Brakes: 850: this made me poo alittle urgent help needed

[marko_850_t5]

picture the scene

driving down the heads of valley road its getting dark been raining since i set off heading towards pembroke so far all has gone well (300ish mile trip) then as i approach a round about a white astra van decides it best to pull out and over take the hgv slowing in advance for the comming roundabout not spotting me he pulled out causeing me to brake at this point i poo'd i gave the brake pedal a fairly good stamp and it felt strange soft but not right too the floor i suddenly noticed that the front brakes seemed to be some where else as the back end locked up causing the back too step out some serious correcting was required (was doing about 50mph and slowing) i pulled into the nearest layby to sort out the jelly legs and got a torch out too see if i had a leak or any thing looked out of place (disks and pads was replaced 1000 to 1500 miles ago ) all seemed fine after 10 or so mins i decided to set off being very weiry of the brake problem having too pump the brakes every time i needed them as they felt the same every time i used the brakes spongy and not to the floor travel

now in the last month i have traveled to pembroke twice plymouth twice and from edinburgh (i bought it from there) with no problems since i bought the car the abs light has been intermittent and after the disc and pad change was still intermittent but no noticable effect on the brakes

i have to travel 10ish miles to work from pembroke so need some urgent help with this

could it be the abs pump ?
the slave cylinder ?
or even the master cylnder ?
a seized calipper but surly this would mean one would work atleast ? do they suddenly seaze ? and would both seaze ?


any help would be appreciated

the cars to fast to use the old tryed and tested anchor system to stop it

marko

[red850r]

hi marko
sorry pal but i cant help you sounds weird problem you got there
hope you can get it sorted,if not looks like you may need to invest in some good seat covers.lol
what colour your car as ill keep an eye out for you around the mighty gy,lol

[GMad]

For what it's worth, I would discount the siezed caliper theory.
I had a sticking caliper problem on my V70 and it still braked efficiently and in a straight line. The offside brake used to stick on and sometimes applied with a snatch, but it worked.
A caliper seal/overhaul kit cured it.
If you've had intermitant ABS light showing, I might be inclined to look at the ABS pump?

[marko_850_t5]

Originally Posted by red850r

hi marko
sorry pal but i cant help you sounds weird problem you got there
hope you can get it sorted,if not looks like you may need to invest in some good seat covers.lol
what colour your car as ill keep an eye out for you around the mighty gy,lol

i think i may have seen you a few weeks ago around the back of freshney place you flashed me if it was you u turned left up towards the ford place forget the name of the road

heres a pic

[marko_850_t5]

Originally Posted by GMad

For what it's worth, I would discount the siezed caliper theory.
I had a sticking caliper problem on my V70 and it still braked efficiently and in a straight line. The offside brake used to stick on and sometimes applied with a snatch, but it worked.
A caliper seal/overhaul kit cured it.
If you've had intermitant ABS light showing, I might be inclined to look at the ABS pump?

yeah i was thinking that as i had a seized caliper on my mr2 and it sort of braked unlike this problem

is there a way of testing the abs pump so if need be i can eliminate it from the possibles ?

[red850r]

yeah it was me
my mrs was with me and gives me plenty of stick for flashing my lights
they just dont get it,lol
i like the wheels,they looks mean
hope to bump into you at some point
ps sorry for hiijacking the post,you can get back on topic now
hope you sort the prob

[marko_850_t5]

Originally Posted by red850r

yeah it was me
my mrs was with me and gives me plenty of stick for flashing my lights
they just dont get it,lol

your not wrong lol i was out once in my mr2 and another mr2 in red like mine flashed me the wife was like do you know them i was like no lol then another mr2 blck gt flashed blonde driver wife thought i was cheating lmao

i have seen a few t5 drivers of late but always been on the other side of motor way baring a t5 saloon i spotted on the m42 on friday didnt seem to get the light flashing though lol

if i see you again will have too pull over and have a look not back for another 5 weeks though so might be a while :P

[NI_Volvo_Nut]

Ok, 1st point of call, check the wheel bearings, if the wheel bearing is away this will push the caliper / piston apart, giving you your funny brake pedal. Can't see it being an ABS issue tbh, the pump either works or it doesn't, and not in such a way to effect the brakes. Could possibly be the master cylinder.

If the car sits still is the brake pedal good? Good after the 2nd pump? Stays good if parked?

[RollingThunder]

I may be way off track here, but bear with me

Whenever I buy a new car I give it a full workout to see how it behaves under duress - this includes hard acceleration, hard braking (full emergency stop from 50), chicane test, etc - all on deserted roads of course. My car came with 12m MoT - it was tested 5 days before I picked it up, and had no advisories. I checked it all out before doing the stress tests - no faults found. However, a few hundred miles after doing the stress test the brakes began to get spongy and I found a small weepage at the top of the brake pedal - the brake master cylinder is leaking slightly.

My theory is that normal use of the brakes only push the rod so far into the brake master cylinder. The remaining bore is not swept under normal use, and so can get corroded and maybe there is an accumilation of debris there. Doing the emergency stop pushed the rod further than normal, so the seals are dragged over this part of the bore, damaging the seals and thus causing the leak.

I'm wondering whether your emergency stop has done the same thing?

FYI a new master cylinder is around £150 from Rufe (if you have ABS and TRACS). This includes a £20 returnable exchange deposit. You may as well change the brake fluid as well - ATE Super Racing Blue (DoT4+) is about £14/litre from GSF and 1L should be enough.

[marko_850_t5]

Originally Posted by NI_Volvo_Nut

Ok, 1st point of call, check the wheel bearings

If the car sits still is the brake pedal good? Good after the 2nd pump? Stays good if parked?

i had new bearings fitted no more than 1000 miles ago it feels like it more than that

on first depression its crap
second depression it will stop the car
third depression will snap necks of the unweary :P