Spongey, Smelly Brakes

[bob1234]

I bought my Galaxy a couple of months ago from a dodgy back street dealer! Its a 2.3 auto on an S plate with 110,000 miles on the clock.

 

The brakes have always been a little bit too spongy. However if you push hard enough it stops and I can get the ABS to kick in so they are obviously working. However when I get out of the car having driven to work (about 10miles) they smell like I've been racing when I've been taking it really easily.

 

I haven't taken the wheels off to have a look yet but anyone got any ideas?

 

The handbreak is fine and works well.

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

[big_kev]

The smell is most likely the brake fluid boiling.

This is most likely caused by only one side of your front brakes working and therefore it is getting rather hot.

The other side could be either poor pads or a sticky piston, should be obvious on inspection.

 

The ABS system is seperate from the main braking system and ( not getting into any debate about whether ABS is of any practical use ) does not indicate one way or another whether your main braking sytem is operating correctly.

 

Lastly the handbrake works via a cable onto your rear wheels and will function regardless of the state of your main braking system.

 

The best guide to whether your brakes are working correctly is, as you indicated at the start, whether it feels right under your foot.

It doesn't feel right and therefore it is most likely not right.

 

Whip the wheels of and have a look.

[Guest wolfie]

when you get to work walk round and feel the wheel centers? if one or more are extremely hot it's more than likely the calipers are sticking! hence the burning smell and the spongy pedal as the fluid gets rather hot!

[big_kev]

Sticky Caliper...could be !

 

My money is on a sticky piston.

[tim-spam]

It could also be air in the system. This would cause sponginess and could also cause the brake pads to remain in light contact with the discs - hence the heat build up. By the way, boiling brake fluid would cause total loss of brakes, so I doubt it's that.

 

Another possibility is that it has some very cheap and nasty pads fitted.

[mumof4]

How about checking the brake fluid level??

 

and to use ABS..you have to depress the clutch pedal at the same time as braking....IIRC...

 

I used to love getting the nice big red STOP on the dash to pop up.LOL.

[Smilge]

I would also check for fluid leaks around the piston areas as a static leak could deposit a small amount of fluid onto the discs. The smell could be the fluid being burnt off the disc. I had to do my sons rear drum brakes on his Fiesta the other month and couldn't believe what I found when I removed the drum! Both slave cylinder seals had gone so I replaced both cylinders.