Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Sorry guys another question, you must be sick of me by now. I have cleaned up the front brake calipers and greased them up and cleaned the rear drums out and put diesel on the moving parts(not the drum shoes of coarse). I have totally flushed the system out with new fluid and bleed it properly.

When the car is not running and when it's running it fells like the pedal is a bit squishly and goes close to the floor and then pumped a few times and it hardens up. I haven't really driven the car much yet or far but from what i can remember the brakes worked ok but the pedal moved a bit far.

I noticed the front brake caliper piston seals are a bit knacked and one is ripped a bit but still seems to seal coz there doesn't seem to be any fluid leaking out. when pedal is pressed.

So is there anything else besides the master cylinder that i can check or is there a test a mechanic can do to see if there is a pressure leak or what wrongs with it coz the manul didn't offer me much help and i am semi out of ideas (i don't really know that much about brakes)

thanks in advance

Sacha

Mate,

Ive spent hundreds of hours and dollars on ym brakes in the MQ and ive got as new brakes now as the only things in the whole car that arnt new are the calipers themselves.
I know wat im talking about with the brakes on a MQ, and as ive had that same problem before i can honestly tell you that The brake Pedal on an MQ is almost always pushable to the floor with force and the if you want to harden the pedal up and inprove your braking a huge amount the best thing to do is get a NEW master cylender. Running a kit through it doesnt really help and a second hand one will be in the same condition as yours is in now.

HTH

Screwy.

BTW Have u got an MQ / MK 5 speed box i can buy or trade with dollars for a 4 speed?

Soz im asking everyone as i need one for the v8 conversion to work nicely

no sorry i do not have a 5 spd box and i will keep trying with the brakes and ill see if they work properly or not. anyone else got anything to add

Listen! when i say you have air in the front callipers. been there Bleed them again and again and again and when you think you have all the air out bleed them again. I had the same prob and i changed calipers, master cyl, booster, Shoes in the rear, Front pads, the list goes on. After 3 bottles of brake fluid and a tiny bit of air (hey presto great pedal) Great brakes even with 35's. it is air in the front callipers. Try bleeding them with the callipers off with a spacer in and tilt the bleed nipples pointing up to the top as high as they will go. Bleed them then bleed them again. Try clamping off the rear hose then the front hoses 1 by 1 you will find the problem caliper. let me know how you go.

I had a recent problem of:

Because of the SOA my Calipers were on an angle and so i couldnt bleed the back corner of air out of them. to fix this, i put the two calipers on two blocks with bricks proping them up up right and managed to get the air out that way.

Another way to solve it is just to take it to ur local brake man and tell them to power brake bleed it. It will cost you about $75 and there will be no such thing as air in those lines again. NOTHING beats a power bleed.

Screwy

I took the front drivers side piston out of the caliper(semi by accident) to try and clean all the dirt out, so i guess there could be air in them still. i have bleed them 3 times and the back once. i will do what you said Dr Frankenstine and take the calipers off and point the nipple upwards.Should i do this when the car is running or not.

Do you guys think that a semi broken front caliper piston seal will be ok, coz it seems like they r still sealing or should i get onto replacing them one day (more money )

Hopefully i will get onto my ticking noise tomorrow aswell stated in my other post.

if it seals and doesnt leak it should be OK but it may pay to safer than sorry as u might have to replace it in a few months.....

Screwy

Fix the seal and you don't need the motor running. Also make sure youre rear brakes are adjusted right up to it makes a big difference to you're pedal

ok stupid question .. i know nothing bout brakes ...

my brakes in the GQ don't feel right ...
similar problem of a soft pedal that i can push to the floor ...

how do ya bleed the lines?

Terrafirma wrote:ok stupid question .. i know nothing bout brakes ...

my brakes in the GQ don't feel right ...
similar problem of a soft pedal that i can push to the floor ...

how do ya bleed the lines?

Well.. anyone can do it provided they have brains.

On each calliper there is a bleed line. You attach a clear hose to it. Often a 5/16 spanner works (correct me if im wrong) undo all the bleeders and attach a clear hose to it into a empty jar. (DO NOT REUSE IT).

