Went out for a shakedown drive yesterday after a looooong winter off, mainly to test the brakes after all my faffing around changing over to a Fiat MC.

Got about 1m down the road and the pedal started getting harder with each press and the car was being held back. I assumed brakes binding so stopped for a minute to make sure they weren't overheated and came home. Only just made it as the nearside front was locked on! pedal by now was solid, so I cracked off the caliper bleed nipple and the brakes came off immediately, so my guess is the fluid is not returning to the reservoir.

I tried fitting a remote reservoir to the MC but just cannot make it fit high enough to keep a good feed of fluid to the MC, so I used the original Sierra reservoir and used some short lengths of tubing to connect it to the MC. The trouble is, I think what is happening is that the tubing I have used is so far down the seals in the MC that it is actually blocking off the fluid holes enough to prevent the fluid returning to the reservoir.

The reason I had to extend the reservoir up from the MC is because the MC outlets are on to and not on the sides so I cannot fit the reservoir directly into the MC.

What I need to do now is find some sort of remote reservoir that is short enough to fit above the MC and can be connected using the adaptors for tubing.

Has anyone got any recommendations for CHEAP reservoirs either new or from a scrappy?

Hope all the above makes sense?

Sound very much like there is not enough slack in the master cylinder push rod to me,

I had a similar problem with my Cobra some time back - turned out one of the rubber brake lines had swollen shut. Most probably not your problem but worth a look.

quote:

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Originally posted by rusty nuts
Sound very much like there is not enough slack in the master cylinder push rod to me,

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As above master cylinder push rod too long not allowing the piston in the mastercylinder pushrod to come fully back causing fluid lock.
If the piston is even 1mm off the end stop will cause the recuperating port to be closed off and cause fluid lock.

quote:

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As above master cylinder push rod too long not allowing the piston in the mastercylinder pushrod to come fully back causing fluid lock.
If the piston is even 1mm off the end stop will cause the recuperating port to be closed off and cause fluid lock.

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If it happens again, try hooking your toe under the brake pedal and pulling back (if it's a top-pivot pedal, of course!). If the brakes free off then it's the master cylinder push rod not returning fully, as suggested above.

I used all of the springs that came with my Escort pedals, and the one that pulls the brake pedal back to its rest position is massive!

Thanks for all the input guys

I will try the pedal trick and see if it does need a shorter pushrod, but I think there is sufficient play in the rod-to-piston.

I have put a piccy below to try and explain better what I meant about the modification to extend the reservoir up from the MC and the possibility of the pipe blocking the holes off.




Still think I will be looking at replacing the reservoir, but I hope you guys are right

Rod too long.. happened to me on first test drive..