A couple of weeks ago my wife experienced a loss of brakes approaching a juction ( fortunately no one else was on the road). Subsequently the dealer could find no fault but changed the master cylinder, bled and checked the system. Last night I experienced the same thing. We would be grateful for any thoughts on this as I can't even sell it like this.

What do you mean by loss of brakes? The pedal goes all the way to the floor?, The pedal is rock solid with little travel?

Are they disc or drum brakes at the rear?, has the car got ABS?

Sorry for the questions, but the answers may help to identify the problem.

Hello, Both times it was a case of pedal to the floor. Combi is four years old, with discs at the front with drums at the rear.

It seems like your dealer has replaced the likely culprit. What would cause the pedal to go to the floor are lack of fluid, air in the system due to a leak and a large amount of fluid (more than one pedal stroke) is needed move the pads and/or shoes into contact with the discs/drums.

As the fluid has been topped up and the system bled, the next step would be to check that the front caliper slides are free, properly attached and that the rear drums are adjusted and the wheel cylinders are in good condition.

If the car has ABS it will need bleeding using the computer to activate the pump to remove the air from the valve block.

As a long shot it may be worth checking the integrity of the brake pedal itself.

Make sure they bled all the fluid, I have had this on a vauxhall and the fluid in the hoses was like emulsion paint.

Thankyou both, I'll look into this.