P38A Horrible vibration from brake pedal and no brakes

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awkwardbob

awkwardbob

Well-Known Member
Posts
578
Location
Glasgow
Hi,

after sitting for a couple of weeks I was driving to the garage for an MOT and I got a horrible vibration through the brake pedal and no retatdation.

It happened twice then seemed fine.

could it have been a lack of pressure in the system ?
Or perhaps needing bled ? (Have just changed the accumulator)

any thoughts very welcome, I’ve asked the garage to take a look and change the brake fluid as a matter of course.

thsnks again

Bob
 
awkwardbob said:
Hi,

after sitting for a couple of weeks I was driving to the garage for an MOT and I got a horrible vibration through the brake pedal and no retatdation.

It happened twice then seemed fine.

could it have been a lack of pressure in the system ?
Or perhaps needing bled ? (Have just changed the accumulator)

any thoughts very welcome, I’ve asked the garage to take a look and change the brake fluid as a matter of course.

thsnks again

Bob
Click to expand...


Is the garage up to speed on p38`s as it is not a straight forward job changing the fluid it has to be as per the workshop manual, the vibration could have been the abs kicking in that judders through the peddle
 
brianp38dse said:
Is the garage up to speed on p38`s as it is not a straight forward job changing the fluid it has to be as per the workshop manual, the vibration could have been the abs kicking in that judders through the peddle
Click to expand...

Hi,

yes I just ran out of time to change snd bleed the system myself and it does look a little convoluted in RAVE.

garage owner has a few discos so hopefully it’s not too dissimilar. -although now you have me worried.

vibration felt different to ABS, more violent and alarming !
 
You've got to follow the routine to a t ',
I use a power bleeder but not everyone has one. It's not let me down on any of the few 38's and other vehicles i look after. They will have to do it correctly. ;)
 
Hmm,

the problem arose after changing the accumulator. I’ve still to pick her up from the garage so will have a look and take a
View on bleeding it myself to make sure.

the procedure doesn’t seem
All that difficult, just ‘involved’
 
tomcat59alan said:
Too true, they're leaving themselves wide open to legal action.
Click to expand...

well, what a fiasco.

finally got my car back after it being at the garage for 3 weeks.

mid explained explicitly that there was an ABS sensor gap issue on the NSF and the accumulator had been changed so I requested a full brake fluid change and bleeding before sending it for it’s MOT.

somthe garage clearly didn’t listen. Didn’t do the brake work and crashed the car en-route to the MOT.

they then assured me they’d made good the damage (still have a burst fog light and the bumper is ill-fitting and saggy now) but they’ve made a reasonable effort.

however, when I got in the car this morning and turned it in for the first time I get an ABS fault and Traction control fault.

I’m driving up my street at 8mph and press the brakes. The pedal goes solid, a worrying vibration through the pedal but zero retardation. I grab the handbrake which slows us but not before we coast across an intersection at low speed almost hitting crossing vehicles.

nkw I’m bloody furious. Clearly they haven’t fixed the issue nor have they ‘thoroughly tested’ the brakes as they assured me they had.

I will be tearing a strip off them on Monday.

But what I wanted to
Know was whether anyone could potentially diagnose the fault ? Could it just be needing bled properly (I offered a printout of the procedure on at least 3 separate occasions) ?

should I bleed the system myself ? -my feeling is that I
Should leave it as is for now so that the garage can’t try to
Imply the fault is my doing.

and I’m certain it was the correct accumulator which was fitted, an identical part.

Any and all thoughts very welcome.
We’re just lucky we didn’t hit something.

thanks again

Bob
 
RangeRoller dt said:
Jesus Christ Bob!
You’d have to be a special kind of stupid to f*** the brakes up that bad. Forget that garage.
FFS! They gave it back to you like that!
Unbelievable
Click to expand...

Yeah, I’m pretty ****ed off. I’ve wasted three weeks and ruined two camping trips because of this.

I’ve got my car back in a worse state than I handed it in.
I now need to decide what to do. I don’t want this garage to go near it again but they need to
Replace the fog light and properly fit the bumper.

They fitted a few parts (which I supplied)
But that’s it -and they handed it back in a dangerous condition.

I simply do not believe that it had been sent for an MOT re-test so there’s something dodgy going on.

I guess I either need to send it in to the main dealer £££££ or find a really good specialist near Glasgow that the RAC could tow it to.

any recommendations ?
I may post in another thread also.

still no idea if it simply needs bled or if there’s something more
Major going on.
Is there a foolproof way to
Test the pump ?

thanks again

Bob
 
**** me Bob, that's absolute bollocks for a garage to give it back like that. Glad you are all OK.

Suggest you do not touch the car.
Get it trailered or an official type inspection done on brake condition, then approach said garage, Obviously tell them of your issues by phone and E-mail (documented) soonest so the date is logged.

As far as a test goes, run engine till abs pump stops, how many pushes of the brake do you get before it kicks in again. I believe it could show air or naff accumulator, but as that has just been changed (new)like for like it should be good. But if they followed bleed procedure should be something else which they should have noted and told you about.

Bottom line is I wouldn't want that garage to say "we will fix it " and trust them. Crashing it on the way for an MOT....WTF:mad:

Good luck

J
 
If you are an AA or RAC member get them to trailer it to their recommended garage, as long as it's not 'that' one, they may have Legal Cover with your membership too ... good luck ...
 
awkwardbob said:
well, what a fiasco.

finally got my car back after it being at the garage for 3 weeks.

mid explained explicitly that there was an ABS sensor gap issue on the NSF and the accumulator had been changed so I requested a full brake fluid change and bleeding before sending it for it’s MOT.

somthe garage clearly didn’t listen. Didn’t do the brake work and crashed the car en-route to the MOT.

they then assured me they’d made good the damage (still have a burst fog light and the bumper is ill-fitting and saggy now) but they’ve made a reasonable effort.

however, when I got in the car this morning and turned it in for the first time I get an ABS fault and Traction control fault.

I’m driving up my street at 8mph and press the brakes. The pedal goes solid, a worrying vibration through the pedal but zero retardation. I grab the handbrake which slows us but not before we coast across an intersection at low speed almost hitting crossing vehicles.

nkw I’m bloody furious. Clearly they haven’t fixed the issue nor have they ‘thoroughly tested’ the brakes as they assured me they had.

I will be tearing a strip off them on Monday.

But what I wanted to
Know was whether anyone could potentially diagnose the fault ? Could it just be needing bled properly (I offered a printout of the procedure on at least 3 separate occasions) ?

should I bleed the system myself ? -my feeling is that I
Should leave it as is for now so that the garage can’t try to
Imply the fault is my doing.

and I’m certain it was the correct accumulator which was fitted, an identical part.

Any and all thoughts very welcome.
We’re just lucky we didn’t hit something.

thanks again

Bob
Click to expand...

Could you get it to @Henry_b ?

There are a few things worth checking. That the brake switch is working as it should. Slide pibs etc are free to move. That it is bled the way it should be. Then there's the modulator itself. Early units had plastic washers inside that were known to break. Later ones should be stainless steel. Then there's the punp itself to supply the pressure and the pressure valve. I seem to recall so eone saying the same valve was used on other cars such as Saab.
 
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