Bled the brakes but still bad.

[Andy91 0]

Hey

Wondered if anyone has encountered this before, or if it sounds like the same problem still.

 

Brakes were fine

Had a problem with the electrics and car stalled, so had to stand on the brakes to get it to stop ok.

Tow truck to garage and fixed.

(mentioning this incase the very strong applied pressure may have damaged something)

 

The second I picked the car up the brakes were weird. One in every 20 tries they just weren't there, foot to the floor and no stopping, but the other 19 times they were fine.

 

So I got some brake fluid (dot 4) and bled the brakes. Now I get a similar thing but slightly different... if I brake sharpish or hard they kick in ok (bit of spongy-ness at the top but not much)... however if I pull away again and slowly apply the brakes my foot goes all the way to the floor with no resistance or stopping at all. Before it was random now its perfectly predictable.

 

I bled the brakes with my dad (very handy guy but this not his forte) and got bubbles out of 3 of the 4 pipes (although we incorrectly did the front two brakes first), he thinks it may be a check valve gone, or the cup shaped seal in the master cylinder, which would explain why gentle pressure doesn't trigger the brakes but a sharper action does.

 

Does it sounds like they need re-bleeding, or new parts/seals? We only bled the brakes as I cant see an obvious bleed nipple on the master cylinder (unless its hidden behind out of reach/sight.

 

As its a golf I've searched the vortex forums a bit but cant find anything, but I guess its more a common car problem rather than a golf one?

 

'94 Golf III - 1.8 Petrol.

 

Thanks

[Jim Bowen 1]

i've just had brakes fitted and the garage that bled them said they bled the calipers, master cylinder, and the abs something

[Andy91 0]

Are you refering to a gold? Only checking as no ABS on this one, and from what I read the C has a bleed on the master cylinder but not sure about the gold

[Supercharged 2]

What engine is it??

 

If it's non-abs then MC doesn't need bleeding.

 

How were you bleeding it?? - if manually pressing the pedal then you might have damaged the MC, get an eezibleed kit and try again...

 

If it's a CL / GL model (drum brakes) then you need to get the drums off and check the wheel cylinders for fluid leaking under the seals.

[Andy91 0]

1.8 Petrol, GL, non ABS.

 

Yes, manually, undid the nipples and got my dad to repeatedly press on the brake, then after several strokes he held the pedal down, I did up the nipple and then topped up the resovoir... repeat on each wheel.

 

We had the cover off the drums on one side to check wear and it was looking good, do you mean take the entire lot off? Surely leakage would be slow, or would have happened before and not all of a sudden? Sorry it asking stupid questions :s

[Supercharged 2]

Get an eezibleed first and see if that sorts it...

 

You could have popped a wheel cylinder - these should be checked yearly anyway as part of a service (not part of MOT) - you need to take the drum / bearing off and inspect under the 2 rubber boots where 2 small pistons activate the shoes - any signs of fluid and you must change them - they need changing roughly every 80k miles so if the car has done 160k then they should be up for there second change!

[tandino 0]

When using the master cylinder to bleed the brakes you undo the bleed nipple on the downward depression,lock the nipple off then shout for the pedal to come up.

If you dont lock off between the pedal being depressed to pedal up you will introduce air back into the system as the pedal rises with the bleed nipple open...