Hi there, my name is Merryn, and i've got a 1999 Octavia. I put a hole in the sump 3 months ago, and its been awaiting repair since then. yesterday i fitted the new sump, filled it back up with oil, re-charged the battery, and now i'm faced with a load more problems.

Brakes have broken. By this i mean i put the pedal right down to the floor with minimal resistance on the brakes. i can achieve a bit more resistance by pumping the pedal, but not enough for the brakes to work effectively.

Handbrake has broken. i can pull the handbrake right up (about ten inches) with minimal resistance on the back wheels towards the last few inches.

Loss of power. its always been lacking, i changed the air filter which helped a bit, but never had full performance out of it. hower, after testing it yesterday, it is really bad, revving up to 3000, with hardly any major accelaration.

Also, the coolant light came on, but i checked the level and its over the min mark, so i'm not sure why the light is stayin on..

I want to get the car back up to scratch, working nice, as i dont have a lot of money, and i dont see the point in getting a new car as this one probably has some life left in it.

PLEASE HELP!!!!

Edited 10 November, 201015 yr by OctaviaVoyzey

Welcome to Briskoda

Hi and welcome aboard.

Ok... So i took off the back wheels, found the offending one. its the offside rear wheel, i think the shoes must have jammed up, in turn the slave cylinder popped a seal. brake fluid everywhere!!! the pads were floating around the drum too, totally detached from the shoes. handbrake is feelin better now too. i guess this would have explained the loss of power when i was driving it. still, i need to fix slave cylinder, sort out the clutch too, so i still need advice!!! cheers. may put some pics up later too.

Glad you seem to have got to the bottom of most of your problems. The coolant warning may be down to the level sensor on the expansion tank being dodgy. Short it with a piece of stiff wire and see if it still happens - if not, replace the whole tank (about 12 quid + any coolant you manage to lose if you don't drain the system)

HTH