Excessive pedal travel - new pads…
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**So, we replaced all the pads a couple of days ago (mmm, Mintex). I've just come to bed them in and found that the pedal pretty much hits the firewall. No feel, craploads of travel and brown trousers.
With the engine off, the pedal is soft on the first try, then pretty solid. As soon as the engine comes on, the pedal just becomes retardedly long. A low-speed test tells me that the pedal has to be depressed to half its rest height in order to slow the car at all. I can't see any fluid leaks and none of the lines were broken or troublesome.
I used to be able to stop from 20mph in less than the car's length. Where have my brakes gone and can I have them back please?**
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check the 'servo' hose from the intake manifold to the brake master for any wear/cracks etc. Maybe time for a full fluid flush and bleed? I take it the fluid levels haven't changed either?
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Hi Famine,
As Marco said the first thing I would do is a fluid change and bleed see if that sorts it out. Plus it wouldn't hurt anyway :D
One other thing, while you were replacing the pads, did you clean up the pad carrier and caliper sliders??
I had a similar problem to you with pedal travel all because the slider pins on the caliper were seized. This stops the caliper moving in and hugging the pads, when you press the pedal the piston has to travel further due to the caliper being so far away from the pad.
Unbolt the caliper and the pins the bolts go into should slide by hand, if not wiggle them out with plyers or worst case you'll need a punch (I used a 3/8" extension bar) clean them up with sandpaper, grease them and slide them back in.You might also get this with the pads stuck in the pad carrier. Actually there are no pad carriers as such on the front (pads are held in the caliper) but check the rears as the pads can get stuck, just clean up the carrier where the pads sit with a file/grinder/sandpaper and a lil dab of copper grease after. Also check the slider pins on the rear.
I was shocked at the improvement after I did this to mine.
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@9959407a69=Mikey:
One other thing, while you were replacing the pads, did you clean up the pad carrier and caliper sliders??
**Yes. :D
We did a terribly thorough job on them. They were a bit of a state - the previous installation managed to botch a shim so the locating stud punched a hole in it :roll:
In either case, I'm throwing it a more local MoT station tomorrow with them alerted to this issue. A friend and general handyman says he had a similar issue with his Mondingo and it was just a case of the pads settling - this may be the case, as we removed an awful lot of crap from the calipers, shims and seats.
Edit: Just checked and a vacuum hose had come free, from the airbox clean side. It seems to have had an effect - I can't get the pedal even close to the bulkhead now - but they still seem a little weak. Hopefully they are just settling in too.
I'm sure I just failed to impress the neighbours by doing a 0-20-0 in a cul-de-sac :lol:**
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**MoT man, he say… FAIL.
Fronts have 300lb, rears 50lb. Handbrake is 80/100. He's noted the rear discs seem excessively pitted and recommended new ones - and said that might fix the problem (and that bleeding will probably help).
Pisser.
Edit: Ordered a pair of Black Diamond grooves for the rear to match the front. If Roc is reading, you need to stock these - they're the same part as the back of the Mk2/2.5 MX-5. I shall fit when they arrive and see if the problem goes away.**
