Brake problems!!!

Freaky Konnie

Guest
Hi all we have finally got our !992 kon-tiki back from the garage and had our first campout last weekend .Fantastic:D We had quite a few things done to the van and most seem ok but I am not too pleased with the brakes!! When you are driving along and put the brakes on you can feel the "servo" bite and if you keep your foot on the brake it stops well. But if you "dab " the brakes as you are slowing down there is no braking power at all and you have to stand on the brake to stop!!!! I am keeping money back for the work I have had done and I took it back to the garage yesterday and got it back today but not much better!! I would be grateful for any ideas as to what the problem might be....Thanks in advance...
 
brakes

could be air in system try getting them bled again
 
Brakes

Hi
If you had your pads and shoes replaced it could be they just have to bed in which can take a few miles.
Drive carefully
 
is your van petrol or diesel ?if petrol your servo gets it's vacuum from the inlet manifold but if a diesel it as a vacuum pump fitted ??this could be a problem
 
you dont say if you had any work done to the brakes ,if you have new pads fitted it could be the pads are taking a little while to bed in .pads need some heat to harden of so you get full brake performance ..if your disks are groved or scored the new flat surface of the pads will not make full contact with the disks until the pads have the same profile as the discs, if your disks are not in good condition ie grooved scored or a lip on the outer edge your pads are not making full contact with the disk surface hence poorer braking than with your old pads ,,but by the time your pads match the disks your pads will be ruined , if the garage has replaced the pads onto worn disks then they are not doing there job properly .as for air in the system you would notice that when you first depress the pedal on braking, you will get a long travel but if you pump the brake pedal you will notice your pedal will firm up back to normal . sounds to me the way you say you feel the servo bite slightley after you brake and when you just apply light pressure ie dab the brakes that you may have a problem with the servo. if you are not satisfied with the brake performance, and you have had any work that involves the braking system then go back insist they to do a full brake test and a full check on the system, its in there intrest as much as yours, hope this helps... ps just another bit of info if you apply light pressure on the brake pedal with the engine running and you feel a slight creep of the pedal to the floor suspect leaking master cylinder seals
 
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Thanks for all your replies:) The motor is a 2.5 diesel the mechanic stripped the brakes down and I have had all the old fluid bled out and new fluid put back, he said that the shoes and pads and disc's were fine and no need for any replacements as were the cylinders.He put new "flexi" hoses on the rear, When I took them back to him he stripped the front calipers and copper greased the cylinders andput them back together (So he said!!)He also adjusted the hand-brake up as that was not too good aswell!! This guy is not my normal mechanic , he was the one who the guy who was selling the van took it to to get exaust and bits and pieces done before I bought it. So while it was there I instructed the mechanic to check everything over and to put things right that needed doing. Most of the things I asked him to do were ok. ie. all filters changed, engine,gear-box,and diff. oils changed back-axle greased etc. But the clutch was quite hard to push down so he suggested a new cable which he replaced . But what I have learned thru lookin' on these and other forums is...there is an heater box underneath the grill on the bonnet, which takes in fresh air for the heater. Well I have found out that this was a bad design as there is an outlet pipe on the bottom of the heater box which lets any rain water drain out. When it drains out it goes straight onto the breather pipe on the gear-box and also on to the clutch housing. When I looked at mine there was no out-let pipe but 3 holes in the bottom ,one large one which was the outlet and 2 smaller ones. So I filled the 2 smaller holes and masticed a flexible aluminium pipe onto the big outlet and run it over the engine and let it run out at the front of the engine underneath the rad. We were out camping last Saturday in the van and I noticed the clutch had a bad "judder" in first and second gears when pulling away. But also we had "hell" of alot of rain on Saturday night and Sunday morning (and this was before I had put the outlet pipe on and filled the other 2 holes).I drove it back from the mechanics last night and the "judder" was not as bad as before!! Have any of you heard of this problem before? And I hope it helps you if you are experiencing the same as myself...
 
with the engine running pop the rubber pipe going to the servo off and see what kind of suction it has ?
 
Old_Arthur said:
with the engine running pop the rubber pipe going to the servo off and see what kind of suction it has ?
Click to expand...

How much suction should it have Arthur?

What do you think about the clutch "judder"?
 
