Brakes - Bleeding probs

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Got myself a 1994 Sportrak ELXI (No ABS).

My brakes had quite a lot of travel before anything happened approx 1/3 to 1/2 the pedels travel.
Thought that they might need bleeding so i went and got a kitchen knife and stabbed them...

Not done it before so i went and got one of those non return bleeding hose kit thingemys and some fluid. i did exactly what it said on the tin.

Clean my nipples (didnt bother, id had a shower that morning!),
Put hose on,
Undo nipple 1/2 to 3/4 turn,
Slowley pump brakes until no air in the line (checking and topping up resevoir as needed),
Tightened nipple back up.
Repeated on other front caliper.

Checked everything was tight and no leaks, checked fluid and topped up. started her up, left to run a little while then went for a very slow test drive!
Well bugger me! Absolutly no differance what so ever, if anything there may even be more movement than before!! (not good)

What did i do wrong? I followed the instructions to the letter everything seemed to be ok? Usually i don't touch brakes better to be safe than sorry (leave it to a pro) but this time i thought i'd have a go myself!
Any ideas dudes & dudets?

Oh, one last thing in the resevoir there is a white tablet thing with a black dot in the middle about 1/4" smaller than the diameter of the resevoir... what is it? should that be in there? or should i throw that away with all those loose wires and cables i pulled out of the engine bay! lol(just kiddin)

brake

ok dude

First things first, when bleedin brake start the furthest away from the servo, and work backwards. Now there are four nipples, rear left, the p valve near the rear right which has no nipple just a through and through pipe, front left, front right.

Now I am assuming that you have had the rear wheels of to check the amount of lining there is left on the rear shoes as if they are worn to excess then that is why you have excessive travel in the brake system

So if there are no leaks at the servo check around the inner rear wheels look for dampness that indicates one or both of the rear wheel cylinders are kaput

If all looks good then the problem lies with one of three things A, the servo, B the master cylinder, C the one way valve between the servo and the manifold;

To test

With engine on pump brakes does the pedal get harder?

A, servo , with the engine off push hard on the brake pedal, start engine leaving your foot on the brake pedal, you should feel the pedal pull or fall away from you, making your foot travel further. If it does this its ok. Get someone to listen in the engine bay for any whistles or sounds of air escaping.

B master cylinder, ok this ones a pain, best you can do is see if there is any fluid leaking from it. You can test the master cylinder yourself but this is best left to someone with the correct equipment

C, one way valve, connect to the servo is a pipe which provides an air supply to boost the brake pedal, this should pull out of its housing, it should be FB tight and should let out a hiss when you pull it off, the other end should be connected to the inlet manifold in a petrol or pump in a diesel, with the engine running you should feel air coming through the pipe. Next step remove pipe, blow through it you should only feel air going towards the servo, if you get air flow the other way then the valve is duff

And last thing don’t throw the float away your low level brake fluid light (same system as handbrake warning light) wont work

Brakes have automatic

Brakes have automatic adjusters. The pedal will be at least 1/3 down before the adjusting cams take up the slack.
Also suggest you adjust the handbrake [cable length] so wheels are locked after 3 clicks when raising the hand brake lever.
If you removed the rear drums then the rear brakes will need adjusting to take up the gap between pad and drum. This is done by ratcheting the hand brake lever up/down/up/down ... keep going until the handbrake reaches its highest possible height.
When bleeding start at the longest 'run' and finish with the 'shortest'. Might be worth renewing the brake nipples which do get corroded/leak air .... they are cheap and standard size - buy form a motor diy shop and not from diahatsu.

Brake probs fixed - thanx guys

Thanks for the help guys.
I got everything bled again following antraxx instructions, would have saved time if they were on the back of the bleeding kit. (fancy a job writing instructions dude, lol)

Got everything sorted, and one hell of a squeeling going on, in a straight line, on a right hand corner, not in reverse and easing off on a leftie!

thought id made a major fubar. so i took it to someone that was recommended to me by several dudes i work with.

One of the pads in the front left caliper had not been seated correctly when previous owner changed pads, it was sat at an angle and had worn down to the backing plate at the bottom but looked like plenty of meat on them from top at a quick inspection! (got it back... looks like a doorstop!)

New set of pads, renewed brake fluid and bled, new nipples, checked over and road tested. text alerted to costs and job done in about 3 hours from dropping sporty off.
£100 inc vat would have been £70 inc vat but asked him to bleed them just to be sure id done it right! (it's stopping, better to be safe than wrote off!)
---------------------------------------------------------
If its not broken, Fix it.
If its broken, Hit it.
If its still broken, Hit it some more then get a new one!

---------------------------------------------------------
If its not broken, Fix it.
If its broken, Hit it.
If its still broken, Hit it some more then get a new one!

brakes

hi mark

well dude i am just glad that its fixed. you have to look upon this as a learning experience, you know for next time!