Hello, My 05 Panda diesel has developed brake problems. It’s currently in the local garage and they are struggling to solve the problem. The brakes start to come on whilst I am driving, without me touching the brake pedal. When I do, it's noticeably hard and the whole system seems to be pressurising itself.
The garage initially thought that it was caused by the flexible front brake pipes not allowing the free-flow of fluid. They changed them but it didn’t work so they then changed the Master Cylinder, thinking that must be the problem. That didn't work either so they have just changed the left-side front brake calliper (because that wheel was the worst affected). Despite all this, the problem is still there and we are running out of ideas! Can anyone help me solve this?

As per the other Thread you started on this :-
After all that I'd suspect the servo, test it by releasing all the vacuum currently stored first, do that by pumping the pedal until it goes solid.

Then apply pressure to it with the engine OFF, then start the engine with your foot still holding the brake pedal down, your foot should sink slightly.

As luck would have it, I can offer advice - don't let the garage do any more work on it, it is nothing whatsoever to do with the brakes (I know, sounds crazy) but I had this on a UNO many centuries ago. After replacing the complete system with second hand parts and then new parts I was nowhere near an answer until I spent the day on the web & joining every fiat group I could find.
someone eventually got back to me with a simple, 2 second fix (OK, I exaggerate slightly) but it worked for him on his panda - and worked on my UNO.



Get yourself into the driver's footwell, and check the brake switch.
Despite having a locknut holding it in place, it had somehow (over the years) adjusted itself. The effect was as though you were touching the brakes ever so gently. As the pads normally fly but a cock hair off the disks anyway, the switch was pushing the pedal a smidge, enough to let the pads rest on the disk. Of course, as you drive, the friction of this 'just touching' builds up heat in the pads and disks, as they heat up, they expand, as they expand, they touch even more and ... well, you get the picture. After a journey of 2 miles I found my fronts were locked solid & I could only get home if I released the pressure by undoing the bleed nipple.

A few seconds adjusting the height of the brake switch solved a problem which cost me hundreds. BTW, when it first happened I called out breakdown who had it into their garage & could find nothing wrong.

Good luck & let us know how you get on.

BTW, I replaced every component in the system - from the servo, all new brake lines, new hoses, new disks, new callipers.

Hello,

Yes - it seems you were right. Got the car back on Saturday with a new servo and all seems to be OK. Just a pitty they couldn't have discovered that bit first!
Many thanks for your advice.

Thanks Sludgeguts.
I guess that you were a bit fed up - doing all that work only to find out it was such a small fault. Unfortunately, it wasn't the case with me this time - but it was good advice which I shall remember it for the future. It was really nice of you and Ffoxy to bother to try to help me. It's very much appreciated. Thanks.

keninnorfolk said:

Thanks Sludgeguts.
I guess that you were a bit fed up - doing all that work only to find out it was such a small fault. Unfortunately, it wasn't the case with me this time - but it was good advice which I shall remember it for the future. It was really nice of you and Ffoxy to bother to try to help me. It's very much appreciated. Thanks.

Click to expand...

No problem, it's what the Forum is for Glad to be of help!

Just found this thread again.
Being an old fart, I'm a little confused about what's happened here. The test ffoxy mentioned will show if the servo works (when the vacuum from the engine assists the braking, the pedal will travel more as more pressure is applied to the pads) BUT, how can a leaking servo make the brakes bind up? I thought the only function of the servo was to assist with the braking? A leaking servo will not apply full pressure so making the brakes hard to apply.
And how comes the garage were scratching their heads over this?
When they swapped out the master cylinder they would have bled the system and at this point would have checked the operation of the servo as part of the routine.
The way my mind works I cannot help but wonder if the garage didn't discover the switch or come across my post (I also posted same advice ages ago on Uno forum) and decided they could charge you for a new servo when all they did was 5 minutes' work