Hopefully someone will be able to shed some light on a problem i've got with the brakes on my 3 door.

Hopefully it's only something sillly.

Right,

I have related the problem to the loom melting against the turbo after i decided to test drive drive it without the turbo heatshield fitted!!!! this is now sorted. (but as the cars been off the road a few years it could be unrelated and problem already there)
The ABS pump started running contiously when the ignition is on and the ABS light is on permently and the pedal vibrated when pressed.
I have managed to get the pump to stop running (but all i did was remove the plugs and reconnect whilst car running) and the pedal dosn't vibrate but is very firm and the light are still on.
The calipers have been reconditioned, the lines have been bleed so they are fine but the brakes are very poor.

The relay is also fine.

Should the ABS pump start and go off on the ignition, will the ABS pump start if i stamp on the pedal when stationary?

Any help appriciated.

Any ideas?

 

The abs pump will start as soon as the ignition is turned on if there is not enough pressure stored already(in the sphere you can see on the side), until it reaches the required pressure as determined by the pressure switch on the abs pump unit, this from overnight can take some 30 secs on some.
When up to pressure it will extinguish the abs light and the handbrake/low fluid level light.
Anytime the bas light stays on is due to a partial or complete malfunction of the abs, although you will still have the brakes, the effort required may be a lot more.
I've never heard of a pedal vibrating when pressed when stationary(?) but unclear whether you mean driving or stationary ?.
The pump is there purely to provide pressure to assist(like a servo), and plays no actual part in the abs function other than this, but if you pump the pedal enough it will have to build more pressure as some has been used, but certainly should not be continuous.
How hard, "stamp" on the pedal should not make any difference to the pump coming on, as there should be plenty enough there.
I cured my abs light coming on a few weeks back, by completely de-pressurising with ignition off, then turn on and allow it to pressurise a few times, seems my pressure switch may be a bit lazy, so might be worth a try.
The pedal should be nice and firm, but not solid, when you say the brakes are poor do you mean as in bite, or a massive effort needed ?
tabetha

 

Yeah massive effort gave me a leg ache just parked on the drive testing it so didn't fancy a hill start out the street. Thanks for that tho sounds like good advice will try that and let you know, cheers tab

 

tabetha,how did you de-pressurise your system?my light comes on after i drive around 300 yards,it comes on when i put the ignition on as normal then goes out.could this be a sensor?when i had a problem before the pedal vibrated when i was pulling up to junctions at about 5-10 mph,i cleaned the abs teeth on the front hubs and that cured the problem.

 

To de-pressurise simply turn ignition off all the way then pump pedal you will feel when pressure has been lost as it will get solid with no assistance.
tabetha