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[MV6Danny]

Hi guys. Got a bit of a problem. The brake pedal on my 98 td saloon is going half way to the floor before it starts to apply the brakes. I have tried bleeding the brakes today with an easy bleed. Drained about 250ml from eack caliper. I changed the front pads too as they were shot. After doing this the pedal seemed better until i drove it. And i still have the same problem when the pedal get to the bottom while driving it the abs pump kicks in. I can feel it on the pedal and can just about hear it. I know there is a problem but what is it??? I dont know if the master cylinder has been changed by previous owner or somebody else but there is one in the boot which was there when i bought the car and it is a manual on as it has the feed for the clutch on it. The one that is on the car must be from an auto as it has no clutch feed and the cluch pipe is attached to a small (looks like motorbike) reservoir. I am baffled could it be that the previous owner has changed the master cylinder and it now has air in the abs pump as a result???
Hope somebody can shed some light on this as i dont really want to drive it with this problem
Cheers in advance 

[Michael2.6]

Brake servo

[Andy B]

I think that your master cylinder seals might be fubar'd ie your foot is going down until the secondary piston of the master cylinder has started to do its bit  ......  The previous owner might have had the same idea .... hence the spare in the boot. 

[MV6Danny]

Brake servo

Cant see it being brake servo as if it was that it would make it harder to press the pedal as there would be no vacume assistance.

I think that your master cylinder seals might be fubar'd ie your foot is going down until the secondary piston of the master cylinder has started to do its bit  ......  The previous owner might have had the same idea .... hence the spare in the boot. 

I am thinking that the one in the boot is the one he may have already changed as its for a manual and the one on the car is from an auto. I could be wrong. I might try contacting him to find out. If he has already changed it could there be air in the abs pump???

[MV6Danny]

If i try the one in the boot do you think it would be worth removing the front callipers and pumping the pedal to fill them with fluid prior to changing the master cylinder so i can push the caliper back out to push the fluid back into the reservoir and push any air bubbles back out   

[Radar]

Have read you can adjust the break pedal height?

[MV6Danny]

Have read you can adjust the break pedal height?

cant see that helping either
i can feel the abs pupm kicking in when the pedal is getting close to the bottom.
i am really quite confused. just waiting to hear back from the guy i bought it off. i hope he replies.

[Andy B]

Maybe the whole braking system needs a proper bleed with a TechII (of sorts) to actuate the ABS pump ..... 

[MV6Danny]

I will see what the guy i bought the car from says. Hopefully he replies to my text message tomorrow. If he says he bought the cylinder in the boot to replace it and didnt do it i will try changing it first. If that doesnt work then i will have to try and find someone close to me with a techII to try and bleed the brakes again. I cant think of anything else it could be. Also i changed the pads today for ones without the wear indicators on and the brake pad warning is still on. How can i get this to go off without putting new wear indicators on them?

[Entwood]

I will see what the guy i bought the car from says. Hopefully he replies to my text message tomorrow. If he says he bought the cylinder in the boot to replace it and didnt do it i will try changing it first. If that doesnt work then i will have to try and find someone close to me with a techII to try and bleed the brakes again. I cant think of anything else it could be. Also i changed the pads today for ones without the wear indicators on and the brake pad warning is still on. How can i get this to go off without putting new wear indicators on them?

If you have the old wear indicators, cut the ceramic bits off and join the two wires .. solder and heat shrink work well .. then plug them in ... the light comes on when the warning circuit goes "open" as the ceramic is worn away .. "shorting" the wires remakes the circuits   Some folks use paper clips in the socket .. DON'T .. they will corrode and cause even more problems ..

[Andy B]

..... Also i changed the pads today for ones without the wear indicators on and the brake pad warning is still on. How can i get this to go off without putting new wear indicators on them?

What Entwood says ....... No pad has wear indicators built in, it's a separate item that clips to the brake pad. 

[MV6Danny]

dammit i mashed them up and threw them away. might have another old set bashing around. will see if i can find them. 

[MV6Danny]

Right then. Just found out that the original master cylinder failed and the bloke who owned the car replaced the master cylinder with one from a cavalier. He has told me that its a bit of a bodge and it has been spaced internally. This sounds to me like the source of my problem. He has also told me that the master cylinder in the boot was removed from is old omega td estate and was working fine when he removed it. So I will swap it over next weekend and see what happens then. Fingers crossed all will be well. I will update when done. 

[cem_devecioglu]

I think that your master cylinder seals might be fubar'd ie your foot is going down until the secondary piston of the master cylinder has started to do its bit  ......  The previous owner might have had the same idea .... hence the spare in the boot. 

yes..

[Andy B]

.... He has also told me that the master cylinder in the boot was removed from is old omega td estate and was working fine when he removed it. So I will swap it over next weekend and see what happens then. Fingers crossed all will be well. I will update when done. 

Swap it all as a complete unit, chop the crimped tube of the auto reservoir for the manual's clutch feed.