KKtrips Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 What did you find Steve?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xsspeed Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 Nothing till the morning, I moved the car round to my parents yesterday so the flatties could use half the driveway again (I still have three other cars and a boat stored in the driveway/carport/garage). Will be round there tomorrow, unfortunately my old man is down in you rneck of the woods for work or I would have asked him to check a few things for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xsspeed Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 OK, fluid is full, Did a couple of engine off rolls in the driveway and the brakes were fine. So went for a drive and found some hills to roll down and try brakes out. They worked fine, harder brake pedal as expected due to no vacuum but brake's still worked. I am now wondering 1) If it was because I was going in reverse when I was pushing the car out of the drive across the road - but this doesn't explain why Raizer had no brakes when he was being towed in it. 2) Something to do with the amount of time it sat without use - when Raizer picked it up it would have been sitting without use for quite some time, and when I worked on the car on the weekend it had been a good week plus since the car had been used - possibility of air in the brake lines and "settling" without use? then causing spongy brakes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spencer Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I would still be skeptical of the master cylinder, they love fucking out after sitting for ages Flush the old fluid out, it will be gross and rusty, then give them a decent test Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KKtrips Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Didn't you say the pedal went to the floor yesterday? And now it is a very hard pedal? What has changed between the 2 days? What was the last thing you did to the brakes before the pedal went to the floor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xsspeed Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 That's exactly my point k-trips, on sunday when I pushed it out with engine off, pedal went to floor and had no effect, (car had been sitting unused for a week, and was being pushed in reverse) But this morning with engine off, car was sitting unused for one day, rolling forwards, the brakes worked as they should. I have done nothing to the brakes yet, they are just the current item I need to sort. The only thing I can think that has changed is the amount of time the car sat without use, or the fact it was being pushed in reverse on Sunday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KKtrips Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 And you had done nothing to the brakes before this? I'm wondering if somehow the pistons had retracted and the pedal went to the floor cos they needed to pump up. (just like after you retract pistons to change brake pads) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spencer Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 MAybe KK but I would say his pistons are pairly gunked up and wouldnt recess that easily, this seems even less likely as it had been used recently before this. I'll put a dollar the master will stuff out in the near future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xsspeed Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 I have not touched the brakes on this car at all. What seems to not make sense though is that when Raizer picked it up he had the same issue? Is it possible there is some air/something else in the line that is causing the brake pistons to 'float'/retract a bit as you say and needing to be pumped before properly engaging? I will have a play around with it tonight and test out different scenarios, I think its given me enough doubt to get the master cylinder checked out though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage Grumble Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Now that the pedal is hard, if you push on it fairly hard for a while, does it stay where it is or slowly go down? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raizer Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Oh I should note that the pedal was not spongy at all when I was towed in it, pedal was hard as hell and even with all my bulk on it barely moved. Seemed fairly soft the couple of times I started the car though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xsspeed Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 Now that the pedal is hard, if you push on it fairly hard for a while, does it stay where it is or slowly go down? Could have sworn I answered this, this morning. Will have a play tonight, that would denote short circuiting of some sort if it did continue to go down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xsspeed Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 Oh I should note that the pedal was not spongy at all when I was towed in it, pedal was hard as hell and even with all my bulk on it barely moved.Seemed fairly soft the couple of times I started the car though. Oh yeah? fuck knows then Might revert to KK's step number 11 now Slash, get new master cylinder, fluid and pads and should be sweet like chocolate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage Grumble Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Yeh, if the pedal drops slowly, then theres a good chance the fluid is getting past the seal in the master. