Brake problems in my Focus - help please!

[Tom B]

Right I'm no good with brakes, so if anyone could help me that'd be awesome!

The problems started when I changed my rear pads, I found the braking efficiency to be down, the handbrake now goes up a lot further and only seems to hold one side and also found that the servo made hissing noises when I let off the pedal.

Now, when I brake medium to hard, I find the brakes make a whirring/grinding noise and the car will feel like it might not stop. The hissing noise seems to be apparent when I press and depress the pedal so I think the servo's knackered. I checked the pads and they're still full of meat, the discs aren't scored anywhere, and its lost a bit of fluid since I last checked it, not a lot at all so that could just be normal usage.

Any help would be terrific, I don't want to put the Ibiza back on the road just yet as I wanna change the clutch cable and finish the ICE off. I also don't have any front indicator lenses, so running it would be kinda illegal.

Cheers!

 

[m0rk]

does sound like no servo - scarey isn't it!

might just be a leaky pipe though, so fine where the hissing is coming from & try replacing the pipe.

 

[Tom B]

It reminds me of the days when I had my MK2 Polo. Yes, it is scary! The pedal does still feel soft unlike a servoless car which has a hard pedal. As I said, brakes aren't my forte so I could be completely wrong on that!

I'm gonna check around the servo while its still light, we'll see what comes of that!

 

[muddyboots]

Try the following:

1) Turn engine off
2) Pump brake pedal a few times to get rid of remaining vacuum
3) Press & hold down prake bedal
4) Start engine
5) You should feel the pedal sink down when the engine starts and the servo starts providing assistance. If it doesn't sink then that might indicate a knackered servo.

Servos usually make a bit of a hiss noise when you press the pedal down anyway, so that might be a bit of a red herring.

Have you bled the brakes ?

Also, you shouldn't lose any brake fluid, it should only drop very very gradually as the pads wear down, so I'd be wondering where the fluid has gone...

 

[cheshire cat]

Also, you shouldn't lose any brake fluid, it should only drop very very gradually as the pads wear down, so I'd be wondering where the fluid has gone...

I once lost fluid into the vac chamber on an old Lockheed system but don't lnow if that's possible on "two piece" vac and master

 

[Tom B]

I checked the servo and everything's fine. I used the method Lee mentioned above which confirmed the servo's still intact. I forgot to mention I tried this trick before when I wrote the first post.

I got tired of hunting around and took it to National Tyres who do a full brake check for £20. It turns out the inner front pad on the offside has disintegrated causing the grinding and lack of performance (I didn't take the wheels off, I just checked through the spokes!) They tried the "all your discs abd pads are wrecked, that'll be £330" trick but I laughed and drove away as I know the rears are fine and I'm not paying that much!

I just paid £60+VAT for front discs and pads and I'm letting my best mate do it at work tomorrow I could've paid half that from eBay but I haven't got time to wait!