Hello all FF members, I have a problem with my 1990 Panda 4x4 and thought I'd try for some advice on here!

My Panda was in a minor collision and had sat for a couple of years before getting a new front panel, grille, headlamps and bonnet. With the bodywork taken care of, attention turned to giving the car a general service as she had been sat for a while. The engine started ok but it soon became obvious that the braking system was partially empty. Rather than messing around trying to find leaky seals etc, I just ordered new everything for the brakes: master cylinder, wheel cylinders, discs, drums, pands and shoes, handbrake cable, and the rear metal brake lines. The only things not changed are the rubber hoses and the front calipers, all of which were inspected and found to be in good condition.

The problem now is that the brake pedal feels like its only partially working, pushing it all the way to the floor almost. It would seem that there is too much travel in the pedal, this is after bleeding the system twice. Can anyone suggest a possible cause of the problem? I'm fairly good with cars most of the time(not bad for an electrician anyway!)but this has me stumped and I don't want to be second-guessing when it comes to the brakes on a car!

Thanks in advance for any help,

Eugene.

Eugene Speed said:

Rather than messing around trying to find leaky seals etc, I just ordered new everything for the brakes

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WOW!

Master cylinder has a pedal travel adjustment on it.

Was mentioned on here a few weeks ago. Here you go https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-classic/196524-panda-brake-pedals-can-adjusted.html?p=2107983

Most Easterly Pandas said:

WOW!

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Brilliant, thanks a million for that, I shall take myself off right now and give that a try!

As for replacing all the brake parts, I have some good friends at Anglia Battery and Auto Store in Leigh-on-Sea who sourced me all AP Lockheed parts for a very, very nice price indeed!

Cool Cool.

Let us know if it helps

Oh, and welcome to FiatForum

Clamp up all frexi brake pipes one each side at front and one at back. Then press brake pedel see if its good and hard keep pressure on and check that it does not move down to floor.
Take clamp of back flexi pipe cheek brake pedel again i't may go down a tiny bit? whilst its up in the air get a mate to press brakes and you check that the drums lock up given the time its been laid up I'll bet the lever in the drums that are attached to brke cable are as stiff as hell and will need to be freed up replacement of rear shoes also helps the brake effort. If at lot is ok clamp back up and move to front do o/s/f first dee clamp have brake pressed check the calliper is free and working? if ok re clamp move to n/s/f and do the same again. take all clamps off re adjusr hand brake 2/3 clicks on hand brake lever should be good enough to give you a brake. The above should sort you out

Adjusting the pushrod in the servo sorted it OK! Thanks for the advice, I had it all done within 20 minutes and that includes the two test drives! Very simple operation, only needed a 13mm spanner to remove the master cylinder, and an 8mm spanner to adjust the pushrod. I had to wind the adjuster out 3 full turns to get a decent pedal, if anyone else is going to try this then do make sure you have some thread lock as the adjuster is quite easy to turn once you get it moving and could possibly wind itself back in over time.

Thanks Allen for your advice too, it would seem that all the braking system is ok and just needed that fine adjustment on the pedal. The handbrake lever arms were a bit rough but all have been replaced with new parts, handbrake has four clicks and its on solid, so all good there!

Thanks again for the help, its great to be here!

Glad to hear you got it sorted

Jon.

Eugene Speed said:

Adjusting the pushrod in the servo sorted it OK! Thanks for the advice, I had it all done within 20 minutes and that includes the two test drives! Very simple operation, only needed a 13mm spanner to remove the master cylinder, and an 8mm spanner to adjust the pushrod. I had to wind the adjuster out 3 full turns to get a decent pedal, if anyone else is going to try this then do make sure you have some thread lock as the adjuster is quite easy to turn once you get it moving and could possibly wind itself back in over time.

Thanks Allen for your advice too, it would seem that all the braking system is ok and just needed that fine adjustment on the pedal. The handbrake lever arms were a bit rough but all have been replaced with new parts, handbrake has four clicks and its on solid, so all good there!

Thanks again for the help, its great to be here!

