i wonder if anyone here can help me with a problem i am having with my breaks.
recently when i apply my breaks the peddle is very hard to depress and dose not travel down very far and breaking is not as good as usual then the next time i break it is fine, peddle depresses easily and will go to the floor if i want to break that hard.
any thoughts please MOT soon and ime a complete novice diy wise.
thanks mark for quick post.
do you know if the problems in the wiki for hard break pedal would be intemitant as mine is or would the problems mentioned be happening every time.
thanks
dazman1 wrote:peddle depresses easily and will go to the floor if i want to break that hard.
Oh heck, you have a dangerous problem if when you brake hard your brake pedal goes to the floor
With brakes, if you are not sure what you are doing, it is one time when it would be best to take it to your local garage for attention. We don't want you careering out of control down a hill and killing someone, or yourself
Did I read somewhere on here that Diesels do not get their vacuum from the inlet manifold but from a pump or summat ? (I don't know about Diesels, plus dazman1 has not said what type of engine he has )
There's a vacuum pump on my 1.6, has a pipe leading off down into the van, not sure where it comes out inside, where the attachments are and how you empty the bag.
Brake problem......I thought you were having issues getting away on your holidays lol..
Hard brake pedal is loss of vacuum assistance (servo) maybe a faulty one way valve, split pipe or the servo unit itself.
Going to the floor....that's probably unrelated to the first issue...so much so it begs the question, are you sure the pedal is actually going to the floor OR, are you just feeling the normal sensation of 'assistance' given by the servo?
California Dreamin wrote:Brake problem......I thought you were having issues getting away on your holidays lol..
Hard brake pedal is loss of vacuum assistance (servo) maybe a faulty one way valve, split pipe or the servo unit itself.
Going to the floor....that's probably unrelated to the first issue...so much so it begs the question, are you sure the pedal is actually going to the floor OR, are you just feeling the normal sensation of 'assistance' given by the servo?
Martin
sorry didnt explain properly when i said it went to the floor just meant it depressed normaly as apposed to not depessing much when it went hard.
by the way the engine is a 1.6td.
So that adds the extra dimension of the vacuum pump. Whether the pump is making enough vacuum to run the servo or the possibilty of cracks to the connecting unions.
If operating correctly, it should be possible to pump the brakes 2 -3 times (engine off) before the pedal goes hard (vacuum exhausted) in your case it looks like there is irratic or insufficient vacuum supply.....now you just have to find the reason.
Martin
No accumulator that I'm aware of, the servo itself contains enough vacuum reserve for the 2 - 3 pumps before being exhausted, but obviously that vacuum is being replenished by the vacuum supply from the pump so in theory it shouldn't be impossible to run out of vacuum. However, in practice, it is often possible to beat the 'replenishment' with 4 - 5 quick pumps on the brake pedal but leaving the pedal for just 2 - 3 seconds and the pedal should be back to normal.
Thanks to those who replied with possible causes for my problem.
the reason was a leak in the pipe coming from the vacuum pump discovered by Brian(wychall).
A previous repair was less than ideal but with a bit of fettling by Brian, now sorted and back on the road.
Oh heck, you have a dangerous problem if when you brake hard your brake pedal goes to the floor 
)
