Technical Brake failiure

[Panda169000]

Today, my 2010 1.1 active eco experienced a brake failure, a family member borrowed it so I'm not sure the full story but the brakes wouldn't work and brakes had to be pumped to stop the car. Some looking suggested the brake cylinders are leaking, the front seems dry so it must be in the rear drum brakes. The pedal doesn't have much resistance, there is also a noise coming from the front left, sat in the drivers seat, maybe from the fluid reservoir or the brake.

Is this the right fault, if so how much would it be. If not, what else could it be

 

[Panda169000]

Also worth noting the last MOT had an advisory for brake pipes

Also I put the car in neutral with the handbrake on, and pushed, car felt normal

 

[koalar]

Not a lot to go on at the moment

Is it wet at the rear, inside of the wheel or bottom of the drums

Has the fluid level gone down

 

[Yolanda]

Sounds like something's give way, wheel cyl / brake pipe or even the master cyl though doubtful. If the fluid's dropped it could well be a rear wheel cyl. Check as koalar says.

 

[rmjbn1]

+1
If a rear wheel cylinder has failed to that extent you'll see it dripping from the bottom of the drum

These things always happen when someone else uses your car, typical

 

[irc]

Also, check the brake flexi pipes for signs of fluid weeping out, both along the pipe and where the pipe joins the ferrules.
I saw a Panda with both front flexi pipes weeping before Christmas (although it had so many other problems that would need fixing before it went for an MOT that I walked away quickly!)

 

[jackwhoo]

I have seen photos of front flexi hoses completely failing due to rusted ferrules

 

[puntodad19]

Yep, that the lads Punto front flexy BLEW OFF the metal end at the chassis end whilst lad was pressing brake ( engine not running ) when I was working on the brakes...

Both "metal ends" looked good on each flexy pipe.

All flexies where replaced, the other front flexy metal ends were sawn off to reveal unseen bad corrosion had taken place !

Will try and find the pictures I am sure I posted on here...

You have been warned...

 

[puntodad19]

Punto rather than panda...

See Brake Failure, 4th April 2021 by KSF60...

Still a fiat and may be relevant. Sorry for poor pictures but bad hidden corrosion seen....

Have any of your flexy brake hoses blown off, or that corroded steel brake line blown ???

 

[irc]

Had one fail with a (fairly) gentle tug, but it was on a soon-to-be scrapped MOT-failed Panda.
However, it had been on the road until 2 weeks earlier!
(In my opinion the sill rot on it should have probably failed the previous MOT so I suspect it was only a "light" inspection rather than a full-on MOT test, but I suppose it could have gone from rock solid to Fred Flintstone in 12 months... maybe)

 

[The Panda Nut]

Thats what advisories are for. However if it was near to a brake failure i would hope they would ahve failed its MOT. Sounds like a pipe has gone. WIhtout split circuit brakes that could ahve been much worse.

The moral of the story is deal with advisories in a timely manner.

 

[irc]

New phone is driving me nuts!
I deleted the line which explained that I bought it to break after it failed the MOT.
I would have taken it off the road whether it had Advisories or not, but I was surprised that the fail sheet didn't mention brakes (although as you could get four fingers in the drivers side sill hole maybe he didn't bother too much).

 

[puntodad19]

I was told by a Mr. Brown, a boss mot official, that he could show me chemicals etc that can reduce sills etc. to complete rust in less than an hour !

Yeh I thought, what's it going to do to the road !

MOT tests, although getting more strict, are still below par.

They will be filmed soon.

Mind you they said mot tests would be computerised !

How many years did that take to happen eh ?

MOT testing in private business hands is open to all sorts, even testing stations on farms ffs.

 

[The Panda Nut]

New phone is driving me nuts!
I deleted the line which explained that I bought it to break after it failed the MOT.
I would have taken it off the road whether it had Advisories or not, but I was surprised that the fail sheet didn't mention brakes (although as you could get four fingers in the drivers side sill hole maybe he didn't bother too much).

All is explained and glad to hear this. Brakes failing is not fun. Ive had it twice thankfully also escaped - just - unharmed and undamaged.