Hi all, I've got a bit of a problem with my brakes, in that it pulls to the right when I press the brake pedal. Also there seems to be a problem when I press the brake pedal itself......I press the pedal and I can feel the brakes work, but it's as if there's a bubble in the system as the pressure on the brake pedal is there, then the pedal goes down a short distance with very little pressure before the pressure comes back again. Basically it's pedal pressure, no pedal pressure, then pressure again. The brakes do work pretty well, and I've had a look at the rear drums which look absolutely fine, and I looked at the front discs too......the calipers seem to be functioning fine and there's plenty on the pads. Sorry if my description is a bit rubbish.....my mechanical knowledge is very much a work in progress Cheers guys.......any info gratefully received
have you checked the fluid level? its pulling because it is braking more on one side. this is usually due to pads sticking in the carrier / brake binding on or a master cylinder fault. jack up the front and see if the wheels spin freely. remove the pads and make sure the calipers are not seized. clean mounting points, refit pads and copper grease the pad/caliper so they slide freely if the caliper is seized then replace or rebuild the pedal pressure sounds like a master cylinder fault. if its a dual circuit cylinder then it may only be working on one side.
what they said^^, had similar problems until I changed both front calipers,one cylinder had seized totally...also readjust rear brakes using the star adjusters, take out all slack/play.
NOT master cylinder causing pulling to one side - dual circuit is front /back not side/side. As said, pulling right = problem with left.
lefts take the most abuse as they hit the potholes and get the bulk of the puddles. Even though you can see the pads moving in the caliper its likely that this one side is gummed up. Front flexi hoses are such a cheap and easy repair i'd be tempted to fit new hoses and replace the front caliper seals and clean the caliper pistons up - its an easy job to do, about a 3 hour job all in, with cost around £40. Take your rear drums off and give the back end a good clean up too whilst you're at it and make sure its all adjusted up nicely
My bus gradually developed a pull to the left. Eventually this turned into a sort of hop and skew round as the bus tried to spin if you really floored the brakes. But never having driven a camper in good condition I didnt know any better. This was caused by un bled brakes - the bleed nipples were rusted in on the right hand caliper and the rear brakes. My previous benchmark was my first car, a £100 10 year old N reg Morris Marina (in 1985...) that had a rusted in pad on the right side which gave a pull to the left at first and then straightened up if you stamped on the pedal and the disc was pushed onto the stuck pad. We will not go into the slack steering rack and the frayed carpet wrapped round the steering column that would suddenly snap when you tried to change lane to the right at 70 and you had to swerve left to miss the Armco that suddenly started coming at you. Back to today and the £6500 36 year old N reg Camper where the bleed nipples had rusted thin so a a 7mm spanner spun on them. Replaced those. And got really horrible black brake fluid out when bleeding - just kept on feeding in clean until it came out clean. Then it pulled vaguely to the right. Replaced grooved front discs and pads. Now a slight pull to the left again. Adjusted rear brakes . Now it brakes straight. And the pedal feels firm all the eay down. Only needs new back plates or more likely complete rear brake assemblies and plates on the rear drums now as the metal has 'peeled back' where the rear brake adjusters have needed a lot of grunt to shift.
something else you might want to be aware of when bleeding brakes...there is a pressure compensator to reduce brake pressure to the rears when braking hard...essentially, under hard braking, the front end dives ...if brake pressure was evenly spread between fronts and rears you'd lock up the rears and tailwhip...so vw installed a compensator valve into the system located on the passenger side rear chassis, whereby a ball bearing reduces the fluid flow to the rears as the bus pitches forward. Folk have seemingly bled the system, with the rear end on axle stands, only to find they've lost pedal presssure when they go for a test run...re read the manual for bleeding the system...Also, as Lost en France suggests, replacing front flexis will stiffen the pedal (check servo pipe for leaks if you have one fitted)
