Thread: Next to no brakes

I would have said shoes adjustment - but you said you have done it

What condition is your master cylinder in?

Try clamping off the hoses. If the brakes are solid with all clamped off it will test your m/c. Same with front clamped off for the rear and so on. My guess is either there is still air in the system, or the brake adjustment is not working properly. One possibility is the adjusters are moving when the brakes are used due to being too loose or worn, another is that the return springs are incorrectly assembled so the shoes are not centralised, so the adjuster doesn't work properly. You don't say whether it is an 88 or 109.

Those brakes are very very hard to bleed properly, they really need to be pressure bled. Take it to a brake place and get them to do it.

I put up with shocking brakes for years in my IIA. They were still bad after a full rebuild even after bleeding, so I took them to a professional and for $15 I had proper brakes. 8)

<span style="color:blue">are your drums round?
if the drums are out of rounds they will push the shoes back further and will need to be pumped before they work.....



otherwise sounds like master cylinder to me....</span>

Thanks Guys for the replys. In answer to your questions, master cylinder and wheelcylinders are only about 1 year old. Shoe adjustment is good but day off today so I'll reset them again. As far as I know drums are round, I will also clamp off and test brakes, and if all that doesn't work its off to get them pressure bled, I'll keep you all posted.

<span style="color:green">age of components does not mean much.....brand new components fail or have faults....

if the vehicle has been sitting it could also cause premature failure of seals in master cylinder....

a simple seal is all that may be causing the problem.... but which one.....

how do you bleed the brakes.....as in which method do you use?</span>

From what's been said so far sound a lot like the non return valve in the master cylinder isn't sealing properly. In short the valve is supposed to be forced shut as the pedal pushes the plunger along directing fluid to the outlet to the brakes. When the pedal returns the plunger it's supposed to suck any additional fluid into the cyl used in the last stroke. If that valve doesn't seal the fluid goes back to the resvr instead of the brakes unless the pedal is pumped building up the pressure enough to temporarily shut the valve.

Not alot of cost for a new master cyl. so easy enough to buy new with warranty than fix the old.

Never heard of pressure bleeding. I just use out of date oxygen tubing as the end fits on the bleed nipple and long enough to sit in a plastic bottle on top of the tyre so becomes a one person operation. Yep they work, enough for a 70%av. on the last RWC, which aint bad from all round drums. :wink: