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spongy brakes :L

Paul979

Paul979

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Location
cork,Ireland
Car
2.2 i-ctdi
hey guys,here is my problem, i changed my rear brake pads today and for some reason i have very spongy brakes,i bleed the brakes twice and nothing :L im thinking maybe it could be the master cylinder could be to blame but to dark now to have a proper look, any1 have any other idea's what it could be?
P.S those pistons are a balls to move, had to make a tool to move it back! :angry:
 
Paul_ctdi said:
hey guys,here is my problem, i changed my rear brake pads today and for some reason i have very spongy brakes,i bleed the brakes twice and nothing :L im thinking maybe it could be the master cylinder could be to blame but to dark now to have a proper look, any1 have any other idea's what it could be?
P.S those pistons are a balls to move, had to make a tool to move it back! :angry:
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Could have built up pressure in the reservoir which could have damaged a seal on the master cylinder causing air to escape which would account for the spongy-ness..

Could have old brake fluid, which over time contains more water...

Some pads (which did you use?) can have a spongy effect initially before the first stage of the bedding in process because they aren't making proper contact with the disks yet....how bad is it?? Are the brakes effective?

Try pulling up the handbrake and pumping the brake pedal (old trick someone told me to firm up a pedal, never tried it though)

Sorry can't be of more help bud!!
 
The rear piston is twisted back using a special tool which can be bought from any motor factor store. It's not designed to be just pushed back.
 
Shabz said:
The rear piston is twisted back using a special tool which can be bought from any motor factor store. It's not designed to be just pushed back.
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Ya i found out that the hard way,ill take a pic of the tool i made after work and show how i did it :)
 
Schritzer said:
Could have built up pressure in the reservoir which could have damaged a seal on the master cylinder causing air to escape which would account for the spongy-ness..

Could have old brake fluid, which over time contains more water...

Some pads (which did you use?) can have a spongy effect initially before the first stage of the bedding in process because they aren't making proper contact with the disks yet....how bad is it?? Are the brakes effective?

Try pulling up the handbrake and pumping the brake pedal (old trick someone told me to firm up a pedal, never tried it though)

Sorry can't be of more help bud!!
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Ya the brakes are working fine,its just when u push the pedal it slowly goes down and u can fell like a leak or something but can't find 1 :L

It could be old brake fluid but the brakes were prefect before i changed the pads so couldn't be that

And i already tried the old pull up handbrake trick :D but nothing :( that trick worked for me before in my old car,

i handed my car into my budies garage while im in work so ill see what he finds and ill let ye know,
Thanks for the suggestions though :)
 
if i slowly / gently apply brake pressure i can get the pedal to the floor when the engine is running.

if you think you have a leak, make sure engine is off and pump the brake pedal. after 3-5 full pushed of the pedal it should be pretty solid to push.... look around the car for leaks.

if it maintains hard to push until the engine is started then this is normal.
 
right turns out Schritzer was right and it was just the brakes bedding in :rolleyes: so i just have to drive easy for around 50 miles and all should be good B) thanks guys for the help! :D
 
i get rid of 1 problem and another comes up :L now my handbrake light and VSA light keep turning on ?!? ill be driving down the road and the handbrake light turns on and off and the VSA light turns on and wont trun off untill i turn off the car and start it again and around 15 mins later the VSA light turns back on :L any ideas?
and the rear brakes seem to get very hot and smell of burn sort of? :L dunno are the pistons seizing?
 
Paul, check your brake fluid mate, I'd nearly bet that the fluid is at the min line.

Failing that it sounds like a seized rear caliper, not releasing correctly when the handbrake is released, would explain vsa having an issue too.

get someone to slowly drive it and see if you can hear rubbing at either of the rears?!
 
Schritzer said:
Paul, check your brake fluid mate, I'd nearly bet that the fluid is at the min line.

Failing that it sounds like a seized rear caliper, not releasing correctly when the handbrake is released, would explain vsa having an issue too.

get someone to slowly drive it and see if you can hear rubbing at either of the rears?!
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ya ill have to check brake fluid actually because after bleeding them last night the fluid was down to half way and if my mate did it again today it could be fairly low :L
im thinking it could be seized rear caliper aswell :L i stood out of my car and could smell the brakes :eek:
looks like the car is going back to the garage again tomorrow :( and all this because of worn pads :( not looking forward to servicing the car,can only imagine the problems ill have :p
thanks again Mike :)
 
I meant to include the bit about smell, but if you can smell them i'd imagine one is seized. Can happen to the best of us!! So the VSA can't function properly and the handbrake isn't releasing as it should, sounds the most plausible explanation to me anyway. Hopefully you get it sorted without too much issue buddy!! HTH :)
 
Ya that's what i think aswell,just im hoping i get it fixed or sorted tomorrow, suppose to be nice weather down here and be great for some pics :D ill let ya know how i get on tomorrow evening.
Thanks again bud :)
 
I look like a fookin lobster after today mate, and more the same tomorrow, bring on the BBQ!!

Keep me posted man, hope all gets sorted!! B)
 
If its not low fluid, will be most likely abs sensor. Any one want to guess which one :)
 
Ya was 24 degrees down here today but stuck in work in a f*****g warehouse! :L hoping be nice Saturday and ill see if any car meets on this weekend and hopefully get some good pics or maybe a few more loud videos B)
 
Paul979 said:
right turns out Schritzer was right and it was just the brakes bedding in :rolleyes: so i just have to drive easy for around 50 miles and all should be good B) thanks guys for the help! :D
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So did the peddle go back to being solid after they'd bedded in properly?
 
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