brake goes to the floor

[cordobabrendy]

After hearing a little grinding i replaced the rear pads tonight (and split my right thumb clean in half in the process, fcuk its awful looking but strangely not too sore) any, while doing it i had to open the fluid nut a little to help get the wind back tool get the piston back, ive since ran the vagcom diagnostics on the abs and the pedal can become nice and stiff again but as soon as i move it goes to the floor again giving an initial bite but very quickly sinking to the bottom, will a top up of fluid be in order or what? i never expected to have to touch the fluid as ive never had to in the past when changing the fronts....
help!

 

[Fl@pper]

sounds like it needs bleeding to me

 

[WeeJase]

did you take off the res cap to wind back?makes it alot easier brend,and i usually get a screw driver on the old pads in situ to prize them back if taking the old ones out,screw driver between pad and disc prize them back
rears do need turning to get back in

 

[cordobabrendy]

was the rears i was doing jase, was down to metal on one pad, rest were fine..
i topped up the fluid there but still going to the floor if i press with any sort of force. car stops so i think ill take it to a garage tomorrow morning.

 

[DPJ]

was the rears i was doing jase, was down to metal on one pad, rest were fine..
i topped up the fluid there but still going to the floor if i press with any sort of force. car stops so i think ill take it to a garage tomorrow morning.

Yes, you've got air in (or a leak). A proper bleed is in order (not like your right thumb.....) Hope both get sorted.

 

[cordobabrendy]

dave, very little blood though zoe went white when she saw it, happened around 9.30pm while i was still doing the brakes, even when it hapened (two spaners to get the sliding pad retainer off and one of them got a good grip and loosened the bolt in a split sec, my thumb was between it and the thin metal bit behind it, so basically ive squashed my thumb to the point the middle opened up horizontally, that said it could have been worse as ill still be able to hold a golf club on saturday thank fook! still managed to go out and finish it once i got a (lot of) fabric plasters onto the job!

 

[WeeJase]

rears still need the res cap off mate,they are on the same system

 

[cordobabrendy]

so as i slackened the bolts they basically sucked a little air in then?
below, a little progress pic, agnews sticker removed and tasty exhaust fitted.

 

[SHADY-NINJA]

take it to a brake specialist.
i wouldnt mess around with that aspect of the braking system.
get it properly bled.

 

[cordobabrendy]

all sorted, loads of air, topped it up with 5.1 and alls well again.
bar my thumb!

 

[STOCKY]

Exhaust looks very nice mate! Must get back up to dee as mines knocking abit on the valance!

 

[cordobabrendy]

was dees that did mine matey, the fella that did it has a 1.2 silver ibiza, was a bit dubious going in as dee wasnt there but it turned out very well, no banging and a nice deep burble on liftoff. power is up too according to vagcom.

 

[CupraUK]

dave, very little blood though zoe went white when she saw it, happened around 9.30pm while i was still doing the brakes, even when it hapened (two spaners to get the sliding pad retainer off and one of them got a good grip and loosened the bolt in a split sec, my thumb was between it and the thin metal bit behind it, so basically ive squashed my thumb to the point the middle opened up horizontally, that said it could have been worse as ill still be able to hold a golf club on saturday thank fook! still managed to go out and finish it once i got a (lot of) fabric plasters onto the job!

Ouch thats gotta hurt!

I had a funny incident when doing my fronts, wearing surgical gloves I noticed that one had gone a funny colour. Took them off and it had filled up with blood from my thumb!

PS: how much did it cost to get the brakes blead? Mine are crap since I crashed.

 

[cordobabrendy]

cost bugger all mate as a chum did it on a favour. its only a five min job if you have a spanner set, empty jamjar or similar and a small bottle of brake fluid to top up the reservoir. i just couldnt do it as my thumb was a little tender..
thumb is still buggered but healing a little, seems the innards have starded going back...erm..in!

 

[CupraUK]

ew!

My brakes were shocking tonight, I don't know what to do with them. I'm going to get the fluid changed as I think I keep boiling it. Does 5.1 have a higher boiling point?

 

[cordobabrendy]

5.1 is made of a substance that doesnt absorb water basically, the older stuff can. boiling point is another plus over 4 too. do it, its less than a tenner for a litre.

 

[CupraUK]

Nice one, I'll definately try that as my next course of action.

 

[ibizacupra]

ew!

My brakes were shocking tonight, I don't know what to do with them. I'm going to get the fluid changed as I think I keep boiling it. Does 5.1 have a higher boiling point?

No not always....
two temps quoted in specs dry and wet boiling temps..
Dry temp is fresh fluid and the important one if you change and service your fluid regularly and use it hard.
For example I use Motul RBF600 on my own... and its "only" a Dot4 fluid, but has a dry boiling temp within 5'C of Castrol SRF mega good but mega expensive to boot fluid.

Dot 5.1's have reduced water absorbtion compared to Dot4, but a regularly changed quality Dot4 can out perform Dot5.1.
(water absorbtion reduces the boil temperature hence performance, so over time the fluid has reduced high temp performance... which is why full bleed with quality fluid is always a good idea, especially for those of us who "use" their brakes enthusiastically... and any LCR owner.. big car big brembo's biug heat into disks/calipers/fluid)

regards
bill

 

[CupraUK]

Cheers Bill, so if I were to get it changed every service I could get as good a performance from decent dot 4?

 

[ibizacupra]

better hot performance from Dot4 if the right one... (like RBF600 from Motul..)

Cured my ibiza's boiling brakes and I tried several dot 5.1's before to no avail, including some AP racing fluids.. Motul RBF600 used (which I now stock as its so good) and cured my probs & does'nt break the bank like SRF Castrol does.