Urgent help needed

[vrs95]

• I brought a mk1 skoda octavia vrs combi which was unused since months in a humid weather which made the brakes to corrode and had no bite after purchasing the car i got the plates polished and the bite increased my 10% 

also while driving the car back home the car brakes were jammed (both front ) and the disk were overheating i had to stop and cool the brakes by throwing water on them also i could smell the brake pads burning

also getting the disk polished I noticed only the left disk was overheating and the right was heating marginally the left breaks were heating so bad that it caused car to slightly tilt towards left on removing hands from steering

what could be the solution to this are the calipers jammed ??

 

Also wen driving the car back home initially the engine was running a bit hot and later it was running normally however after redlining the car through 3rd&4th gear the car was smoking alot however after the air got flushed out it dint smoke on high revs too i am extremely  confused on whats wrong with the car

[Smithy18]

To be honest I'd expect both front calipers are seized and in an ideal world would want replacing. If the front are no good there is a good chance the rear will be shot too. Seems to be a common thing with the mk1 vrs.

Search eBay as there are genuine calipers for sale at a reasonable price. If it was me I'd go down the route of New calipers, discs and pads. Unfortunately that will set you back a good few hundred quid.

As for the smoke that could be caused by several different things. The seized calipers wont be helping as the engine is having to work harder than normal. Smoke is Hard to diagnose over the Internet mate.

[vrs95]

Is there anyway i can refurbish these calipers bro i am currently not in a position to get new one also can my master cylinder or brake booster be at fault ?

 

Also what are the signs of air being in the brake system

[cheshire_cat]

air is a soft or long travel pedal -- to test the servo/vac   press the brakes several times with the engine off  then press and hold whilst starting  you should feel the assistance pulling the pedal down slightly   the calipers need at least a good clean especially the pad carriers also handbrake cable check and lube-----I would replace the oil fuel and all filters so you know where your up to 

[Smithy18]

Yeah you could get yourself a caliper rebuild kit and go down the cheaper route. If that's what your going do make sure you clean everything up properly. Especially the piston in the caliper as it will be pitted / rusty.

Genuine rebuild kits were available on eBay last time i looked. TRW iirc?

[vrs95]

the brake pads are new on this car which were cleaned as they were corroded too 

I will have to check on the servo 

If the servo (i.e. brake booster i suppose ) is working would it be a relatively cheap fix ??

thank you guys very much for helping me out

[vrs95]

Guys as of now I took to a local shop he had removed the brakes and the caliper and we have found that the pistons have got rust on them  

He says this is not repairable and have to be changed as the rust cannot be cleared

also this has resulted in the abs light to turn on as he dint had a vag com to turn it off is it a simple fix or it needs any expertise

Can only the piston be changed using the rebuild kit is it possible?  

 

Also i check the servo 

(sorry for my layman words ) when the car was off I pressed the brake pedals till it became hard and couldn't be moved and then I turned the car on upon which the brake pedal moved freely towards the floor 

was this the right was to check if yes so is my brake booster or servo working ? 

 

also the air is soft and the pedal travel is quite long I feel it cant assure it as I dint drove any other vrs till date

[devonutopia]

You should have bought the car in preparation of brake complete replacement as it sounds like fault already known. I don't see any other way.

[vrs95]

I should have but vrs was my dream car and I blindly believed the owner who was claming it needs just air bleeding :(

 

As of now after driving I found out the front left disk was jamming and overheating. The pads were smoking however on reversing the car the brakes would free themselves till I apply brakes the would just not retard back. The mechanic is suspecting its a failed booster (servo) as the diaphragm wont create a pull back  he says  

However by checking the servo by the method told by cheshire cat they work absolutely fine

Also my brake pedals travels all the way downwards can it be air in the system or do I have to be prepared for new servo?

 

 

My vrs headlight are also acting strange the high beam was working fine as I drove the car home (I could even see the indicator on the meter console )  and in the evening when I took her out the headlights stopped working it would not even show on the meter console too 

 

please help me guys this car has been acting strange on me I am a student I haven't got huge resources to carry out any major repairs or just walk at a skoda dealer. thank you so much for your support 

[kentphil1]

With the engine off can you pump the pedal up and hold pressure on it without it trying to sink to the floor?.

