Serious Brake Problems

[tombo 0]

can any one help.

 

i have a 1.6 205 gti and one of the brake cylinders on the rear had popped. so i decided to replace. to stop an future problems i purchased the following

 

2x rear cylinders

brake shoes

fittings kits

and new brake hoses from the cylinders to the flexi hose on the beam either side of the rear.

 

i put 1.9 calipers on the front also with new pads and then proceeded to bleed the system and bled till all bleed nipples were squirting out the fluid freely. i then tested the peddle and it felt hard.

 

i then jumped into the car and took it for a test drive and the peddle went straight to the floor and had to rely on the handbrake to stop as there was no pressure behind the pedal.

 

i wondered if it were something daft that the 1.9 calipers had seized and the piston couldnt push so i decided to put the old 1.6 calipers on. and bled the whole system again. did not seem to see any air.

 

went to drive again, and the same problem is occuring.

 

starting to get stressed out with this now and wondering if anyone can advise me or help me to find where the fault is. or if there is something i am doing wrong.

[bren_1.3 1]

possibly dodgy master cylinder?

[tombo 0]

i think im going to change this tomorrow a freind of mine has 4 spare. may even try the vaccum unit at the back thats this bolts too.

 

if it is this, cant understand how it went so suddenly. its odd.

[MrG 3]

have you disturbed the pipe that goes from the master cyl to the inlet? If there's a leak there that could have similar problems? (Although not quite as severe)

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Don;t use S/H master cylinder's it's a false Economy, Quite often when you bleed the brake's the seals move outside of there normal range and lead to this, New one's are dirt cheap so it's silly not too

[tombo 0]

just a rough estimate, how much do you think id be looking at? roughly?

 

many thanks

[grandos 16]

GSF quote them at between £22-£33 plus VAT depending on the version you need.

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Don;t buy the cheap one, You need the Bendix one which also fit's the Golf GTi

[tombo 0]

bit of progress today, i swapped the M/C over with one of my freinds spare and it seems to have helped an i now have some sort of brakes. well it now stops, although the pedal is a little spongy at the top of the pedal and stiffens towards the bottom of the pedal, however the stopping power is not the greatest.

 

will be ordering a new M/C first thing tomoz as i now know there was a problem with my old one. and as miles said it would be rude not to as they cost pennies.

 

does anyone think this will also solve my less than adequate braking?

 

thanks

[MerlinGTI 3]

its not the servo (vacum thingy) this just assists braking effort, if this was knackered your pedal would be bastard hard all the time, and you would have to press really hard to get the same results.

 

You seem to have sorted it? with the M/C? get a new one

 

Also are you bleeding them correctly? Start at the passenger rear, then drivers rear, then passenger front then drivers front (furthest from master cylinder to closest). You need to keep bleeding untill no bubbles at all come out, best way is to put a rubber washer jet style hose on the end of the nipple going into a clear coke bottle with some fluid already in it so you can see bubbles as they come out.

Matey on the pedal down = you open, you close = matey on the pedal up.

 

Sorry if you already were doing this, I thought it was worth checking.

[Tom Fenton 1,561]

Another point, if your shoes are not adjusted up to the drum it will make the pedal long.

 

My 205 with drums pedal has gradually got longer and longer, at the weekend I got around to adjusting the shoes up, as the auto adjusters are usually crapped out and do not auto adjust any more. With this done the pedal is back at the top and the brakes feel a whole lot better, probably as the backs are now doing their share of the work again. You can adjust the shoes without taking the drum off by using a driver through a wheel bolt hole to turn the adjuster wheel, that is assuming it is not seized.

[MerlinGTI 3]

Another point, if your shoes are not adjusted up to the drum it will make the pedal long.

 

My 205 with drums pedal has gradually got longer and longer, at the weekend I got around to adjusting the shoes up, as the auto adjusters are usually crapped out and do not auto adjust any more. With this done the pedal is back at the top and the brakes feel a whole lot better, probably as the backs are now doing their share of the work again. You can adjust the shoes without taking the drum off by using a driver through a wheel bolt hole to turn the adjuster wheel, that is assuming it is not seized.

 

 

Good point As Tom said the 'auto' (pah!) adjusters alway poo them selfs, they just aint upto the job. Its amazing how much travel poorley adjusted rear brakes give! They wouldnt cause 'spongeyness' though mind, just long travel before bite.

[tombo 0]

right well all, i have ordered myself a new M/C and this should be with me tomorrow, i didnt opt for the cheaper version and ended up going for the bendix M/C at a not so bargain price of 57quid.

 

i know it seems silly to change so many different things at once but i think im going to refit my 1.9 calipers to the front, fit the new master cylinder and i am also going to adjust the handbrake in the way mr Fenton has described extremly lazy to say the least but with my patience and this car at the moment, this is the way its going to be done.

 

i have always read on the forums to do longest to shortest when bleeding the brakes, however i have recently been speaking with a few mechanic freinds who have always gone shortest to longest and never had any problems.

 

what does everyone else thnk of this?

 

thanks for all your help so far everyone.