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Re: What's wrong with my brakes?

To: Richard B Gosling <Gosling_Richard_B@perkins.com>,
Subject: Re: What's wrong with my brakes?
From: Eric Kieboom <ekieboom@pop.xs4all.nl>
Date: Mon, 09 Oct 2000 15:17:40 +0200
At 07:23 9-10-2000 -0500, Richard B Gosling wrote:

> Symptoms - First press of the pedal, lots of travel before there is any
> braking
> effect.  Since there is not much travel left, I hit the floor before I can
> achieve strong braking; mild braking requires almost the full travel of the
> pedal.
>
> Release the pedal (completely), and press again - brakes behave fine,
braking
> effort builds without too much pedal travel, can lock the wheels long before
> I hit the floor.

If you stomp the pedal hard after not braking for a while, is it reasonably
solid right at the first time? If so, you most probably have a leaky bit of
rubber in your master cylinder. Hitting the brake pedal hard and fast will
still close up the leaking seal, but a master cylinder rebuild is imminent.

If the pedal only becomes hard after pumping more than once, and this
happens every time, you may be compressing an air pocket in the system
every time you brake. Bleed as necessary.

Good luck!

-- 
Eric Kieboom - The Netherlands
1976 Spit 1500 - Original Java Green
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ekieboom/spit/spit.html


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