I wonder if anyone has any idea's

My duaghters car there is something gone wrong with the braking system.

She has the 1997 1.3 mpi felicia

You can drive it around and the brakes are fine then all of a sudden you use the brake's and there is hardly anything there and it will lock the brakes if you are not carefull.

I wish it was doing it all the time as it may be easier to find but its not its very intermitant.

We have bled the brakes and checked for leaks which we cant find.

and the fluid reservoir is full.

any help would be appreciated

ok can you clarify something for me..

you say there is hardly anything there.. then go on to say that it locks up??

do you mean that the brake pedal action goes all hard but the brakes still work?

ok can you clarify something for me..

you say there is hardly anything there.. then go on to say that it locks up??

do you mean that the brake pedal action goes all hard but the brakes still work?

No the brake pedal goes really soft and goes nearly all the way to the floor then locks up if your not carefull

But again it is only every now and then 90% of the time the brakes are working fine.

It probably happens about twice on say a 10 mile journey.

the pads were only put on about 3 months ago so i now the pads are not worn out

If i lift off the brakes and re-apply they then work fine again

Edited 29 March, 201115 yr by pjgriff

does it have abs?

does it have abs?

Yes her one does have ABS

i guess as much when you stated that it locks up... my guess is that there is air trapped in the abs unit, possibly caused by the fluid level dropping below the minimum whilst bleeding or working on an open brake union etc.. sadly if this is the case you need to do a diagnostics procedure to crack fully open the abs valve blocks whilst the system is pressure bled to purge the air from the abs unit...

however i could be wrong, it may just be a dodgy master cylinder or similar

I've never heard of a 1.3 having ABS. I thought it was just the 1.6 GLX/SLXi's

could be a loose front wheelbearing too, just jack each side up and check for play in the wheel to check none are loose.

Doubt it would be air in the ABS as it would always have a long pedal then. could also be one of the adjusters working off in the rear drums (the spring breaks on the self adjuster). does the hand brake always stay the same amount of travel?

My 1.3 estate had abs

My 1.3 estate had abs

Sorry i made a mistake her does not have abs my old estate uses to and i thought her car would also being the same model but in a hatch.

I have found the problem. I went down the scrap yard and got another master cylinder and swapped them over brakes now perfect so i guess the master cylinder was sticking somehow

be carefull there as some of the servo's have adjustment for the cylinders and could cause yours to stick on

i thought the adjustment was only at the inboard end jimbo?? the bit where the clevis attaches to the pushrod?

I don't think it would cause the brakes to stick on though? Probably invert the seal at the end though and make it leak. Lazy method is to grab the MC and Servo and swap both over together.