Hi All,

My punto's brakes have dangerously failed..

got back the other day after picking up a print job from printers for my partner, and as I'm parallel parking and then braking.. it stops.. but the pedal goes all the way down to the floor of the car! Obviously I'm scared about driving it anywhere at all, and won't until I know what's up. Would of been very scary if it had happened 5 minutes earlier when I was doing 50 on the ring road with big trucks in front and behind me!

The rear right hub cap now has rust coloured debris where you normally get the black brake dust, so I guess the rear right drum has failed? Is this an easy job to fix? Can I do it myself?

My punto is a fully serviced 2001 mk2 1.2 8v unmodified, about 5 months since last service and MOT.

Any suggestions welcome, would prefer to do work myself as long as it isn't too difficult as I'm a novice at car mechanics, and I don't have a drive so it has to be done on the road (quiet though!), can borrow socket set etc from work....

help!!

For safety sake i'd suggest you get it checked out professionally.Chronic brake failure like yours wouldn't just be one rear brake failing unless all the fluid has been released in which case you have the repair the fault then bleed the system.
How muh brake fluid is in the resevoir?

Hi,

Thanks for the reply,

having let it sit for 2 days (lack of time to look at it)...

the reservoir is half full, down to the seam of the reservoir.

the leak is from the rear nearside wheel, road is wet around the wheel, so I will have to ASAP (tonight) take off the wheel and spray with WD40 to stop the corrosive brake fluid damaging the car.

thinking of pre-empting the inspection and ordering a rear wheel cylinder from shop4parts.co.uk , what do you think?

thanks.

new cylinder, new shoes, dont use WD40 use brake cleaner or meths

mathew said:

My punto's brakes have dangerously failed..

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When isn't brake failure dangerous ?

gregit said:

When isn't brake failure dangerous ?

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when you are parked on a flat driveway

dave said:

when you are parked on a flat driveway

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If you are parked, with wheel chocks, then fair enough.... you only need a fat lad or lass to lean against it.... then off it goes !!!! lol

I think it's Ok to make grammatical errors when your car has just broken

gregit said:

When isn't brake failure dangerous ?

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When driving off a cliff?.........watched quadrophenia other day Ok it was a lambretta not a punto

T14086 said:

When driving off a cliff?.........watched quadrophenia other day Ok it was a lambretta not a punto

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vespa actualy

I stand corrected......vespa 200SX then?

G'day.

Finally got around to having a look at this, need to get it back on the road!

Got a new brake cyclinder to stop the leak.

Got the drum off and found that the trailing shoe was absolutely dead, worn down to the metal, and the drum is ruined. Replaced the the cylinder to stop the leak. I will bleed this when the drums and shoes are replaced.

I am ordering a new set of shoes and drums, just one question. I couldn't fathom out the self-adjusting mechanism when inspecting the drum/shoes, how do I reset it when fitting the new shoes?

Borrowed the haynes manual off my dad but its for his old mk1, not much different but the explanation about the self-adjusting mechanism is vague at best.

Thanks in advance.

T14086 said:

I stand corrected......vespa 200SX then?

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180 gs a 200 sx is a lambretta

mathew said:

G'day.

Finally got around to having a look at this, need to get it back on the road!

Got a new brake cyclinder to stop the leak.

Got the drum off and found that the trailing shoe was absolutely dead, worn down to the metal, and the drum is ruined. Replaced the the cylinder to stop the leak. I will bleed this when the drums and shoes are replaced.

I am ordering a new set of shoes and drums, just one question. I couldn't fathom out the self-adjusting mechanism when inspecting the drum/shoes, how do I reset it when fitting the new shoes?

Borrowed the haynes manual off my dad but its for his old mk1, not much different but the explanation about the self-adjusting mechanism is vague at best.

Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

the mk2 adjuster is diffrent to the mk1 and better its a "propper " one, hold the bit that stops it going the wrong way off of it an turn it in also slacken the hand brake cable untill its all put back together blead and adjusted on the self adjuster

dave said:

180 gs a 200 sx is a lambretta

Click to expand...

But it's says 'SX' on his screen? Listen Dave could we keep this conversation away from public eyes only I ride Triumphs,BSA's & talking bout scooters is kinda bad for my image

When i let the parking brake off , the light stays illuminated on the dash sometimes, I have to gently push the hand brake lever down to turn it off.
Are there any known problems with the Punto Mk2 hand brake cables that might cause this. During the last mot the tester picked it up for a chafed front brake pipe and he is also usually very thorough, so i don't think it's a major problem. This thread just made me think a bit.

my car was only serviced three months ago and has only done a 3500 miles since.

therefore I will put caledonia fiat manchester (fiat dealer) in the bad garages list, as I can't believe that they removed the inspection covers on the rear brake backplates.

if they had of done they would of been able to see the extent of the wear of the shoes and/or felt the surface of the drum damages by the worn shoes, but maybe the drum could of been saved if the shoes were changed in time.

the shoes were only changed 14,000 miles ago by st. leonards motors east sussex (official fiat dealer), and then the car had its first mot 3 months later and failed on rear brakes because they messed up setting up the self adjuster mechanism (which is why i'm trying to be extra careful setting it, hence my post above). when returned to st leonards motors they said the problem was deteriation, i.e. wear and tear, and would not admit the faulty installation. what kind of brake shoes can't do 1000 miles?

I think my current problem stems back to this faulty install, and probably botched fix, st leonards motors then got it through the mot and not the independant that I took it too originally, obviously they weren't going to fail it on rear brakes that they'd just fitted.

Having said that the car hasn't felt funny so I would assume the brakes have been ok up to now, but I suppose I may not good at detecting this as it's my first car... I don't believe it is my driving style as there has been no other faults with the car from new apart from the linkage of the wiper motor breaking requiring a new wiper motor and linkage assembly. the part that keeps the linkage on the ball, the balljoint, is made of plastic, and melts when the wipers are on fast for too long as the friction between the metal ball and plastic socket is high. therefore this part should be regularly greased, maybe they should do this at services as mine failed only a week or two after the most recent service while driving accross france/belgium in an incredibly strong storm!

thanks for all the helpful replies about the brakes on my car.

i've made a very small donation to the forum to say thanks!

anyone got a tip for getting the retention springs back on?

was thinking of nipping out to halfords and seeing if they have some small long nose mole grips.

the bottom one is particularly difficult because of the size of the spring section.

Hi Matthew.

Not sure if you can do this on puntos, but might be worth a try, On some cars you can fit one shoe, hook the springs into place, grab the second shoe and stretch them while fitting the second shoe, if you can see what I mean.

Sometimes using a loop of wire round the hooks of the springs to stretch 'em works too.

Hope this helps.