes binding.

[Pugnut 9 1 Cars]

if you have the factory sunroof the vacuum for it is teed off the vacuum pipe to the servo . try blocking the small pipe that goes up to the sunroof and see if the problem persist (just incase the sunroof mechanism is leaking and using all you're vacuum). if you dont have a factory sunroof then ignore this post

[adam_young 0]

I do have a factory sunroof. Haven't used it since it had the gearbox swap though (ie since problem started).

 

I'll brave the cold and check it out tomorrow.

 

Thanks for the advice guys.

[adam_young 0]

Checked the vacuum pipes were secure. I also tried removing the small black flexi hoses that were going up to the sunroof and that didn't effect the rough running. I also tried putting my finger over the end.

 

Where the pipes attach to the master cylinder they go in through a white bit of plastic. This white bit seems quite loose. Is that normal?

 

I took the car out for a spin the brakes did seem normal today.

[Alastairh 47]

Whats up with the running?

[adam_young 0]

Ever since it had the new box fitted at 205parts its run like a dog. Splutters, idles at 1500 when warn, misfires and stinks of fumes.

 

I cant afford to pay a garage 100's to find out whats wrong so I might just have to sell the car for spares to someone on here.

[Foltan 0]

Maybe they nicked your engine and put in a crappy one lol!

[Alastairh 47]

It must be something simple mate.

 

Not have a crack at it yourself?

 

Theres plenty of lads on here that can give you advice and track down the problem, and may help for a few stellas.

 

Alastair

[Pugnut 9 1 Cars]

ok , so its running rough and you're getting a poor vacuum on the inlet . you must have an air leak somewhere on the manifold (as Anthony has previously suggested) . check all breather pipework round the manifold etc. i wouldn't think they would of had the inlet manifold off? so is the gasket good?

 

i believe that you can spray 'easy start' around the components and when the engine revs higher you've found the leak . someone else could back me up on this though.

[pug_ham 245 3 Cars]

i believe that you can spray 'easy start' around the components and when the engine revs higher you've found the leak . someone else could back me up on this though.

Thats how I understand it works aswell. Never had to try it on my car but I'm sure it causes the engine to rev when you spray carb cleaner.

 

In what order were the last jobs done? Beam & then gearbox or gearbox & then beam?

 

Graham.

[Guest btwstripe]

i mate, don`t give up the ghost that easy! i`m sure we can locate the problem, however it`s all fine well saying check this and but if you don`t know what your checking for it may be useless! i suggest a digi cam approach maybe? few pics here and there? see if a hawkeye can see something afoot!

 

i had an 205 years ago that gave me problems with the servo, turned out to be a connection on the main feed from manifold to the servo it`s self. as folk will tell you, it should be a one piece and not joined!

 

as for sourcing a leak, get yourself a can of brake clean/carb clean (if your struggling wd40 will also work), have the engine running and spray quite heavily on the join between block and manifold. if the revs alter then you have a leak, normally what happens is that you will initially get higher revs at the leak but if you keep spraying it will start to choke out.

 

there really isn`t a lot to go wrong in this system, you`re only checking the inlet manifold and links to the servo. so don`t lose faith mate

[j_turnell 137 3 Cars]

Hello, if you think its something we have done Adam or your not happy with the work why dont you give us a ring and arrange a time we can take a look at it for you, why you havent approached us before about this im not quite sure....

[Anthony 1,003]

In what order were the last jobs done? Beam & then gearbox or gearbox & then beam?

Beam was done first (by me), gearbox was done afterwards (by 205Parts).

 

Like I said, I don't believe the problems are related to the beam or rear brakelines - generally the only two things that would happen would be either a fluid leak, which would result in pedal creep or the pedal going to the floor depending on severity, or a kinked/collapsed brake pipe, which would result in either a binding caliper or lack of braking effort on one side (but a comparitively normal feeling brake pedal). Your problem to me sounds more like intermittent lack of servo-assistance, and a vacuum leak would explain that and the poor running engine.

 

If you've not yet been in contact with 205Parts who did the gearbox work, then that would be my first port of call. They're a decent bunch of guys up there and I'm sure that they'll sort the problem out FOC if it's anything related to the work they did

[adam_young 0]

Didn't bother talking to 205parts as was told by them that "some 205's just idle like that". That was how it was running when I picked it up and I did stress I didn't think it was right at the time. However time was short on the day and I do live 70 miles away so its not like I can just pop it back down for a once over.

 

Dont get me wrong I'm not saying that 205parts did anything to affect the running of my car. However when trying to identify a problem its best to give people background info hence why I mentioned it had been in the garage for work.

 

I do have a can of that easystart stuff so I will give what you say a try. However with the idle being all over the place it could be hard to tell anyway! Its when warm that the idle fluctuates most so perhaps if I tried it after a minute or two of running.

 

Thanks again for your help.

[RichF 1 2 Cars]

Its most obvious whilst driving in heavy traffic. You come up to a junction and brake fine. The next junction and you press the pedal and it feels really firm under foot. Its as if the servo isn't working.

 

Had exactly this problem on the 1.6, replaced the front flexible hoses and it cured it. They had broken down internally and this had effectively created a one-way valve.

 

An early sign that they were on the way out was that the brakes weren't releasing quickly/properly at traffic lights.

 

Checked the hoses after I read an old topic on here

Edited January 4, 2006 by RichF