Hello,
I've just replaced the rear drum brakes on the above car. The piston escaped (Rear-left brake) and brake fluid was lost - so i've tried to bleed the system - unsucessfully!
I've done it the haynes way with two people until the girlfriend got bored. Tried a simple kit with a one way valve and the same kit with the valve removed and a 1/2 bottle of fluid maintained. I've tried with engine running and without.
I bleed in the order RR/LR/RF/LF as per Haynes.
I can get a hard pedal without the engine running - but then I get a long pedal travel and minimal brakes....
No ABS. No bleed nipple on the master cylinder. The cylinder has never gone below the MIN mark.
On the plus side its had a fluid change!
Cheers for some help!
James
Edited by Javalin on 27/03/2009 at 12:29
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You may have been unlucky, and if the first time you bled did the 2 man operation, and pressed the pedal right to the floor, could have washed the seals out in the master cylinder. ie the rubber seals have moved over a lip in the bore a few times which normal operation over the years has built up. Cure: new master cylinder.
If the piston popped out of the slave cylinder, same can happen. These are very cheap (less than £10 from GSF) to replace.
The one man kits from Gunson, which use air pressure from a spare tyre work very well, as the pedal does not have to be depressed. If you ever have to press the pedal, only use half strokes.
If there is no ABS on the car, it will have a compensation valve on the passenger rear axle. This is a spring loaded device, and must be manually moved and held while the rears are bled. You will find the fluid comes out of a rear nipple much faster when it is opened.
Suggest: Buy a new wheel slave cylinder. Re-bleed again in the order you did, using the one man kit, making sure the compensation valve is opened. If this fails to give you a firm pedal, look towards the master cylinder (GSF about £35).
Good luck
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Hi Woodspeed,
Thanks for that - sounds good.
So basically compress it as if the suspention was fully loaded = full brake force allowed though?
Interestingly I think i'll put a new master cylinder on it anyway as the brakes seem to be dusty (aka working hard) on one circuit and not the other. aka Left from and Right rear are much dustier than the other two.
Cheers!
James
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If you managed to sort the Chinese puzzle of putting the rear shoes together, should be a piece of cake from now!
If you replace the rear wheel cylinders, to save you taking the shoes off, just undo the pins held with a clip to the backplate, and pull them forward off the cylinder. You can also hold the piston in with an elastic band around both ends, to stop it popping out.
You will need about a litre of brake fluid (dot 4 I think for this model) which is also cheap from GSF.
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Hiya
Yeah - I hate drum brakes!
The rear cylinders should be ok. The only reason it came out was because I pushed the other piston suddenly with the shoe by mistake.
OK - i've put a new master cylinder on it (Motor factors had one for £58) and purchased a EasyBleed (£15). Also opened the adjuster for the rear brakes whilst bleeding. The easybleed is just the best thing!
Pedal now goes hard after one pump with the engine off. With it running the brakes are better but still not brilliant. Still quite a pedal travel.
Cheers for your help,
James
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If you put in new shoes, they take a little time to bed in. Also, yank the handbrake on and off about 40 times quite hard to set the auto adjusters (keep the button in when you do it).
Give it about 100 miles before judgement.
If still "iffy" try pulling the handbrake up one click and see if you get a better pedal.
If so, this would indicate the handbrake cables need a pull up. Remove gaiter around handbrake. You will see at the rear there are two cables coming up. Undo the locking nut (10mm) and pull tighter. Worth checking that BOTH rear wheels will rotate and then stop at the same click point.
I have had some problems with the Gunsons kit, which is brilliant, but........... let the tyre down to about 25 psi. I once had a VR6 with front tyres at 35 psi. The sudden whoosh into the Gunson bottle I think aerated the fluid and pushed it through into the system. I let it settle down and re-bled and got bubbles out of every nipple. Also a good idea to make sure the master cylinder and Gunson bottle are topped up (max + what you dare) to avoid the "whoosh" effect.
Sounds ike you are nearly there.
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Hi WoodSpeed,
OK - i'll see how it goes for a bit. I've adjusted the handbrake.
>I have had some problems with the Gunsons kit, which is brilliant, but
Ouch.
Its in for an MOT on Tuesday (its just run out) so hopefully it will pass.
Cheers for your help!
james
Edited by Javalin on 28/03/2009 at 08:23
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Hello again,
Just to complete the story. I've backbled (the one where you leave the pedal pushed down) overnight. Whay Hay! The brakes work now!!
As mentioned - not able to road test till Tuesday - but seems great!
Cheers very much for the help!
James
Edited by Javalin on 29/03/2009 at 14:18
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