I'm not really sure how to go about this, so I'll tell you a story.. me and my brother both have a Cinquencento Sporting.. his went into this garage the other month for it's MOT.. had some work done.. came out fine.. then about a week later his brakes just went, got gradually worse..

Mine went into the same garage some weeks later for a list of things to be done.. came out fine.. and the same braking thing has happened.. they gradually got worse.. with their being no response from the pedal until it hit the floor, it feels as though only the rear brakes are working. I've gone through the Haynes and suspect its something to do with the servo or hydraulics.. but I don't really know anything other than how to drive a car..

One last thing I forgot.. when my brother took his in with this problem, to this garage they told him it was a writeoff and would could £350 to fix? My dad took it to another garage this week.. we're still waiting to hear from them?

I don't really know how else to explain this, but if anybody has any idea what this could be? even if it is just a coincidence? The brakes do work, almost like normal once you've given them a little more pressure than usual..

Ta guys..


Chris!

well kinda hard to give a definate solution just now.

1st check the brake fluid level
check for any leaks along the brake lines
jack up each wheel individually and test if the brake is working on that wheel
while jacked up inspect the flexi hoses

ta mate.. i guess i'm a little paranoid but I just wondered if it was some incompetence on the garages behalf that had led to this.. i've took done what you've said and i'm heading out to the drive way now.. cheers!

well it maybe but you need to find the source to speculate.
also check how well the handbrake works on each wheel

If the pedal doesn't take pressure and goes to the floor, your master cylinder is knacked. A new after-market part (Bendix, AP, Lucas etc.) will cost from £40 to £90 sort of money. To fit it you have to drain the brake fluid, remove the old one, fit the new one and then bleed all the brakes. I think a garage could do that in an hour or two, so less than £200 all in.

If the brakes feel okay but just don't stop the car (you have to lean on them extra hard) then the servo may be knacked. A new servo could be in the £200 area as you may only be able to get those from Fiat. Fitting that is more complicated but not a huge amount more (it's directly behind the master cylinder.. but it has the brake pedal linkage attached to it... a few extra bolts.

M/C is far the more likely culprit though. If the garage bled the brakes, they may have turned the internal seals (those master cylinders don't like hard-core pumping action...!) It's not really the garage's fault... When you bleed the brakes, use a pressure bleed system or, if manually pumping, use a short stroke, rather than pushing the pedal all the way down to the floor... that's what seems to do for the seals.


Ralf S.

Brakeservo testing.

Engine off. Push the pedal several times until it gets hard(er)

Push on the pedal and start the engine. If it drops the servo is ok

Ralf S. said:

A new after-market part (Bendix, AP, Lucas etc.) will cost from £40 to £90 sort of money.

Click to expand...

They are only £20 direct from fiat!

It could be coincidental failure of a pipe caused by using the brakes on the brake tester, but it needs individual checking of components as suggested.

Cheers

D