Hi all, this is my first post so forgive me if its not up to scratch
Im after some advice about the brakes on our mk1 eunos roadster 1.8.
the brakes at the moment will stop the car while at ‘normal’ speeds, but if the need arose for and emergency stop or heavy braking, the car just keeps going, ive tryed to lock the wheels at about 30mph and no matter how hard i pressed the pedel, it just didnt happen.
my first thoughts are air bubbles or old fluid, but before i go get my hands dirty, i was just wondering if anyone else had the same problem?
My first thought would be to do a quick brake strip down and take the calipers off and check the condition of pads & disks and also clean and grease the sliding pins. After that then yes you are looking at condition of the fluid and bubbles as well as servo operation etc, but I would do the low tech bit first. Its fairly common to find the system needing a good clean and re-grease.
what im trying to say is the brakes dont clamp the disks hard enough to cause a loss in traction, so the abs has no need to come on. or so i beleive, in my other cars ive always experienced abs as a sort of rapid ‘juddering’ from the front wheels as the brakes come on and off the disk, in rapid succession.
Just a possibility that the pads have been cooked and are glazed, my first step would be whip out the pads, check and rough up the contact faces or better still replace them with oem pads.
i dont know if its got abs or not, i did nt even think of it before it was mentioned on here. you guys are the experts, il have to check the manual/specs for the car.
Original equipment ‘Mazda’ pads, the previous owner could have fitted cheap after market pads and discs just to get the car mot’d to sell on, worth considering.
Dave.
P.S. also the original owner could have fitted race pads which need to be hot to be efficient.
Hi Richard, I’d check whether it has abs; a light on the dash at switch on or just follow the brake pipes down from the master cyl to find the unit.
But I think the most likely thing is a failed servo which makes the brakes feel almost non existent on a car designed to have one.
You can check by running the engine a few mins then switching off. Press the brake pedal and see if it feels hard or slightly soft. Release and press a few more times and see if it gets harder (as the vacuum in the servo becomes used up). If the pedal is hard after switch off and does not change with pumping it is likely the servo has failed. Try this test on a modern car to get familar with what pedal feel you should expect if you’ve not done it before.
firstly, thanks to all of you for yuor replys, its been very insightful looking through all of the suggestions.
i had a quick look at the brake fluid last night, and its a little dark, sort of like red bull/relentless. and while i was at it i took a quick peek at the clutch fluid as well, now that one is a different story, its colour is very similar to black coffee, so i think il change that as well as the brake fluid, (i thought the gear box felt a little heavy due to it being rear wheel drive, i guess il find out soon)
as i do the brake fluid change, il pop each caliper off and give them a good once over just to be sure everything is as it should be, is there anything common i should look out for when i do this?
as for the disks and pads, the disks look like there is a small amount of ‘scoring’ going round them, so i think there might be some high bits on the pads.
Not on the MX/roadster, the ABS will slow you down while still being in control of the steering, so it won’t lock up, it sounds like you have not been to big on getting yours hands dirty in the past with throwing spanners? , if you follow the the how to link that Flea dude posted up(pic’s are waiting to be added), your roadster WILL benefit big time from it, she will also benefit from a good set of shoes and a full 3 G, she WILL feel like a different Mx/roadster, tighter and safer.
If you want her to lock up then do away with the ABS system.
If you are stuck or unsure, just shout, and we will help you.
