Last time we were on holiday, the rear passenger side brake overheated. I thought the hand brake had maybe been left on slightly, but didn't know for sure. It seemed ok after the smoke had cleared away and it was left to cool down.
I decided to have a look at it a few days ago and immediately noticed that the wheel cylinder was leaking. So ordered an axle set of shoes, a fitting kit and 2 new cylinders. When I went to remove the old shoes, the brake linings just dropped onto the floor. The overheating must have destroyed the adhesive that bonded lining to shoe. I nearly **** myself thinking what could have happened.
So anyway, fitted all the new bits easily enough and went to bleed the brakes I have an Easy Bleed kit that pressurises the system. I've used it for years on loads of vehicles including the front brakes on the van after I changed the pads last year. The drivers side rear bled no problem, but the other side would not get fluid through. Thinking maybe the new cylinder was faulty, I loosened the brake pipe to see if it would come out there. But nothing at all. I got my wife to sit in the van and pump the brakes and doing that I could get a small amount of fluid to flow. But the brakes would lock but not release.
I removed the drum and got her to slowly depress the pedal. The cylinder expanded ok. But would not retract, so this was holding the brakes on. The only way to retract the cylinder was to open the bleed valve. I don't quite understand why though, as the lines to both sides are teed off the common line going forward. So why one side works and the other doesn't is weird.
My van is a non servo one. So the only other things in the system are the pressure regulator and the master cylinder. I thought of just changing the master cylinder anyway as its probably due. But everywhere is sold out. So in the mean time, I'm wondering if the problem could be at the pressure regulator.
Does anyone have any ideas what the hell could be wrong. Is it the master cylinder, the regulator or something I'm missing?
The hoses and pipes all look in good condition from the outside.
Cheers
Aardvark
I decided to have a look at it a few days ago and immediately noticed that the wheel cylinder was leaking. So ordered an axle set of shoes, a fitting kit and 2 new cylinders. When I went to remove the old shoes, the brake linings just dropped onto the floor. The overheating must have destroyed the adhesive that bonded lining to shoe. I nearly **** myself thinking what could have happened.
So anyway, fitted all the new bits easily enough and went to bleed the brakes I have an Easy Bleed kit that pressurises the system. I've used it for years on loads of vehicles including the front brakes on the van after I changed the pads last year. The drivers side rear bled no problem, but the other side would not get fluid through. Thinking maybe the new cylinder was faulty, I loosened the brake pipe to see if it would come out there. But nothing at all. I got my wife to sit in the van and pump the brakes and doing that I could get a small amount of fluid to flow. But the brakes would lock but not release.
I removed the drum and got her to slowly depress the pedal. The cylinder expanded ok. But would not retract, so this was holding the brakes on. The only way to retract the cylinder was to open the bleed valve. I don't quite understand why though, as the lines to both sides are teed off the common line going forward. So why one side works and the other doesn't is weird.
My van is a non servo one. So the only other things in the system are the pressure regulator and the master cylinder. I thought of just changing the master cylinder anyway as its probably due. But everywhere is sold out. So in the mean time, I'm wondering if the problem could be at the pressure regulator.
Does anyone have any ideas what the hell could be wrong. Is it the master cylinder, the regulator or something I'm missing?
The hoses and pipes all look in good condition from the outside.
Cheers
Aardvark
