Thread: Series 3 Leaking brakes.

If the shoes are too far down or the drums too worn the wheel cylinder piston can go out too far and cause a leak. Also if the shoe is not in the slot in the piston the piston can go too far put and cause a leak.

Garry

Originally Posted by morg

Anyone got any ideas why the wheel cylinder would/could be able to leak? Could it be a faulty wheel cylinder or have i missed something?

It's fairly easy to damage a seal if they're not assembled correctly.
Did the wheel cylinders come assembled or did you fit the rubbers?
If assembled, take it back. If not, strip it down & make sure the bore is OK (being new, you'd hope so) then fit a new seal.

take the drum off the leaky wheel and pump the breaks and see if the pistons are coming out to far you should know what this looks like if not take the drum off the other side and see how much it comes out

I'll double check all these things in the morning .

The pads are brand new so no probs there and the drums look ok, not scored etc and all the others are fine so could one drum wear down more than the other?

Also, when I pulled the drums off the first time all four were missing the top spring. Up until the brakes failed they had been working fine without this spring for at least five years. Any reason other than laziness that someone would leave the top springs off? ( i have now replaced them with new ones top and bottom).

The wheel cylinder was assembled when I got it.

Cheers,
Morg