Hello!

On driving up to a main road yesterday, I went for brakes and found they didn't really didn't do anything. There was some light braking all around but not enough to stop me. The more I pressed the pedal towards the floor the more braking there was but had to use the engine and handbrake to stop the car to avoid driving into traffic.

The car has been recently serviced (perhaps 1000 miles / 2 months ago). The past couple of weeks I've noticed a rubbing noise on the wheels which appears to speed up and slow down with the wheel speed.

Since the brakes went wrong, the rubbing noise has gone. There are no engine warning lights on or anything. Would anyone know the first place to look for the issue?

 

Is there any fluid in the brake reservoir? If not then look for worn or chafed pipes/flexis . If there is fluid then brake servo or master cylinder failure .

 

What kind of service was performed?

At a guess, the rubbing noise was pads on rotor and that caused enough friction to heat up the caliper(s) resulting in boiled brake fluid with the final result being brake fade.

What you felt is what brake fade feels like.

The boiled brake fluid has bubbles in it and the piston compresses the gas rather than the brake fluid.

If this has happened a complete flush is in order after checking for sticking pistons.

 

Thank you for the replies!

It was what the garage said was a "full" service, seemed to include pretty much everything that could be serviced.

On testing things out this morning, it appears that when I put my foot on the brake, lots of brake fluid comes out from the front left hand side brake, and looking at the wheel, it's looking very blackened indeed.

Thanks for the advice on this guys, I was just going to get more brake fluid, new brake calipers and a new hose but a complete flush seems like it would be a good idea too

 

Complete flush is never a bad thing , but you may just have a bad hose or bleed nipple . I would check that before ordering new callipers .

 

That would be the brake hose you mentioned. The difficulty stopping was caused by the fact that you would have been on a partial brake system. The part that was left functional on the split hydraulic system. What that means is that the hydraulic system is split into two sections so that if one part fails the other remains functional. It functions, but you do not have full stopping power.

It is impossible to tell from here, but if the mechanic closed off a brake hose during the service using mole grips, there is a high risk of hose damage. It is a frequent, but not recommended practice.

 

So I had a chance to get the wheel off today and take a good look at what happened:


The red square shows where the wheel was rubbing on the brake cable and ended up rubbing through. The blue square shows where one of the garages I've been to used a cable tie to hold the brake cable in place. I'm never sure how to be angry at garages because unless I go through their work afterwards, they can just turn around and say "wasn't me", anyways thats another matter.

So I'll need a new brake cable which is easy enough to find, but will also need to find a new clamp thing to hold the brake cable away from the wheel which seems harder to find. If anyone knows where I could source one, that would be amazing.

 

My last replacement hose had the clamp attached.

As a matter of fact, the clamp was the cause of death; water gets between the clamp and the hose, and the clamp rusts, expanding as it does. Eventually, it either squeezes the hose shut, or wears a hole through it.

 

The rubber boot that is on the line goes into a bracket that fits in the hole where the wire tie is at. I have one here. But I live in the states. Would be happy to ship it to you. Not sure how much or how long it would take. if I can help let me know.


Good Luck,
The Dr!

 

Thank you! I will order the replacement brake hose and see what it comes with. It seems like it shouldn't be too difficult to do a safer job than the person who put the original cable tie on there!

Current plan unless I think of anything better and if the new hose comes as just the hose by itself, is to wrap the hose in an extra bit of rubber, and use maybe 5 cable ties to hold it in place, spreading the load and adding some redundancy to it. At least I know about it now and it's something I can easily check regularly. Thanks for everyones help on this forum, have never come across such a friendly community before!

 

If you look around the car salvage yards they might have this part for you. Otherwise if you just pay for shipping to you I would be happy to send it.

 

Thank you! I will see what arrives with the brake hose and if needed I might take you up on that offer, I'm more than happy to pay postage + a little extra if it looks like we might need it. Thank you again

 

Ok so I got the new hose today and fitted it. No more leaking fluid everywhere. However the brake fluid must have gotten pretty low so we bled the braking system, some air came out but the brakes are still pretty ineffective (although if I pump the brakes whilst driving they do get stiffer). Does anyone have any ideas what I should try next to get things back to normal?

 

Did you bleed all of the brakes . Sounds like you still have air in the system . There is a sequence , not sure of it , no doubt someone will advise .

 

Yeah I bled each one of them. No air came out of the rear brakes (although clean fluid did come through eventually). Am not sure what to even look at next at the moment.

 

Brake bleeding order.
1st. Passenger rear then drivers rear. then passenger front then drivers front. Always bleed farthest to closest to the master. Did you get that clip you needed?

 

Thank you! I've bled the brakes a few times now and it's getting a little better each time but not quite perfect still. We haven't been able to find a replacement clip. If your offer of sending the clip over still stands and are able to accept some money via paypal for it, I would love to be able to take you up on that offer?

 

Yes just pm me your complete address, and I will get a price on the shipping for you

 

Just to close this - A big thankyou to Dr Dome who was able to send me the exact part that I was missing to get this fixed permanently and properly, will let me enjoy my car again knowing that the brake hose is held in place properly.

 

Glade to help good friend. I am happy to see your part got there safe and sound.