On Jan 21, 12:18pm, Adrian Jefferies wrote:
> The front brakes on my TR4 have almost stopped working & I cant
> quite figure out why. Its stopping on the rear system.
> Last summer I noticed that the front brakes were not doing their stuff
> & I couldnt figure it out - a thorough bleeding seemed to cure it
> back to 100%.
> Now the problem has returned. I havent had a chance to take a close
> look; the only clue is that the fluid level is down about 1/2 inch.
> Was replacing those pistons a bad idea? Braking is improved if I
> pump once, so a sure sign that air has got in ...!
No, not air. It sounds to me like the pistons are sticking in the calipers.
It is very important with disk brakes that the pistons move very freely in the
calipers, not only for good, even application of the brakes, but also for
smooth, even release. If even a little water or dirt gets past the "dust"
cups and onto the pistons, it will take a lot of pedal pressure to get the
pistons to move, and then the pads will not retract from the disk when the
pedal is released. This will cause the pads to wear extremely rapidly, which
will cause the fluid level to drop(!).
Needless to say, front brakes are *very* important on any car. You'd better
pull the calipers off and find out what's wrong.
Pat Vilbrandt John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc. Everett, Washington USA
UUCP: pwv@tc.fluke.COM or: { uunet, uw-beaver, sun, microsoft }!fluke!pwv
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