Technical Excess brake pedal travel

[m1chaels]

I had the problem of the handbrake freezing on and also a problem with the EGR and when it came back from the garage the foot brake pedal travel was much further before the brakes 'bite'

Reading on the forum the possibles seem to be:
Brakes needing bleeding
Problem with rear shoe auto-adjusters
Master cylinder

Can anyone help me diagnose which of these (or something else) it might be?

The handbrake takes fairly but not excessively high up
If the brakes are 'pumped' the take point gradually comes back up to where it should be but doesn't stay there for more than a few seconds.

Thanks

 

[kev78]

Sounds like it could be air in the system that needs bleeding. however did the garage need to disconnect any of the hydraulics to sort out the cable? If not then there is not really any chance that air has got in.
Could be any of the 3 things you mentioned, i would take it back and explain the problem as you already paid them to sort the brakes out

 

[m1chaels]

Thanks Kev. I didn't get them to fix the handbrake cables but even tho I told them not to park it with the brake on they said the frozen handbrake had caused them problems when they were fixing the engine fault so I was wondering if they had 'moved' it with the brake on or had backed off the rear shoes in some way when they had the handbrake problem and that this had caused the new problem.

I was wondering if the fact that the pumping brings operation back to normal rules out the rear adjustment tho and implies it is either the cylinder of the fluid?

 

[kev78]

It is normal for the pedal to come up slightly when pumping the pedal. if it was mine i would adjust the rear brakes properly - (back the cables right off then adjust the shoes until the drums start binding then back off a couple of notches so they are free - then readjust the cables until the drums begin to bind then backoff slightly) - then bleed the system as well including brake fluid change if it hasn't been done for a while. The whole job is just a bit of time and cost about a fiver.

Of course if the cables are freezing it might be as well to change them at the same time, just depends how far you want to go and how much you want to spend.

A basic master cylinder test is to put your foot on the brake with the engine stopped then start the engine and if the pedal moves toward the floor its working - a small leak wont show up during this test though.

 

[Totyi]

Hello kev78,
I just joined to this Forum recently, and saw your comments in the topic of excess brake pedal travel. I have the same problem.
My Brava 1,6 (1996) with 146.000 kms, front brake discs, rear drum and pads, brake fluid have been replaced last year. Now I feel that the brake pedal travel is rather long: when the pedal is up, there is abt 90 mm distance from the floor. When I push it to bite completely the distance is only 30 mms. During the first 30-40 mms there are no any resistance of the pedal. I checked the rear drums, the auto adjuster. I presume that the master cylinder is the failing component. How can I define that is really? Does it have sense to replace sealings only , or it is better to replace the complete cylinder?Thank you for your reply.