brakes

[veedubbed]

Hi just bought a seat alhambra t reg :( anyway i had the engine management light come on,i think i might have sourced the problem to that, the brake light switch is suspect...But now the brakes are hard after two presses while in motion ,not very safe at all any ideas would be appreciated thanks gary:o oh forget its a 1.9tdi

[zollaf]

either the servo is broken, the vac pump is faulty or more likely you have an air leak between the two.

[veedubbed]

Had a dodgy brake servo pipe not sucking air from vacum servo...replaced this but the brakes are still hard to push .....Is there anything i missed hat i should be doing ? i.e like re bleed brake system? not sure really??:confused:

[zollaf]

the servo and hydraulics are not connected. basically a vacuum pump creates a vacuum that is fed into the servo, and used for turbo etc. check theres no leaks antwhere. if the vac pump is sucking and theres no leaks, it must be the servo. this can be checked using a vacuum device such as a mitivac or oil suction removal tool.

[veedubbed]

thanks for that,i checked too see if the vacuum pump is sucking/drawing from the sevo and it is ,so i am presuming the servo has packed up....will update...also no leaks to be seen ...:aargh4:

[veedubbed]

any ideas where i start to remove the brake servo,is it a difficult job to do ideally step by step guide will be sufficient.....;)

[zollaf]

before condeming the servo, i would check the vacuum pump. its rare for a servo to fail, and when they do go, they usually go completely. the most obvious fault for what you have is a split vacuum pipe somewhere. you could try temporarily blanking off any other vacuum pipe, so the pump goes straight to the servo to see if that makes any difference. this would rule out a leak anywhere else. i presume after 2 pumps the pedal goes hard, then comes back again a few seconds later. can you hear any sucking noise anywhere, around any vacuum pipes or up above the brake pedal.

[veedubbed]

Hi thanks for that,finally stopped raining long enough for me to have a look!
firstly i can see no split pipes etc...When i have engine runninng the peddle will slightly and slowly start going to the floor,then i raise and press again solid???
would it be then a vacuum failure or servo or after reading other theads the inline valve at fault,any help would be appreciated thanks,or if any one is local too me i would happily pay for there help in rectifying this problem im in plymouth

[zollaf]

ok, i think theres a misuderstanding here. when you say solid, do you mean loss of servo? run engine, brakes feel good, turn off engine and pump pedal, when vacuum extinguished, brakes go hard. is that what you are getting?

[veedubbed]

brakes are solid without running engine then still solid with engine running,pedal will slowly go down very slow,then i raise press peddle again stil hard

[zollaf]

ok, and when you drive you have to press very hard to get car to stop ? has this just happened suddenly. has any work been carried out recently?also, does the pedal sink all the way to the floor?

[veedubbed]

it happened suddenly,had rac look they took off a split pipe from servo and i changed it,but no use still the same,when driving home it was like really hard to stop with no assistance had to use handbrake...

[veedubbed]

must add doesnt go straight to floor,no work done recently doing my head in:zx11:

[zollaf]

ok, so its either the vac pump not pulling a strong enough vacuum, the servo gone belly up, or still a leak between the two. i would get a length of pipe and put it between the pump and servo direct. any hose, e.g. water hose will do, of near enough the right diameter. dont drive the car, just start it up and see if its any better. this will rule out a collapsed vac pipe or an air leak. if its still the same then its pump or servo. you can check the servo using another car parked next to yours and connect the pipe from their servo into your servo.run the other car and if your brakes then work, its not your servo. a bit long winded, but it can get expensive replacing a servo, only to find its not faulty.