good morning PF, here's my problem;

I have a mk4 escort estate that has had RS turbo calipers put onto it. Recently I fitted braided brake lines and since then, the brakes just basically haven't worked! I have pressure-bled and manually bled them numerous times, so has two professional garages. The master cylinder has been changed twice and still no results. When I fitted the lines, I pushed all the fluid out of the system and put new fluid in.

The brakes worked fine before I fitted the braided lines. There are no leaks, no pistons have popped out but the pedel travels much to far and with no proper feel to the brakes. The second garage I used said that only half the system (N/S/F and O/S/R brakes) is working but this may just be a result of a primary problem.

Could I need a bigger master cylinder? If so, what could I use (sierra 2.0L master cylinder etc?).

Please help anyone! the car is undrivable at the moment

 

The fact that half the system isnt working and its opposite sides (OSF & NSR) suggests a master cylinder problem as it operates a split system incase of failure. Were they new master cylinders you used or second hand ones? Try an overhaul kit for your original master cylinder.

 

hi buddy you got any info on these overhaul kits stripped mine to paint without even thinking about putting it back together

 

What i dont understand is that before I fitted the lines, the brakes were fine. All i did was drain all the fluid, fit the braided lines and bleed them. multiple times and so did two garages. Im gutted.

the master cylinder I originallly fitted was working fine when i had it on another escort. Then i swapped them back and this has made no difference.

It was a garage that said half the system wasnt working so Im not taking that as gospel!

 

http://www.biggred.co.uk/cylinderrepairshop.html

 

You can easily damage the MC during bleeding of the brakes

 

Trace the outlets from the MC back to the seperate corners and indentify which system is the causing the problem. Starting at the MC work along the system cracking off each union in turn along the way and carry out the bleeding process at each point.

I find sometimes you need to use a bit of agression to get rid of an airlock, open up the bleed nipple on the caliper fully, make sure the MC is full to brim with fluid, then pump the pedal hard repeatedly. You might want to put a cloth over the bleed nipple otherwise it will squrit fluid everywhere.

Regarding the MC that has been replaced, is it running a 1.6 size brake MC & servo or a smaller engine one? From memory all 1.6 engined Escorts run the same MC & servo as the Xr3i & RS Turbo.

 

If you have drained the fluid out then tried to bleed the system yet might have nackered the seals in the master cylinder. I would take a pipe off the mc one at a time and press the brake pedal and see if you are getting fluid coming out of the mc.