Soft brakes and spongy feel... diagnosis?

[10:45PM]

Re: Soft brakes and spongy feel... diagnosis?

s the brake fluid condition actually changed during the official Smart/Mercedes-Benz inspections? Or do they just peer at the level measures to see that the volume is acceptable?

There's two things that 'do for' brake fluid , that's moisture (Brake Fluid is hygroscopic, it attracts moisture from the atmosphere if subjected to open air: loose brake fluid lid or opened bottle of it).. and 'damage' from boiling due to braking at the front calipers/rear cylinders as said.
They will check it for water content with some test kit, but it doesn't tell you what the fluid is like near the calipers, Only a bleed would do that.

[NeuroBeaker]

Re: Soft brakes and spongy feel... diagnosis?

ROTFPMSL.........

Sorry.....

No I Am, those than know me know that I'd never type what I would not say face to face, in a pub I'd have just spat beer at you!

Phone Sam..... Mc Smarts..... First Thing!

Please, for everyone's sake....

And have some rep, that story is worth paying for.

What can I say? It wasn't my finest moment... :redface:

PM SAM on here, tell him to call you about your brakes.... he's somewhere in Scotland..... I know its a big place, but there aren't that many houses are there? there can't be that many people that like the cold and wet and all that darkness....

Hehehe - well, there are a few of us up here.

Sorry but




you will now know if you ever get in that situation again , get that battery terminal off the battery at all costs,there and then FAST !
car batteries are *really* dangerous if abused.

Yes, it was an alarmingly effective (not to mention expensive) lesson. :redface:




Re: SAM and McSmarts...

Just found this thread in the sponsors area:

McSmarts - smartmaniacs

And it directed me to this website:

McSmarts.co.uk

And as it turns out, they're very close by:

Google Maps

So, yes, I think I'll certainly be giving them a call tomorrow.

Thanks very much everyone - I'm off to bed for now. Goodnight.

Sincerely,
Andrew.

[10:45PM]

Re: Soft brakes and spongy feel... diagnosis?

And can cause side spliting amusement when someone gets it wrong, like when Zorroreturns welded one of Shawns ratchet spanners to the belly of a fortwo with the spenner glowing red...... i don't know how I didn't wee

In all seriousness, batteries are hugely danderous and very under estimated

yeah , you certainly don't get a warning, It's an instant welding kit

[NeuroBeaker]

Re: Soft brakes and spongy feel... diagnosis?

There's two things that 'do for' brake fluid , that's moisture (Brake Fluid is hygroscopic, it attracts moisture from the atmosphere if subjected to open air: loose brake fluid lid or opened bottle of it).. and 'damage' from boiling due to braking at the front callipers/rear cylinders as said.
They will check it for water content with some test kit, but it doesn't tell you what the fluid is like near the callipers, Only a bleed would do that.

Thank you. So it sounds like I should ask Sam and McSmarts whether a full bleed would be necessary.

Well, I'm really off to bed this time, so goodnight and thanks again for everyone's wonderful advice. I'll be back with you after I've talked to McSmarts to let you know how things are going.

All the best,
Andrew.

[ForTwo]

Re: Soft brakes and spongy feel... diagnosis?

yeah , you certainly don't get a warning, It's an instant welding kit

I remember changing a starter solenoid on my old Mini, Haynes manual said "step 1. Disconnect the battery earth lead before proceeding" - "stuff and nonsense!" thought I, so I proceeded to change said solenoid without bothering about the battery - I successfully changed the unit and then whilst admiring my handiwork (before refitting the solenoid cover) I dropped a spanner square onto the terminals, a mass of sparks later and the spanner was hotter than the surface of the sun and had welded itself across the terminals, I feebly tried knocking it free but to no avail, so scrambled around to the boot and managed to disconnect one of the leads - cost - one spanner and one solenoid, I managed to get away without any other damage through raw dumb luck.

[Fudge]

Re: Soft brakes and spongy feel... diagnosis?

Shawn and I did a rebuild and the "tool of preference" dropped onto the starter and solenoid...... we poo'd our pants.... nice little display though!

[putzie]

Re: Soft brakes and spongy feel... diagnosis?

the alternator on my old scenic was always live and really close to the oil filter so when ever changing it you had to be really carefull not to touch the spanner or it became a instant cure for constipation !lol

[magnet]

Re: Soft brakes and spongy feel... diagnosis?

I asked Chequered Flag to bleed my brakes of all the old fluid at the last service and my brake pedal feels no different and still has a squashy feel to it. It will still activate the ABS and slow the car very quickly if needed just as before but I was expecting a noticeable difference after the bleed that simply hasn't appeared.

[madDan]

Re: Soft brakes and spongy feel... diagnosis?

You have a roady that is HBA

No doubt someone will try and convince you to fit braided hoses or six pot calipers now!

[magnet]

Re: Soft brakes and spongy feel... diagnosis?

HBA? What does that stand for please?

Why do people think screen ink will run out, so they end up abbreviating everything? I blame the car makers for starting it all with EBS, ABS... I swear Volvo are trying to introduce 37 new symbols just so they can continue to come up with weird number/letter names for their cars well into the next century!

[madDan]

Re: Soft brakes and spongy feel... diagnosis?

Hard Brake Assist - it's in the manual it's a Merc thing, it annoyed a lot of Merc owners also.

Soft feel for soft braking, but slam the pedal, it measures how fast you are braking and adjusts the brake force accordingly.

[putzie]

Re: Soft brakes and spongy feel... diagnosis?

hmm , on my fortwo i i decided to go down the change the brake lines to braided hoses and change the fluid to dot 4 and still had the dreaded play in the top of the brake pedal , i did manage to get rid of it eventually after lots of bleeding and they feel fantastic now , on my roadie i changed the pads and disks in the week for a cheapie option , went for omp pads which i won on ebay for £9 and a set of discs for £49 and have to say after being out for a drive they bite like hell and make no noise at all , have more brakeing power than my tarrox's with ebc greens which is really impressive , only time will tell over wear /brake dust ect but i would like to get rid of that little bit of travel when i have a bit more time !!!!!!

[madDan]

Re: Soft brakes and spongy feel... diagnosis?

You will not get rid of it, it is a feature

[BCA]

Re: Soft brakes and spongy feel... diagnosis?

ARC - what yokos do you have/ how good are they? - only asking as I could do with opinions on tyres available in 175/55/R15's or whatever size the standard rears are...

[6F00T4]

Re: Soft brakes and spongy feel... diagnosis?

Without reading the whole string of this thread, spongy brakes are caused by the following:
Air in the brake lines
Water in the fluid
Leaking pipes
Leaking rear cylinders
Leaking seals in front calipers
Leaking seals in the master cylinder
Leaking brake pipes

That covers it. Once you've checked all that, one of those will be causing it.

Only other solution are braided hoses all round.