[vrs95]

sorry 'FREEDOM' I actually dint get what am I supposed to do 

[phazed]

Rule of thumb; except to pay +50% on repairs to a cheap older car within 6 months and probably a lot sooner.

Bite the bullet and get at least new calipers, they are brakes and they stop you from hitting things!

That said, good luck with your fix.

[kentphil1]

sorry 'FREEDOM' I actually dint get what am I supposed to do 

 

Freedom is just a member status for many of us on here, our usernames are in the top left corner of the post, for example, I am kentphil1. Which one of us do you require to answer you?.

 

If it was me that you required more info from, I meant that if you repeatedly push hard on the brake pedal with the vehicle parked and the engine off until it goes solid, on the last pedal push, press the pedal and hold it down, does it stay solid or slowly sink to the floor?.

[vrs95]

I am really sorry kentphil it stays up it wont sink down to the floor until i start the car and the brake booster come in play

[kentphil1]

Nothing to be sorry for mate, it just helps us to answer you better. I would agree with others on here that you may well have 3 or possibly 4 seized calipers,

 

In view of your answers on pedal pressure and its ability to hold until the servo deploys, I would say your master cylinder and servo would appear to be functioning correctly.

 

I am a little at a loss as to why you now have an ABS light on. was the hydraulic system disturbed in the most recent work resulting in any fluid loss?.

[vrs95]

no bro they were not disturbed just we bleed the brakes I have read in a post that the abs has to be switched off with vcds but we dint had one anyways the lights went off by itself and brakes are now working really well. I just might get a new piston for front right side caliper 

 

As of now I have diagnosed my car was nicely sedately driven and poorly maintained as if was not maintained by a skoda dealer but a local garage which has arised in many problems 

 

my car's sunroof is not working, It has a broken or rather missing breather pipe which goes from valve cover to crank case 

my horn and high beam fuse are shot . car needs A/C gas refill too 

and it shows a engine malfuntion light 

[shivadow]

I was in this situation when i bought my 4x4 turbo. Brakes needed tlc because it had been laid up for a while. I had an allround disc and pad replacement done and thats the brakes fixed. Cost 250 gbp. Excess pedal travel could be the piston has traveled too far and the reservoir low.

Air con regas is 40 notes and well worth it.

Roll bar bushes will go so get some polyurethane as the original plastic sleeves will be shot. As for the CEL... Go get a vcds scan done.

Look on YouTube for thomas-exovcds. His vids are awesome to learn from!.

Edited 4 October, 2015 by shivadow

[vrs95]

Hey shivadow glad to know I was not the only one in the same dilemma  

 

actually the biggest problem or the difficulty I face with my skoda is owning one in India

skoda has a bad reputation here and the spares are exorbitantly price here

for example the price of a hid ballast here at a dealer is rs24000 

at scrap yard they quote anywhere between 6k-16k 

I had great difficulty and found one at rs2000 that's 30$  

We owned many cars till date and this is the first german car we mainly owned italian , japanese and korean cars 

after owning this car i am pretty sure my next car would be skoda too.

Just the shear amount of technology in this car and the way it is built is just remarkable and is a benchmark for other manufacturer a simple horn has a connector socket with a pin to hold it in place I was quite amused to see this a toyota priced twice has just a simple pin to hold it in place which breaks off in quite a small span . hats off skoda

as of today I got the car scanned I found some errors I even got the cars A/C serviced which works like a charm

 

I have found some error and will be posting it here . thank you guys a lot 

[Hermon]

could you post few pics of your car ??

[PaulOH]

I have seen that there are not many German cars in India - I think that they sell the Octavia as the Skoda Laura there as well? The good thing is that there are many interchangeable parts with other cars from the VAG group. my Octavia has a non-standard alternator fitted - I think it came from an Audi - so there are lots of options if your mechanic is good and can be flexible with parts.

 

This club is excellent for spare parts, but you do need to know some of the terminology as there are people on here who know a lot about cars. Do post some pictures as we would be pleased to see them