excesive brake pedal travel

[andrewcrofts]

hello all, just come in from droping the wife off and as i came to stop outside my house, the foot brake went all the way down to the stop and the hand brake light flashed on for a split second. i parked up on the drive and with the engine running and pumped the brakes, they seemed very soft with alot of travel. so i turned off the engine to check the vacume by pumping 5-6 times and they got progresivly harder with each pump, fired up the motor and down the pedal went again. i've not noticed a sudden decrese in braking whilst driving but the brakes have always been 'iffy' on the car.
could it be simply worn pad's(i hope) or something more serious?
any ideas folks.......
cheers.
andy

[dirtydog]

yes your pads could be worn. they might not run out yet but best to get them checked.
you will probably need to top up your fluid though as the first thing to try.

could aslo be an air lock perhaps?

[andrewcrofts]

is there a part number for the pads and do millners do em? how much ect.ect.
cheersss

[stormforce]

is there a part number for the pads and do millners do em? how much ect.ect.
cheersss

the brake pads are £12.50 from milners part no.001138

[dave.j.robbo]

It could also be worth renewing your brake fluid. It's recommended to be changed every two years, but it's one of those things that's often overlooked.

My brakes improved dramatically with new fluid..

[Danno]

I had the very same

If you offroad then remove the rear drums and clean out all the crud that accumulates. I actually had weeds growing in my drums!

Also i had a leaky wheel cylinder, which wasn't apparent as the mud was soaking it all up.

On top of all this, the vacuum pump on the alternator had no carbon brushes in it! Therefore it wasn't building enough vac pressure.

Once all this was done they were perfect....................... .oh until I went offroad and filled them back up with mud!

[BUSHWHACKER]

(Columbo voice on) Just one more thing sir......(Columbo voice off) It could be the 'piston' seals in the brake master cylinder. You can check this by stomping on the brake pedal quickly, if it's hard to press then 'creeps down' you'll know it's the master cylinder.