brake problems

gazzer

I finally got around to buying a car last week..A 98 Fiat Punto, i bought it in a private sale (next door neighbour to a friend of mine) and i got two mates to check it.. they arnt mechanics but they are have a lot more car knowledge than me. Anyway they both said it seemed fine to them.. I left the car in a friends house whilst organising my insurance so he had it for a few days and used it once of twice.

Anyway last Saturday i went over to collect the car.. i was driving from the southside to the northside... i know i shouldnt be driving on my own as i am on a first provisional but chanced my arm.. everything was fine until i got to the navan road near the halfway house.. i braked at the lights but the brakes wouldnt work.. had my foot on the brake pedal all the way to the floor and still it wouldnt stop.. luckily i wasnt going fast and i stopped anyway..

I tried the brake again and it was fine... so i continued driving and the brakes were fine all the way to the roundabout just before my house when the brake went again... Thankfully i got it back to the house with no damage..

I drove just a few feet to the roundabout yesterday and back to the house and the brake was fine again...this car lark is all new to me so i havnt a clue what could be wrong. A friend of mine mentioned that the brake might have gotten 'airlocked'?? Anyway i am planning to get it serviced this weekend but i was just wondering if anybody had an idea what could have happened.??

Also.. in the event that i have to get a new brake... any idea how much it would cost??

MercMad

I suggest you dont drive it again !

Without any other details it's possibly a flexible hose that has gone. These fine tubes deteriorate inside and basically swell when you brake instead of supplying fluid to the caliper !

On a '98 car I'd suggest these are changed anyway !

It could also be the brake master cylinder, but first things first.

Get a competant mechanic to look at it before you drive it again or you could injure yourself or someone else !

One last thing, check the brake fuid level !

gazzer

@Mercmad... forgot to mention.. i checked the brake fluid level yesterday and that seems fine.. i actually only drove to the roundabout and back yesterday to show my friend what was wrong with the brake.. of course it was fine when he was in the car.. im not going to drive it again till it is checked out... thanks for you reply.. im definately going to have to get more clued up on the workings of cars

alias no.9

Seems like a very strange problem. A leak in the system would progressively loose fluid and eventually fail completely with no recovery. If it was air locked it would feel very spongy, pumping the pedal quickly should allow you to brake if it was air locked but is not a fix or even a short term solution and again would not recover.

Did the pedal stiffen up or anything like that?

Elroy el

Could be a split in the pipe between the brake servo and the intake manifold .

stratos

This problem has happened to me, a while back though.
The problem was the brake master cylinder.
The seals were gone inside the cylinder which just allowed the fluid to pass back over the plunger occasionaly.
No leak was evident, and the system didn't lose fluid.
Very dangerous, and no way should the car be driven, even to a garage.
get it trailered.