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where did you get the lever arms? tried my local dealer for them last week and the guy said it looked like they were unavailable now
hello btw
Andrew

firstcar-Y10 said:

where did you get the lever arms? tried my local dealer for them last week and the guy said it looked like they were unavailable now
hello btw
Andrew

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Hi Andrew, the lever arms came from Italian Ebay, the source of many classic Panda parts! The ones I got are supposed to fit all pre '86 models with leaf springs at the rear, they went onto the 4x4 axle no problems and work a treat. I got them a few months ago along with some other bits, so glad that I did.

Eugene Speed said:

Adjusting the pushrod in the servo sorted it OK! Thanks for the advice, I had it all done within 20 minutes and that includes the two test drives! Very simple operation, only needed a 13mm spanner to remove the master cylinder, and an 8mm spanner to adjust the pushrod. I had to wind the adjuster out 3 full turns to get a decent pedal, if anyone else is going to try this then do make sure you have some thread lock as the adjuster is quite easy to turn once you get it moving and could possibly wind itself back in over time.

Thanks Allen for your advice too, it would seem that all the braking system is ok and just needed that fine adjustment on the pedal. The handbrake lever arms were a bit rough but all have been replaced with new parts, handbrake has four clicks and its on solid, so all good there!

Thanks again for the help, its great to be here!

Click to expand...

Good to see my little tip on the servo adjuster is paying off for folks

It's one to remember:worship:

Aye. About to do it on mine since I drove a Selecta with a well adjusted servo the other day and almost hit the steering wheel with the lack of effort required!

lewey said:

Aye. About to do it on mine since I drove a Selecta with a well adjusted servo the other day and almost hit the steering wheel with the lack of effort required!

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I must do the one on dad's Selecta. Compaired to my Selecta you really have to push the pedal far.

Also worth mentioning that brand new discs normally have grease/oil on them to stop them rusting in the box. Always a good idea to spray them with brake cleaner to remove the oil before use. This would also cause excessive pedal travel

Hi,

Braking on my 4x4 is also poor, however I have different problem which is really strange.

When I bought panda the pedal was soft and traveled all the way to the flor. Braking was miserable. Rear brake cylinders were rusty so I restore them (don't worry I already bought new pair) just to make car usable . Front calipers are like new.

The pedal was still softy soft so I trim it like described above. There strange things started. Firstly all four brakes overheated (without braking?!) - I unwind the servo screw till pedal was conditionaly hard and brakes seemed to be fine. Yesterday I went on 5km trip and found that discs are boiling hot and drums are cold (I was not braking). It took me 30 minutes to cool them down (slow cooling with water) to get back home.

Is there any good soul who knows the solution for it?



(It is gloomy because brakes and hiccups are the only thing that bothers my panda...sitting there in garage like heap of bad luck)

Stuart who let the forum know that the brakes could be adjusted had this problem, he said the best way to do it was to make the adjustments when the braking system was warm

Jon.

Bloody simple solution Jon
Thanks, I'll try it as fast as possible. Thanks again for fast response.

MEP is right, it takes a few goes with the braking system up to temperature to get a good balance. Then thread lock it.

For those without servo brakes that are soft, I'm wondering if small washers could be set into the master cylinder to act like spacers and this would bring on a better pedal in a similar way to the adjustment screw on the servo cars. Using a washer would also help keep the end of the plunger in place as it should sit 'in' the the washer slightly. It's something to try. I'm a long way from restoring the MK1 so not something I'll be trying for a while.

In few hours we are going to make some transplantation on my panda's brakes. Brand new brake pads and cylinders are already waiting on desk

Hope that mystery will be discovered and brakes solved for ever and greased hand brake


(If there will be time and pair of clean hands I will make some kind of photo hunt)

Just to close my problem. Rear brake pads were changed and were driven till now. Things looks promising so front pads are going to be changed before MOT (november).
However softy feeling on pedal remains (If I trim servo to much then front brakes block) but after 15min of driving it is less noticeable - pads and oil become hot thought .


Has anyone problems driving in boots? Pressing brake and throttle together or has problems changing gears when braking