Hi
I have Fiat Punto mk1 55 1996 that was sat in my Dad’s garage for the past 12 years. He never used it much and it was always garaged after he used it. It only has 14,000 miles on the clock from new. It’s in good condition apart from a few paint scratches where he’d hit the garage wall (he gave up driving at 85 thankfully). The Punto had sat there collecting dust since then. He gave the car to me and I took it for an MOT to see what was wrong with it. Unsurprisingly the brakes were at 50% and uneven but it passed on everything else.
The brake pedal was hard to press but the car did stop, eventually. I suspected the brake cylinders and calipers had seized so changed them.
In changing the back brake cylinders it lost fluid both sides. The brake pedal hit the floor with no resistance from then on until I bled the rear wheels using an Eezibleed. Then the brake pedal firmed up.
I fitted the new front calipers and bled them with the Eezibleed but no fluid flowed on loosening the bleed nipple or even with it removed. Even loosening the bleed nipple after removing the eezibleed and using the brake pedal to try and get flow didn’t work. I did use a Halfords plastic pipe clamp on the flexible pipes so may be the internal part of the pipe has compressed shut?
I’m suspicious the master cylinder maybe the problem although the brake pedal did hit the floor after I changed the brake cylinders but before bleeding them. If the master cylinder was seized I guess that the brake pedal wouldn’t have hit the floor?
I’ve looked at sourcing another master cylinder but it seems out of stock on every site I go to and is £200-300 to replace which is 4 or 5 times the cost of standard types so Id rather be sure about it before committing to buying one.
I’d be grateful for your thoughts.
Thanks
I have Fiat Punto mk1 55 1996 that was sat in my Dad’s garage for the past 12 years. He never used it much and it was always garaged after he used it. It only has 14,000 miles on the clock from new. It’s in good condition apart from a few paint scratches where he’d hit the garage wall (he gave up driving at 85 thankfully). The Punto had sat there collecting dust since then. He gave the car to me and I took it for an MOT to see what was wrong with it. Unsurprisingly the brakes were at 50% and uneven but it passed on everything else.
The brake pedal was hard to press but the car did stop, eventually. I suspected the brake cylinders and calipers had seized so changed them.
In changing the back brake cylinders it lost fluid both sides. The brake pedal hit the floor with no resistance from then on until I bled the rear wheels using an Eezibleed. Then the brake pedal firmed up.
I fitted the new front calipers and bled them with the Eezibleed but no fluid flowed on loosening the bleed nipple or even with it removed. Even loosening the bleed nipple after removing the eezibleed and using the brake pedal to try and get flow didn’t work. I did use a Halfords plastic pipe clamp on the flexible pipes so may be the internal part of the pipe has compressed shut?
I’m suspicious the master cylinder maybe the problem although the brake pedal did hit the floor after I changed the brake cylinders but before bleeding them. If the master cylinder was seized I guess that the brake pedal wouldn’t have hit the floor?
I’ve looked at sourcing another master cylinder but it seems out of stock on every site I go to and is £200-300 to replace which is 4 or 5 times the cost of standard types so Id rather be sure about it before committing to buying one.
I’d be grateful for your thoughts.
Thanks