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truenotch Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Try bleeding the brakes first though, no point in picking your problems out of a hat. To me it sounds like you have a rogue air bubble in the system that will probably disappear with a good bleed. If they are all good, then flush and re-bleed with Motul RBF600/Penrite 600+ brake fluid and throw in a set of half decent pads - you'll need it for the trackday. Bring spare brake fluid and your old pads with you just in case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xsspeed Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 OK, got car home will bleed and chuck new pads at it tomorrow. Assuming worst case: If the master cylinder is shot, only a rebuild kit is available from toyota - ex japan 3 weeks. Where would be the best place to check out up here for reocnditioning, assuming that one of the two that I have can be? And how much cashola roughly am I looking at? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyfive Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I should think you'd be able to get new seals etc from the likes of BNT etc for cheap as. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xsspeed Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 Well I just went for a fang, and worked the brakes pretty hard. Performed fine, stops from legal speed to a standstill without a hiccup. I am starting to doubt my own diagnosis seeing I haven't been able to replicate what 'happened', ie in my rush to avoid hitting the car behind me, did I hit the clutch instead? Fuck knows, will bleed, and new pads, might redo the master cylinder, and see how we go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xsspeed Posted August 21, 2011 Author Share Posted August 21, 2011 Pictureless update, Met up with team caucasian at BP drury on friday morning to head down to trackday. Despite the extreme cold, even at drury my car was doing funny things. After I keyed off I could here a bubbling sound, turned out the radiator inlet tube was boiling, thought about pulling the pin there and then before the others arrived but then manned up and thought fuck it, if it dies, it dies. We made a(n impromptu) stop on the way down, and as my car dropped to idle (seems to struggle at hot idle) it stalled, and this time the boiling was worse, with a bit of steam coming out the overflow. Got it started and with flow the water seemed to be ok. To more experienced players this might have been obvious what was wrong but I pressed on, and got to taupo. Jumped in with retep on the parade lap as my car was still loaded with gear/bikes, and eventually got out on the track. Turns out 25y.o. shocks/springs are quite rolly polly (as kind of expected) and despite my 4wd height in the rear, around corners I was getting guard rub on the tires. So after one lap I pulled the wheels off and did some panel beating. This seemed to have sorted it and I managed to string some laps together. On my next outing, after about 5 or 6 laps of being by myself Rhys appeared in my rear vision, so I figured I had better get onto a line to let him pass. Low and behold the corner arrived faster than expected, so onto the brakes, and suffered some fishtailing curtesy of lift off oversteer, tried to drive out of it, but hit the ripple strip, and spun out and stalled. Sorry to Rhys for forcing you into some evasive manouvres! This set the boiling off big time and blew the lid off the overflow, with steam starting to errupt from the engine. The starter then decided it didn't want to play ball, so I ended up having to get towed off (sorry to the boes who were having some laps, and to Keltic who probably go the fright of his life!) So I let it cool down and top up with water, drove it to repco to get some coolant to replace, but by the time I got back it was nearing the end of the day. TBH I should have just taken it back out as it was, but I was a bit nervous about being that guy again. Apparently I was blowing a bit of smoke on the track, enough for Fuel to ask if I had done a mitsi engine conversion, but I think the lack of noisy tappets ruled that out, lol! Yesterday morning before heading back to AK, I emptied out the coolant (which appeared to be just water, but I don't know how much I had diluted it when I topped it up at the track). After chucking in new coolant mix my car made it home sweet, no mishap whatsoever, and wasn't boiling in the top radiator tube when switched off. Leads me to think that it only had water in the system, hence boiling. A bit dissapointing seeing I had left the sorting of my water leak issues to my mechanic as I had no time in the lead up to trackday to sort it out myself. I'm thinking they were running water through to check they had had found the source of the leak (waterpump) and forgot to drain and fill with coolant. Gutted, because I wouldn't have missed it myself, and kicking myself for not double checking as it cost me time on the track. All in all, was a sweet first trackday, and learnt a lot on and off the track, plus bike summit was rather epic as well. TL;DR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spencer Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Hmm well the car shouldn't boil on straight water, as I dont need antifreeze here all I run in both my cars is water and a corrosion inhibiter. Sure antifreeze will raise the boiling point of the coolant, but the system in your car under pressure should not be getting near the boiling point of water anyway, A series Corollas have pretty decent cooling systems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.