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Who in the U.K. (or anywhere else in Europe) could perform a professional revision of my ABS brake actuator master cylinder unit?
It's for my 1989 LHD XJS V12 convertible.
Attached an image, my unit on the left and how it should look like after the revision :-)
- I'm not sure if you're just talking about cleaning up the outside but think very carefully before taking that unit apart.
- I expect that the various internal seals of the actuator can be found somewhere, but they have not been available from Jaguar for many years. The actuators, IMO, do not fail and a rebuild of the actuator seals is not a common occurrence. I don't know anyone who has needed to do it .
- The reservoir does seem to be very dirty inside. Now that the unit is off the car, I would remove the reservoir before cleaning it. Don't let any of the sediment and dirt go into the accumulator or you could have major issues
- The ABS valve block attached on the side is the absolute weakness and critical to the safety of the system. It is the key weak area in 2 ways:
- The internal ribbon cable on the inside deteriorates and becomes brittle. Some owners have manually hard-wired connections from the internal side of the electrical plug to the ABS valves as a solution
- The ABS valves can get corrosion through water absorption in the fluid. In addition there are little filter baskets on them which get clogged with sediment. If you take the ABS valve block apart, these should be checked, cleaned or replaced.
- The ABS valves can be tested by applying current to each of them
- When you reinstall the actuator, the correct bleeding procedure must be followed. You have to bleed the low-pressure side to the pump first before bleeding the wheel circuits. And you must bleed the rear wheel circuits in particular using the Teves procedure because it is not pedal pressure that directly activates the flow of fluid to the rear brakes.
If you can remember what any of your symptoms were when the unit was in the car, we may be able to give you some suggestions as to where the fault could lie.
If you have a problem with the Valve Block it is not only very easy to Test but very easy to Fix that would cost 'Peanuts'
Its most often a Case of replacing the Fragile Ribbon Wires inside with High Temp Silicon Wire
Its very often just as Simple as that!
The only thing I would say is once you have identified the Problem get a Professional Soldering Shop to do the rewiring for you, as you can't take any chances with the Brakes
If your Brakes are Snatching to one side like someone is trying to rip the Steering Wheel out of your hand then this could almost certainly be the Problem
This happens to me with the hard jerk of the car at sudden braking, the shop previously disassembled and cleaned the abs block and now it will pull to ANY direction randomly at random times depending on the alignment of the stars. System also wasn't sending pressure to rear brakes or rarely did as evidenced by the intense brake wear on front vs like-new on back.
Seeing as they already cleaned it out nicely once before - what exactly should I suggest to them for the ribbon repair thing? I feel like it may be my problem as stone cold the car will do it more often than after a few hours driving, thinking thermal expansion improving wire contact?
First Test the Valve Block as in my Video above, where you are almost Certain to find a malfunction, with one of the Valves not Clicking and then undo the Cover on the Valve Block, with the Master Cylinder Actuator on its side so the Cover of the Valve Block is facing upwards, so that it cannot fall off
Then Carefully remove the Cover and look inside and you will see the Ribbon Connectors with one or more of them Broken but be Careful that the Valves don't fall out under their own weight which they can and will do if given half a chance!
Then do a quick Sketch of how they are all wired together as best as you can, as a belt and braces recovery move in case something goes wrong
Then put the Cover back on the Valve Block and do the Bolts up Finger Tight just to keep it all together, then take the whole thing (including the Master Cylinder Actuator with the Valve Block still attached) to your local Radio Shack
Then Carefully remove the Valve Block Cover in Front of them and tell them you want all those Ribbons replaced with High Temp Silicone Wire
Then when they've done that and Tested it to make sure all the Valves are Clicking, put it back in the Car and then Bleed the Brakes in the way described by Paul (ptjs) and hopefully all your Troubles will be over!
First Test the Valve Block as in my Video above, where you are almost Certain to find a malfunction, with one of the Valves not Clicking and then undo the Cover on the Valve Block, with the Master Cylinder Actuator on its side so the Cover of the Valve Block is facing upwards, so that it cannot fall off
Then Carefully remove the Cover and look inside and you will see the Ribbon Connectors with one or more of them Broken but be Careful that the Valves don't fall out under their own weight which they can and will do if given half a chance!
Then do a quick Sketch of how they are all wired together as best as you can, as a belt and braces recovery move in case something goes wrong
Then put the Cover back on the Valve Block and do the Bolts up Finger Tight just to keep it all together, then take the whole thing (including the Master Cylinder Actuator with the Valve Block still attached) to your local Radio Shack
Then Carefully remove the Valve Block Cover in Front of them and tell them you want all those Ribbons replaced with High Temp Silicone Wire
Then when they've done that and Tested it to make sure all the Valves are Clicking, put it back in the Car and then Bleed the Brakes in the way described by Paul (ptjs) and hopefully all your Troubles will be over!
Your brake issues are legendary. Salute. Iĺ pass this along to the shop itll help. They rebuild E types from scratch without sweating so shouldnt be an issue for them to do this
ABS brake actuator revision? Who is specialized?
