No Rear Brake pressure - FIXED

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Sproutout
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No Rear Brake pressure - FIXED

Post by Sproutout »

Wonder if anyone has any advice Ive a '96 Xantia Estate 1.9td just failed the MOT on no rear brake pressure (you can spin the wheels by hand with the brakes on), never noticed this driving as the brakes are better than the other halfs Primera.
Anyway took the rear calipers off cleaned the faces as they werent at 90degrees to the disks anymore due to a bit of corrosion, cleaned the disc faces, replaced the pads, put it all back together saving £150 on the garage quote so very pleased with myself. bled the brakes with the fluid being very slow to come out on the offside. <b>STILL NO PRESSURE THOUGH</b>. Where do I go from here?
ps. I do get a hydraulic type hiss from the pedal box region and the brakes are very sharp if thats any help but its always been there for the year Ive owned the car..
Thanks in advance for the help/suggestions
Dave Burns
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Post by Dave Burns »

The rear brakes get their hydraulic pressure from the rear suspension circuit, with the rear wheels off the ground there is no pressure in the rear suspension and no pressure to operate the rear brakes, to get pressure to the rear brakes when the wheels are off the ground, you must set the suspension to the maximum height position, this relies on the height corrector linkages being free to move, if they are siezed it will make little difference.
Be wary of altering the height while the car is supported off the ground as the front will rise and cause the car to rock on its support.
Note also that the handbrake works on the front wheels.
Dave
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Clogzz
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Post by Clogzz »

There's a thread somewhere about the rear brakes not working until there's some load on the rear suspension.
That's a way of making the rear brakes load-dependent.
Put some ballast in the back to load the rear suspension, and the brakes should get the pressure needed.
Sproutout
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Post by Sproutout »

Thanks both will give that a try before seeing if I have to spend the national debt of Bolivia on new parts, would there be absolutely no pressure at all though with both rear wheels off the ground? as you can turn the rear discs by hand with the brakes on and the car running.
Dave Burns
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Post by Dave Burns »

With the height setting at normal, none.
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Post by Sproutout »

Thanks very much Dave and Clogzz just finished and all working perfectly.
The other half now wants to know what Im going to get her with the money I saved doing it myself[:(]
Mads
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Post by Mads »

.. and even with "high" setting on some cars (mine included). Had to put load on before oil was flowing.
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Post by Clogzz »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Sproutout</i>

Just finished and all working perfectly.
The other half now wants to know what I'm going to get her with the money I saved doing it myself[:(]
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Some trinket for now. [:X]
And put the saved money onto the stockpile for in case the next problem requires expenditure on new genuine parts.
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Clogzz
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Post by Clogzz »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Mads</i>

.. and even with "high" setting on some cars (mine included). Had to put load on before oil was flowing.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">Caused by binding height corrector linkage.
See Dave's post above.
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Post by Mads »

Good point, missed that! I'll probably have to do a bit of work on the height corrector again. :-(
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Post by Clogzz »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Mads</i>

I'll probably have to do a bit of work on the height corrector again. :-(
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">The rear height corrector linkages love WD40.
Beware of the car sagging when fiddling with height correctors.
Don't be underneath it.
There's plenty of context in previous threads.
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