Really a 2 man job to get it done properly. Have one guy depress the brake pedal a few times until you see the fluid goin thru the tube with no air in it. Keep checkin the master cylinder to make sure it doesnt run out. Keep toppin it up as u go along. Work from the longest brake line to the shortest. Meaning from Left rear wheel to the right rear wheel then left front to right front .

You will see bubbles coming out of the clear tube into the jar. Which means that there was air in the brake lines. Keep repeatin the procedure with your mate depressin the pedal back and forth until there is no air left. Then depresss the brake pedal a few times when all done and hopefully if there is no air in the lines it should become pretty firm.

But like Screwy said.. NOTHING beats a power bleed. It virtually eliminates ALL the air and you have that peace of mind knowing that the job was done properly.

Tom

thanks dood

GQ wrote:

Terrafirma wrote:ok stupid question .. i know nothing bout brakes ...

my brakes in the GQ don't feel right ...
similar problem of a soft pedal that i can push to the floor ...

how do ya bleed the lines?

Well.. anyone can do it provided they have brains.

On each calliper there is a bleed line. You attach a clear hose to it. Often a 5/16 spanner works (correct me if im wrong) undo all the bleeders and attach a clear hose to it into a empty jar. (DO NOT REUSE IT).

Really a 2 man job to get it done properly. Have one guy depress the brake pedal a few times until you see the fluid goin thru the tube with no air in it. Keep checkin the master cylinder to make sure it doesnt run out. Keep toppin it up as u go along. Work from the longest brake line to the shortest. Meaning from Left rear wheel to the right rear wheel then left front to right front .

You will see bubbles coming out of the clear tube into the jar. Which means that there was air in the brake lines. Keep repeatin the procedure with your mate depressin the pedal back and forth until there is no air left. Then depresss the brake pedal a few times when all done and hopefully if there is no air in the lines it should become pretty firm.

But like Screwy said.. NOTHING beats a power bleed. It virtually eliminates ALL the air and you have that peace of mind knowing that the job was done properly.

Tom

Wrong (sorry) Get the person in the car to pump the pedal 3-4 times then hold preasure on the pedal. then crack the bleed nipple while he is holding preasure on the pedal, the pedal should go to the floor. close the nipple (before the pedal is released) then pump the pedal 3-4 times again.Repeat the process. Do the brake furthest from the master cylinder first. don't forget to do the rear as well

Tip .....................

A small clear plastic hose like the windscreen wiper squirters have will slip over the bleeder and then ya place the other end in a vessel that can be later disposed of......... keeps the w/shop floor clean

Tip.............

start enging and let idle....
apply brakes firmly......

if the pedal slowly sinks into the mat under the constant and even pressure you are applying then replace the master cylinder cause its fugged

DR Frankenstine wrote:Wrong (sorry) Get the person in the car to pump the pedal 3-4 times then hold preasure on the pedal. then crack the bleed nipple while he is holding preasure on the pedal, the pedal should go to the floor. close the nipple (before the pedal is released) then pump the pedal 3-4 times again.Repeat the process. Do the brake furthest from the master cylinder first. don't forget to do the rear as well

I stand corrected. Had been on too much rum and coke when i put that info in and didnt go into deeper enoughd detail, and you've summed it up Thanks mate

Tom

i will try that V8Patrol and see what the pedal does. I have bleed the brakes again and it has new totally new fluid in it now. I think the rear brake shoes are a bit worn but still like 40-50% let of them. I will inform you guys of my progress.

Have u fixed the problem yet?
If not try using three sets of vice grips,
1.Place the first set on the rear hose(not to tight it will split)
then try ya pedal,if its still doing it -
2.Place the second set on the passenger front hose and repeat the pedal test and so on,this will indicate the faulty caliper / calipers.
I had a similar problem on mine and found out that the passenger side caliper was identical in many ways,piston size-seals-dimensions and all looked good but i mixed 2 different callipers (i had six lying around at the time)Only noticed due to serial numbers being different.
The hose monted on a slightly different angle than the correct matching unit.I felt like such a dum arse once i found it but hey its all learning.The pedal went hard when pumped then 2 seconds later to the floor again.All is good now and it brakes awsome!!