Mk1 Brakes

[Mops1]

I had my brakes fail the other day and as a result have checked the back. replaced the front discs and pads and bleed the system.

There still seems to be alot of travel in the pedal with it going all the way to the stop and has not seemed to have firmed up. I am stuck as to what I should check next, I'm kinda hoping it is not the abs control unit or one of the wires/ pipes that go into this. Brakes stop the car but then again they did for the rest of the journey home after they failed !!

Any ideas what I should look at next.

[gazza1286]

You say you checked the back?

Do you mean that you also removed the rear drums? If so did you tamper with the shoe adjusters at all? Has the operation of the handbrake changed?

When you bled the brakes was there any possibility that the reservoir ran dry and air was sucked into the system?

What was the symptoms of the brakes failing in the first place?

[Mops1]

Checked the rear drums and the adjusters and handbrake is still the same. Kept the bottle topped up just in case.

Brakes were fine and on approach to cross road had nothing. After a few pumps the abs cut in and I went into roadcraft driving stopping just past the give way (foot or two). After that the brakes worked again the next 4 miles home, have discounted the servo and cylinder as they seem to function right. Just has a lot of travel and the ABS is still keen to cut in on moderate braking. I'm pretty stumped !

[gazza1286]

All that I can imagine is that you have a serious fault on the master brake cylinder. An internal seal may have failed so that you are experiencing 'by-pass' on one of the circuits as you apply the brakes . This may explain a greater pedal travel. If the other circuit is working correctly the ABS will cut in to stop that pair of wheels locking as you increase the pressure on the pedal.

Is the ABS kicking in on the front or rear wheels or can't you tell?

I am certainly no expert on braking but it's the only explaination that I can come up with.

The symptoms that you describe are not consistant with any failure or excess wear at the friction surfaces. My Carina E has badly corroded disc faces which have less than 70% contact with the pads and the efficiency is still pretty good. I think that your fault is internal and nothing to do with the pads or disc or the way in which you have changed them.

Good luck