Brake Failure Mystery On 2005 Tdi

[BrummyGit]

My Galaxy 2005 TDi 150 brakes failed on Saturday night while my wife was driving the car. Half way through a 25 mile journey the pedal went down to the floor coming up to a roundabout and only gave minimal braking force. Luckily nothing was coming and afterwards a couple of presses of the pedal pumped them back up.

 

For the rest of the journey they would do exactly the same if they had not been used for a little while. I'd had a couple of beers so whilst probably close to the limit my wife drove into our road and I jumped in for the last few metres and my first press did exactly the same - down to the floor with a good hiss from the servo, a couple more pushes and they pumped up allowing me to park the car on our drive.

 

I looked under the car and all around the wheels this morning but can't find any fluid leak and we've had no warning lights. So I jumped in this morning expecting to press the pedal to the floor only to find the brakes apparently normal. So I've done about 50 cautious miles today without any problems. It's a good job I felt the problem myself otherwise I'd have declared my wife insane.

 

I can't work this out - no obvious fluid loss and no recurrence of the problem. Can anyone shed any light on what may have happened as I'm convinced any dealer will declare "No Fault Found" but unless this gets fixed I'll never trust the car again.

 

Any ideas?

[Guest VR6!]

sounds like a possible vacuum loss problem! check all the hoses to the servo and check the operation on the one way valve!

[BrummyGit]

sounds like a possible vacuum loss problem! check all the hoses to the servo and check the operation on the one way valve!

VR6! Thanks for the reply.

 

Excuse my ignorance, but would this cause the pedal to go all the way or just give a hard pedal with no assistance?

[familyman]

sounds like a possible vacuum loss problem! check all the hoses to the servo and check the operation on the one way valve!

VR6! Thanks for the reply.

 

Excuse my ignorance, but would this cause the pedal to go all the way or just give a hard pedal with no assistance?

When i managed to accidentally disconnect vacuum hose while working on the engine the brake pedal felt dead ,but brakes did work in a fashion ,and it was very disconcerting!

[Vanbursta]

Almost certainly master cylinder seals, try applying the brakes very quickly. If they then work it is the seals.

[Guest gooner52]

thats bad news for a 2005 model,i would still take it back to the dealers

 

and if not happy start a case with fordcustomer care

 

i did this with my 2002 ghia,and got everything sorted,they even told me to take it to an independent

garage which i did,and got it all sorted in the end

 

anyway good luck :lol:

[johnb80]

I would go with master cylinder seals, if it was the servo the brake pedal would be hard, not on the floor.

 

Regards - J

[BrummyGit]

Any idea why it would appear to be working fine again today?

 

If I press the pedal hard it stops and then creeps a little further but I can't persuade it to go to the floor again.

 

Thanks for all the help.

[Smilge]

I would agree with Master cylinder seals ... had a problem with the rear of the two seals on a Mk 1 Mondeo master cylinder which also scared the wife. I actually found a small split allowing brake pressure to leak back into the system and not to the calipers as expected.

 

Worth getting it checked by the dealers ..... shouldn't do that on a year old car!

[johnb80]

Any idea why it would appear to be working fine again today?

 

If I press the pedal hard it stops and then creeps a little further but I can't persuade it to go to the floor again.

 

Thanks for all the help.

It's possible on some cars for the seals to invert, usually happens when changing pads and forcing the pistons back without releasing the bleed nipple. I suppose it's possible that seals have inverted and then gone back, it sounds very dodgy to me and I for one would not feel comfortable with this situation as I'm sure you're not either. I reckon back to the dealer if you still have warranty and give them a full account in writing just in case it happens again, keep the rports in case you get a no fault found from them, no consolation when you rear end someone I know.

 

Regards - J

[BrummyGit]

My Galaxy has now been into my local Ford dealer for 30k service and most importantly to check the brakes.

 

It was returned with no major fault found, but the dealer told me he had contacted Ford Technical who had advised them to replace the brake fluid. This has been done under warranty.

 

I'm not sure I'm happy with the outcome, but I guess I have to wait to see if anything else happens as I can't prove any fault and have even started to doubt myself as the brakes works so well now.

[JohnR]

My Galaxy has now been into my local Ford dealer for 30k service and most importantly to check the brakes.

 

It was returned with no major fault found, but the dealer told me he had contacted Ford Technical who had advised them to replace the brake fluid. This has been done under warranty.

 

I'm not sure I'm happy with the outcome, but I guess I have to wait to see if anything else happens as I can't prove any fault and have even started to doubt myself as the brakes works so well now.

 

 

It could have just been a bit of swarf or grit in the fluid. Its pretty much like the washer in an old bicycle pump....If you push it very slowly there isnt enough pressure to expand the seal out. I had an old Marina like that once... if you rested your foot on the brake gently, you could take it all the way to the floor! If you operated it with normal braking force it worked fine. On that one, it turned out to be a worn cylinder. the bore had become grooved. Swarf trapped in the seal could give the same symptom? I would have liked to have put the old fluid through a coffee filter just for a look see.