Richard, I would check my Master Cylinder, this is very typical. It is
leaking enough that the first pump will blow by but not so much that on the
second pump it will start to pump OK. Could also be a wheel cylinder or
caliper, but in that case you would experience a pulling as one wheel did
not brake and the others did. Seems like a classic case of "time to
buy/rebuild the master cylinder".
Patrick Bowen
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard B Gosling [mailto:Gosling_Richard_B@perkins.com]
Sent: Monday, October 09, 2000 8:23 AM
To: spitfires
Subject: What's wrong with my brakes?
Help!!!
Symptoms - First press of the pedal, lots of travel before there is any
braking
effect. Since there is not much travel left, I hit the floor before I can
achieve strong braking; mild braking requires almost the full travel of the
pedal.
Release the pedal (completely), and press again - brakes behave fine,
braking
effort builds without too much pedal travel, can lock the wheels long
before I
hit the floor.
This came on today - Friday my brakes were fine (as far as I remember), this
morning they were dodgy.
Brake fluid level was low-ish (just above the min. mark on the reservoir),
so I
topped up at lunch-time - no change, brakes still dodgy.
My wife is supposed to be borrowing Daffy tomorrow, so I could really do
with
having this fixed today!! This means that I would really appreciate
replies
by 5:00 UK time (12:00 Eastern, 9:00 Pacific US times I think) if you read
this before then! Also, since I subscribe to the digest, could replies be
directed to my own e-mail address (as well as to the List for everyone
else's
benefit).
Many thanks,
Richard & Daffy (goes fine, doesn't stop!)
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