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Vectra master cylinder?

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Vectra master cylinder?

Dominion

Dominion

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Hi,

So my Mrs borrowed my car today and has been out in it all day. When she came home she told me the brakes were making a funny noise and the pedal felt "funny".
I went to have a look, and she was right - there was a definite farting noise when the pedal was depressed, and the pedal went right to the floor with resistance only towards the end of its travel.
I checked the fluid reservoir - no fluid! Checked around the car and found there had been a leak at the offside rear caliper. So it appears she'd been driving around all day with no fluid in the reservoir.
Filled the reservoir and the symptoms are the same. Is my master cylinder dead? I suspect so, but I just need forum wise folk to confirm or suggest other possibilities.

Cheers
 
so you've got a brake + clutch fluid leak since by the sounds of it they run off the same tank

The Brake system will have been drawing in the fluid and leaking out onto the rear caliper.
The system will run out of fluid and fill up with air
Which has happened to the clutch first

Air is compressable, where as brake fluid ISN'T

As to why the clutch doesn't seem to respond is that its most likely full of air
You will need to locate the bleed screw to bleed the air out

But that leak on the rear caliper MUST be sorted sharpish!

2 man method
Man doing the valve control is the controller
1 in car pumping pedal
1 on valve

Valve - shouts DOWN
Pedal man - shouts Down when pedal is to floor
Valve Man - Opens valve
Valve Man - closes valve after a few seconds as the pressure decreases pushing air out
Valve man - shouts Up
Pedal man - Shouts up when its up (no puns!)


Repeat till its not producing air bubbles in the bleed off pipe

A Brake / clutch bleed kit makes the job 10x easier
The Tank must NOT run dry, otherwise you have to start again

ziggy
 
Ziggy122 said:
so you've got a brake + clutch fluid leak since by the sounds of it they run off the same tank

The Brake system will have been drawing in the fluid and leaking out onto the rear caliper.
The system will run out of fluid and fill up with air
Which has happened to the clutch first

Air is compressable, where as brake fluid ISN'T

As to why the clutch doesn't seem to respond is that its most likely full of air
You will need to locate the bleed screw to bleed the air out

But that leak on the rear caliper MUST be sorted sharpish!

2 man method
Man doing the valve control is the controller
1 in car pumping pedal
1 on valve

Valve - shouts DOWN
Pedal man - shouts Down when pedal is to floor
Valve Man - Opens valve
Valve Man - closes valve after a few seconds as the pressure decreases pushing air out
Valve man - shouts Up
Pedal man - Shouts up when its up (no puns!)


Repeat till its not producing air bubbles in the bleed off pipe

A Brake / clutch bleed kit makes the job 10x easier
The Tank must NOT run dry, otherwise you have to start again

ziggy
Click to expand...

Cheers Ziggy.

Clutch is fine, just brakes are dead. This is why I suspect the master cylinder to be knackered. Leak seems to be fixed now. I'm thinking replace master cylinder and refill entire system, then bleed, bleed and bleed some more (the brake lines, not me)
 
So your now getting a spongy pedal but them some pressure at the end

That could forwell be the master cylinder, as its got a fail safe system built in, if the 1 side of the diagonal splits/leaks
The 2 plungers inside will press on each other applying the good side to bring you to a stop

If your sure the master isn't air locked then it seems like your diagnosis is correct

The master cylinder polish's the regular travel up, when it pops the bottom part isn't polished the seals go down - rip on the rough stuff and it writes it off
Its why the 2 man method isn't that good in a sense
I like my pressure bleeder anyway - 2 man job made into 1 :)

Ziggy
 
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