Brakes HELP!!!!!

jason_l

New member
Hi everyone,

Staying late at work to try and bleed the brakes with no joy.

Using a one man bleed kit and its worked a treat on the clutch line. Now when i go to try and bleed the brakes its another story. Front brakes bleed fine and the fluid comes through the hose and into the jar fine. When i try and bleed the rear brakes i get nothing?!? No movement of air or fluid down the tube. I now have working front brakes but no rear brakes. Im really stuck as to whats preventing it from bleeding through.

The only thing i could think of is that i have put the master cylinder back together wrong and something inside is the wrong way round? would this have caused the problem? im sure i would have done it right but can't help but think something is wrong???

Jason :D
 

Steves2580

New member
Hi Jason,

Is there fluid in the lines??
It sounds to me like a blockage somewhere, have you adjusted your bias valve, is any brake fluid getting passed it??

Can you try blowing some compressed air down the lines, cover all joints in soapy water and watch for bubbles!!

With bleeding the fronts first, you may not be getting enough travel on the peddle to bleed the rears??

Good Luck fella, just wish I was closer, so I could have a look, two pairs of eyes etc etc :(

Steve ;D
 

Phaeton

Moderator
Staff member
Jason,

You could try the rough & ready method, get a length of clear pipe put it on the bleed furthest from the M/C undo the bleed slightly & then try to suck fluid through.

Other thought is the bleed on the rear callipers at the top, I had to take mine off & bleed them up in the air, with a block of wood in the gap to stop the piston coming out.

Alan...
 

Danny

Administrator
I have had this problem.... we jacked the front of the car up and we used a different bleeder which quite literally forced fluid through...
 

jason_l

New member
Still looking into this. The bias valve is fully open so not restricting the rear brakes at all. Going to take out the master cylinder next week and double check everything there and then the lines and rear calipers as well.

The bleed nipple on the rear calipers is at the top but changing the angle slightly on the caliper may help.

There isn't a huge rush to get this fixed now as the front brakes work just fine on there own ;D As long as i go slow and don't boot it too much it still stops in time. ::)

Jason :D
 

jason_l

New member
Right i have tried taking the master cylinder off and taking it all apart. Looks like i did have it put together correctly and the washers inside are the correct way round. However this means there is a problem somewhere else and it could be a blockage in one of the lines.

I re-bled the brakes, well the front anyway as i might take it for another spin on Saturday morning. One thing i did notice though is that the front brakes don't come on till the peddle is really far down, this makes me wonder that maybe the front/rear lines are the wrong way round? Surely the fronts should engage first right. Im thinking that maybe the takeoff's should be reversed?!?!?

Jason
 

Mini Mad Max

Active member
Possibly... I have a diagram showing which way the yellow tag MCs are split as in which union supplies which circuit. I never remember which does what. Also... I read somewhere that you have to prime/bench bleed the Master cylinder to get a good pedal position. I shall get back to you on what my trusty diagram says.
Max
 

Danny

Administrator
I think the outlet nearest the slidey rod does the fronts... theory being that if there is a leak the fronts wont be the first to fail....
 

Mini Mad Max

Active member
Danny":2y8lltx6 said:
I think the outlet nearest the slidey rod does the fronts... theory being that if there is a leak the fronts wont be the first to fail....
I have a feeling that the yellow tag MC works in reverse to that. I spent a long time searching the web one day but did come up with an answer.
GRID000778.gif

This was the image i used to determine which union supplied which circuit. The top one on the MC, so the most rearward one on the buggy supplies the front brakes and the bottom union or the front one on the buggy supplies the rear brakes.
Job's a goodun!
Max
 

jason_l

New member
Thats the way i have them round Max. As per the link i supplied at the top of this thread, maybe i just have a blockage in the lines then?

Just seems a bit weird that the front brakes only apply when the peddle is really far down? Thats what made me believe i have them the wrong way round.

Jobs for next week are to take the rear brake pipes off and see if i can get any fluid down them.....

Jason :)
 

Phaeton

Moderator
Staff member
TBH Jason this is a problem I was facing all last year once I upgraded to the MGF rear brakes, with the Golf ones I had no problems other than bleeding but once bled they were very good, but now I have the MGF there is no feel to the brakes, it's nothing, nothing, nothing, brakes are on, but it feels like it's all forward braking. If I remember tomorrow I'll look at Bumble, but he's up at my Dad's

Alan...
 
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