Well, where do I start? I guess at the beginning.I've been using the same garage for a number of years - never anything complicated, a couple of tires here and there, the odd downpipe/cat etc. Noticed the rear cylinders were leaking (I have an old Octavia Mk1), so purchased some more to swap over, and some new shoes while I was at it. Trouble was, it was the thick of December mad here on the edge of the peaks, it can get a bit snowy, cold miserable and wet and being the shade tree dry weather DIY mechanic that I am, I baulked at the idea of cold fingers, wet back, dirty hair etc and in the end gave them to said garage to sort.

 

That was a mistake. I said I'd wait while they did it; I can kill a couple of hours with a book (any time with a book is not wasted time in my opinion). The first warning was that 2 hours later they told me to go home as they were struggling. I doubt this would have taken me two hours to do. It was Christmas Eve, so I toddled off home to the wood burner and inebriated family; always good for a giggle.

 

I returned a couple of hours later, still no dice.

 

"I can't get a pedal", says he," it must be the master cylinder".

 

"Well there was nothing wrong with the master cylinder this morning", says I.

 

"But it must be", a new one is £100", (or so), I don't recall exactly but it was around that.

 

"Make it so", says I.

 

So we wait for delivery of said part. I give up waiting and go home again. I return at the end of the day.

 

"Ir works", says he.

 

"Is the new cylinder fitted?"

 

"No, they sent the wrong one, I've given the old one a good clean"

 

Now I know that this particular master cylinder is considered a consumable by Skoda, and I'm also aware that there are also aftermarket seal kits available. The seal kits though are not an emergency option in the locality, it's at least a next day wait. Given that neither David Tennant, Mat Smith nor Tom Baker (showing my age) are available, this must of course mean that they've reused the original seals. I guess I should have kicked off then, but it being Christmas Eve and various trips due to various corners of the country in the next few days, I didn't argue.

 

First thing that didn't seem right - no servo assistance. That did sort itself the next morning without intervention and has never failed since.

 

The next thing I noticed was that the brakes were binding a little; it could be resolved by hooking a foot under the pedal. That never resolved and wasn't really more than an annoyance until it failed an MOT on that and a few other annoying things at the same garage at the same garage a few days ago.

 

Interestingly there is a related thread on Briskoda:

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/161705-sorry-brakes-again-solved/

 

.which seems to follow a similar pattern, ie problems bleeding, damaged cylinder.

 

Anyway, failed on inoperative squirters (my bad - add water), knackered wiper blades (fair comment), number plate bulb (everything rusted so came at it through the plastic trim on the tailgate and put in LED ones so the likelihood of breakage in the short term was minimal - 4 leds per bulb, doubt they'll die before the car).

 

And, now it rears its head: front brakes binding, rear off side hand brake inoperative.

 

Given the previous situation, I decide to investigate.

 

Drum off, there is no hold back spring on the leading shoe. I don't see how that could turn to dust, or not make a horrible noise by failing in the drum, they're pretty substantial but although I don't believe it was ever there, I can give the benefit of the doubt or make allowances for mistakes. Told the garage, they were surprised, but didn't quibble too much. Correcting this seemed to help a little with the binding as well, maybe the additional return spring assistance from the now functional rear brake helped a little. I'm surprised the service brake worked since it was at such a funny angle due to lack of hold back spring that the cylinder plunger almost cleared the "push edge" of the shoe. That could have been interesting.

 

Anyway, still a little brake bind,  so I pull the master cylinder off with the intention of fitting a new seal kit (only £15 so no biggie if it's not an improvement). First thing on removal, reservoir is held on by cable ties. I see why later, it has been removed originally by breaking the plastic bolt tab at the bottom (normally held on by a 10mm machine screw).

 

On separation though, I see they've sheared the front MC bleed screw. I have nothing to remove this, and given the length of time it's been there I doubt it would be any easy job anyway so I call garage. Garage send someone out, collect MC, remove bleed screw and fit seals for me.

 

Unfortunately after fitting, I notice that heat has been used to remove the nipple. I'm really iffy about using the cylinder given that it's actually melted the alloy near the nipple (or is it just aluminium - not sure) - photos available if you want to see it. And additionally, union hole nearest bulkhead is threaded. In fairness the threading may have been me, but I doubt it - I'm generally very careful where pipe union are concerned and it started very easily by hand and then by small spanner (not enough room for anything longer 4 inches or so), but then tightens up about halfway in. Like I say though, didn't inspect that so could be me - guess I could look for evidence of aluminium oxide, but there's probaly not much mileage in that. These things are notoriously difficult to prove, and I think I'm better cutting my losses with the garage in question.

 

What I think has happened is he's tried bleeding using the pedal and a one way valve and pushed it too far and "flipped" the seals. I have to say I have my doubts about flipping as there's not a lot of clearance, but I can see that a seal may be damaged or some detritus brought back to cause malfunction. There's more than a thread or two about this particular phenomena so I don't believe it's a myth. The rest is probably just one calamity after another.

 

So there you are. I may be able to rescue the thread with careful application of a dremel, it's pretty soft metal and the pipe union itself is still good (pops into the front "socket" on the MC easy enough), but with heat being used I'm not convinced by the safety aspect. I guess we'll see tomorrow.

 

Other than it's a new cylinder (over £100), or one from a breaker - anyone know one in Sheffield?

Edited 23 July, 201510 yr by Wobsta

Bleeding brakes without a vacumn bleeder, VCDS or a VAG workshop computer is a complete nono. If you suspect a pressure bleeder has been used, that can drive air bubbles into the ABS valve block, and they won't come out of there without VCDS or a workshop.

Cheap MC here. Seems almost too cheap, but maybe worth a gamble if it looks right?