First off - apologies I have not been on the forum much bar to try and look things up. Life is in the slow lane as I wait for a super highway (well, quadruple bypass).

My 2003 2.1 litre X-Type has been a bit of a nightmare for the past ten days. I went to apply the handbrake and twang the cable went. Needs to be sorted some time I thought. A few miles down the road I smelt burning and found the OSR disc was very hot. After replacing the cable, callipers and pads there was still some drag and do the ageing rear flexibles were replaced. A bit better but still some drag and the same at the front. Next the master cylinder was replaced with a good s/h one as new they are very expensive. It was OK for a dozen miles but now the brakes are virtually permanently on.

Any suggestions what to check next?

 

I now suspect a servo issue after talking with a friend who has owned Mondeos for over two decades. Apparently models built around the same time had a servo issue that would manifest itself after work had been done on the brakes and the traditional method used to bleed the brakes rather than a pressure bleeder. Searching through the forum this seems to be an issue. My car was made in the Ford era and this sounds like a design fault, probably inadvertent.

 

Replacing the servo has cured the problems. In the end a s/h one was used as a new one was nearly £600 with the dreaded VAT!

My only recollection of anything like this was the Hillman Imp where the master cylinder rubbers could flip bleeding the brakes!

 

Was it constant sticky brakes or intermittent? I have intermittent issue with my brakes and when i disconnect the vacum line, pressure releasen.

 

Hi Johan,
An update. Bled the brakes all around for a THIRD time with no improvement. On a hunch, I re-bled the master cylinder and, sure enough, there was air at the rear fitting. Brake pedal is significantly better and the brakes aren't binding. Master cylinders are notoriously hard to bleed, and there was an air pocket in this one that affected the overall pedal feel. Unfortunately, a secondary problem, which is the ABS engaging when slowing to a stop is still there, and was one of the reasons I replaced the old master cylinder. This leaves me with the ABS module as a possible cause (sigh) and the process continues.
Hope this has been of some help to you.

Max

 

And on it goes😖.. good that you got that air out of mc . I bought a pressure bleeder and bled all 4 brakes yesterday. Totally 0,5 litres. Drove for 15 mins, then the brakes are dragging again😳. I also checked the abs sensors and tone-rings. The looked ok but i keep getting the fault code C 1165. Also measured 11,5 volts on idle and that is a problem for sure. Battery? Alternator? Cable? When i turn off all the electronics(fan, heated seats, defroster, stereo etc) the voltage goes up to 12,6-12,8. The car throws a LOT of fault codes, gearbox fault, abs, engine, you name it.
were to start?

 

Maybe you have bad tone-rings if the abs is kicking in when it should not? Just guessing, hopefully we dont have to replace the abs-unit.