A Sense of Perspective

[Nellington]

Sorry for asking so many techy questions, hopefull not many more....

The breaks on my surf are a bit frightening to say the least, the garage said that the pads were ok (one of the only bits that won't need fixing!!), but I practically have to stand on the pedal to even slow down and am not convinced I could stop in a hurry.

Is this normal because the car is a)massive, b)heavy, c)an Automatic d)old and I am not used to it (and have always driven small brand new cars) or does something somewhere need adjusting??

Misses is too scared to drive it !!

Cheers!!

[Sancho]

They take a bit of stopping because of the weight and general sloppiness of the handling, but nothing that feels dangerous.

Check your fluid level and then move on to more complicated things if that's OK.

[Gamedawn]

If they are as bad as you describe then it sounds like you have no power assistance. A quick poke round in the engine bay to see if there are any vacuum hoses floating loose would be the first thing to do (mainly look down the drivers side of the engine bay). If you can't find any and it seems that this is the problem then the fault may be with the vacuum pump which is mounted on the alternator.

[BUSHWHACKER]

To test the servo, keep you foot pressed on the brake pedal and start engine. If you feel the pedal go down slightly, then the servo is working.
Also, your rear brakes may need adjusting, especially if the handbrake hasn't been used for a while.
If you can pull the handbrake up a long way, then the rear brake shoes need adjusting.

[andrewlee31]

could the brake fluid be very old.. would that make a difference??

[Gazbo]

I wouldnt of thought so, it would not help, but i doubt you would notice a problem because of old fluid. The front pads could be stuck in, or have you put new pads in? You may have grooved discs and the pads will take a while to bed in. And as Bushwacker says, rear brakes may need adjusting?

[Medieval Dave]

Somethings wrong somewhere. Mines the same truck and the brakes stop the wheels turning with very little force.

Whether the tyres stop the truck can be a different matter though.

[Bogus]

Sounds like a servo or vacuum issue to me or even air in the system, even with old degraded fluid, new pads and scored disks, and poor rear braking due to bad adjustment I cant see any way that they would be as bad as described. Id definitely look for detached vac pipes and then get the servo checked. Only other thing could be air and a serious bleed is needed. ( remember air can be compressed, liquid cant.)
Degraded fluid ( water contaminated) would only be an issue after prolonged use of brakes and only then if they got hot enough to make the fluid boil

I would not want to be out in that vehicle until this is addressed.

Bogus

[Nellington]

Yeah not too keen on driving it until I get this looked at. I wasn't sure if this was something that should be expected with bigger heavier cars.
Thanks for the help, I will add this to the other 500 odd things wrong with it at the mo

[Wild Thing]

I'ld say its a servo or vac prob, had this happen on a hilux pickup and had to put both feet on the pedal to stop it, ended up being the vac pump on the alternator, the splines had worn away

[Nellington]

I just did the servo test with the brake, held my foot on it and started the engine - no dip. Any ideas what to do next?? I want to get the brakes fixed so I can drive it to a garage to fix everything else thats wrong with it!!