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enough to put a smile on your face and make your eye's water :eek:no no sorry it should have a good pull on your skin.
the clutch judder can be several thing do a search on here i am sure there was a thread on here not long ago about the same model
 
if the braking system has been checked and all found ok then it sounds as if it is the servo probably. as arthur said check the suction to the servo ,there should be a decent amount of suction also i think there may be a filter in the servo if my memory serves me correctly but i dont think you can change it its that long since i did any work on these vans. unfortunatly to cure servo probs it is a replacement option only . as for the clutch judder if the van is on the talbot ,fiat, chassis then it seems a common thing as a freind of mine has the talbot model and his suffers from judder in first and second .he minimises this with a little more revs than normal when pulling away. i think that most coach built vans especialy the older models suffer from clutch judder at times with the extra weight they are carrying, my bedford suffers the same at times especialy at low revs when pulling away but it has been running with no adverse effects for the last nigh on 5 years i have had it .
 
mandrake said:
if the braking system has been checked and all found ok then it sounds as if it is the servo probably. as arthur said check the suction to the servo ,there should be a decent amount of suction also i think there may be a filter in the servo if my memory serves me correctly but i dont think you can change it its that long since i did any work on these vans. unfortunatly to cure servo probs it is a replacement option only . as for the clutch judder if the van is on the talbot ,fiat, chassis then it seems a common thing as a freind of mine has the talbot model and his suffers from judder in first and second .he minimises this with a little more revs than normal when pulling away. i think that most coach built vans especialy the older models suffer from clutch judder at times with the extra weight they are carrying, my bedford suffers the same at times especialy at low revs when pulling away but it has been running with no adverse effects for the last nigh on 5 years i have had it .
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Thanks for the replies mandrake, I am working tomorrow so can't mess with the van till Sunday, but I will give it the suction test then. It is on a Alco Chassis (I think thats how you spell it.) Thats good news about the clutch judder what do you think about the water in the heater box? Have you heard that before?
 
sounds as if you have a talbot ,yes they had a drain off pipe with a rubber bulb at the bottom of the heater box, you squeezed the bulb and drained the water out .but if yours is missing the flexy pipe is ok . the alco chassis is the special chassis they fitted to the cab unit to enable them to fit a long coach built body on ps i have just had another read at your post abut the heavy rain .and it is a possibility that water has got into the cluch housing a wet the friction plate and that may have caused the judder wont do any damage as it will dry
 
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I have been tinkering with my van today and pulled the hose off the servo and there was suction. As I dont know how much suction there should be I had nothing to compare it with. So I have a Peugeot Boxer (my work van) and I pulled the hose off the servo and there was considerable more suction than on my MH!!! So what is the conclusion?
Also we tookit out for a run after adjusting the clutch up and once warmed up ther was hardly any "judder" on the clutch:D But as we were pulling into my drive there was steam coming up from the bonnet, on inspection there was a split in one of the water hoses that seemed to go to the top of the Oil filter at the back of the engine!!!! We managed to cut out the split and there was enough pipe to put it back.. So my question is where can i get hoses for the van? (1992Talbot 2.5 diesel engine non turbo).. With thanks...
 
the hose should be easy to get from either you local motor discount store or main dealer ,if no luck try typing no1gear into your computer he covers all your model type. as for the suction, you may have a blockage in the pipe from the servo to either the inlet manifold or the vac pump or the pipe is perrished and restricts the suction , i am not shure which you will have .if you have the vac pump fitted it may be that that is at fault .not having access to the veihcle diagnosing the problem is rather difficult .but i think you are on the right track with low vac to the servo .
 
with a faulty vac pump it creates a vacuum while running and works fine as you hit the brakes but does'nt build up again fast enough for the next press? it has to be really sucking all the time, it's a process of elimination now check the pump end and see if you have vacuum ?and so on

p.s. it's nice when some one checks back on their thread after pp's takes time to help so many don't
 
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Old_Arthur said:
with a faulty vac pump it creates a vacuum while running and works fine as you hit the brakes but does'nt build up again fast enough for the next press? it has to be really sucking all the time, it's a process of elimination now check the pump end and see if you have vacuum ?and so on

p.s. it's nice when some one checks back on their thread after pp's takes time to help so many don't
Click to expand...
hi i would imagine the van uses a vac pump, and the problem of low suction seems to point toward the pump being faulty or not quite up to the job .
 
Thanks both for your answers I will check the pipe as it looks like it might be a bit "frayed" around the edges ,and your spot on when you say that the pressure is taking time to build up again after the first push on the brake,,,,,I will keep you posted
 
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