aving enjoyed an afternoon at JAE on Saturday, Emma and I left around 5pm to drop me off at a gig in Corby and Emma to go home from there. On leaving, we noticed our car had been dubbed with a number..... 13! And how unlucky we were.
About 15 miles from Corby, approaching a roundabout in traffic, we heard a fairly loud clunk toward the front of the vehicle. Emma naturally braked - only to find the brake pedal had gone completely soft and we weren't stopping. Handbraked to stop - not working either?!
Now there's a metallic grinding noise on rotation of the nearside wheel - sounds like it's associated with the brakes but I'm not sure????
Suggestions then please folks - I need to fix it ASAP if possible???
Step 1: Pull your wheels and look
Step 2: Let us know what's out of the ordinary
take the cover off from under the frunk as well, the master/slave brake cylinders are under there,
what are the brake fluid levels in the resovoir, i'm guessing empty
If the reservoir was empty you should still be able to use the brakes, they will be harder though.
Check you still have both ABS cables going into the wheel hubs on the front. They are held in by a disc with a 10mm bolt in it.
Is the ABS light on?
Quote from: "Jap GT300"If the reservoir was empty you should still be able to use the brakes, they will be harder though.
all i was thinking here Adam, was if there's a leak in the system, it would have dumped all the fluid and the pedal gone soft, the resovoir would have been emptied and there would be no braking at all, regardless of how hard you press, i'm not sure on the system design but i would have thought there is an NRV in the line to each caliper to prevent total system failure in the event of a brake line failure??
Quote from: "Jap GT300"Check you still have both ABS cables going into the wheel hubs on the front. They are held in by a disc with a 10mm bolt in it.
Is the ABS light on?
if the cable comes off then the ABS light would come on but this wouldn't prevent the brakeing system from working, just the ABS system would fail
doesn't address why teh handbrake wouldn't work. it's cable operated
Sorry guys - been away from PC and had to rush the initial message. Just to clarify on a few points now:
1: Initially checked the brake setup from behind the wheel while waiting for recovery. No signs of anything unusual to me. No brake fluid, hoses attached, all seems to be in order.
2: Then checked brake fluid - all present and correct.
3: Pedal is now back to pressure when braking - it seems like there was a temporary loss of pressure somehow??
4: The only remaining symptom is this metallic scraping/grinding noise coming from the passenger side front wheel (only) when moving forward. It seems to be braking fine but obviously we haven't driven it since, just moved it a little.
5: No ABS light on.
Does that help at all? s:( :( s:(
well without wanting to state the bloody obvious, get that wheel off, and the caliper and remove the pads, give it a bloody good clean up and inspect all the parts, then things may be a bit clearer
could the pad have fallen out? that would give the grinding noise and temporary loss of brakes as the piston would have to take up the additional slack, long shot i know
doesn't explain the lack of handbrake, but i don't think you would get much braking from it anyway as it acts on a lever on the rear calipers but is cable operated so if you yanked it hard the cable would stretch elastically and not necessarily apply the brakes harder
Quote from: "markiii"doesn't address why the handbrake wouldn't work. it's cable operated
Wild guess, but maybe it did. As we all know, it really isn't that good even for holding the car still, not to mention trying to slow down, especially compared to the dman good brakes s:? :? s:? I drove around a while without idle and used the handbrake to slow down and it feels useless above 30mph s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
Quote from: "spgreen"could the pad have fallen out? that would give the grinding noise and temporary loss of brakes as the piston would have to take up the additional slack, long shot i know
Gotta agree with this. When coming up to change my pads, I stamped hard on the brakes comming off a motorway and got a shock as there was a grinding noise and a bang and no brakes. Luckly there was nothing to stop for at the end of the slip road. Turns out the passenger side pad had broken and come off.
Drove back really carefully and changed them.
Simon
Quote from: "spgreen"could the pad have fallen out? that would give the grinding noise and temporary loss of brakes as the piston would have to take up the additional slack, long shot i know
doesn't explain the lack of handbrake, but i don't think you would get much braking from it anyway as it acts on a lever on the rear calipers but is cable operated so if you yanked it hard the cable would stretch elastically and not necessarily apply the brakes harder
I have to admit that is
EXACTLY what I've been thinking. Gonna change the front discs and pads and see what I find along the way. If still a problem after that, I'll let y'all know. s:) :) s:)
I think Liz put the number 13 on our car... I'll be holding her responsible for full costs of repairs etc. s:D :D s:D
s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
Quote from: "SimonC_Here"Quote from: "spgreen"could the pad have fallen out? that would give the grinding noise and temporary loss of brakes as the piston would have to take up the additional slack, long shot i know
Gotta agree with this. When coming up to change my pads, I stamped hard on the brakes comming off a motorway and got a shock as there was a grinding noise and a bang and no brakes. Luckly there was nothing to stop for at the end of the slip road. Turns out the passenger side pad had broken and come off.
Drove back really carefully and changed them.
Simon
Weird s:shock: :shock: s:shock: ... you've basically just described exactly the same scenario we were in! I have a feeling you guys may have diagnosed the problem. s:D :D s:D
New discs and pads from w www.speedways.co.uk (http://www.speedways.co.uk) w on order - £90 inclusive! Beautiful. s8) 8) s8)
Quote from: "SimonC_Here"I stamped hard on the brakes comming off a motorway and got a shock as there was a grinding noise and a bang and no brakes. Luckly there was nothing to stop for at the end of the slip road. Turns out the passenger side pad had broken and come off.
s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
Friend of mine with a 2ZZ Corolla just had the same happen to him and the pads look similar to ours...
Quote from: "Jono & Emma"I think Liz put the number 13 on our car... I'll be holding her responsible for full costs of repairs etc. s:D :D s:D
s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
I'm sorry s:oops: :oops: s:oops: , I feel guilty now s:cry: :cry: s:cry: , hope that you get it sorted soon.