• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Loss of Brakes

Share this page

G

gsm187

Freshman Member
Offline
The weather is just about perfect these days to take the "B" out and about. On a recent trip, I had the choice of either running over a cute bunny or mashing on the brakes to avoid it. Needless to say I picked the wrong option and slammed on the brakes. From that point on in the drive, I felt a considerable loss of braking - having to keep it slow and downshift to get home safely. Since this was at night, I decided to check on the problem in the morning. I went out to find a puddle of fluid under my right rear tire. How do I go about diagnosing the problem? I've only had the car (1980 B) for a year - which includes 4 months of tinkering to get it operational and 5 months of winter storage - and don't know what all should be done. In doing repairs like this, does it make sense to change out many parts that may cause difficulty or should I just try and zero in on what the specific problem might be. As you can probably tell, I'm anxious to get it on the road again, as I don't want to go thorugh another summer like the last one. Any help and advice would be appreciated.
Gary
 
Sounds like you haven't replaced the brake rubber in a very long time. You may have blown a seal on the wheel cylinder. Personally I wouldn't drive the car again until all four wheel clinders were rebuilt and all three brake hoses replaced.

This would also be a good time to check the front calipers and the master cylinder for leaks. If your car is equipped with brake boosters, check them for leaks as well.
 
I'd check the brake pads on your rear wheels. If those are good then you just might be out of adjustment. If the rear pads are too far out of adjustment then the rear cylinders will over extend themselves and leak. If they travel out too far then it's possible for them to get cocked and spring a free flowing leak, which sounds like what you have.

At the very least, it sounds like you'll need to rebuild/replace the rear cylinders, and possibly the rear brake pads. Doing so shouldn't be any more difficult than doing it on any other car with rear drum brakes. Adjusting the rear brakes on a B is probably the easist I've experienced on cars that require manual adjustment on the rear drums. It's a relatively easy job to do, and can be completed within a day easily, if you opt to just replace the cylinders. I've never rebuilt any brake cylinders myself, so I can't comment on how difficult that might be.

Of course, you'll need to bleed the entire system once you get the parts in.
 
Even to rebuild the cylinders is pretty simple, with a little practice I can do it in less than an hour. It's the bleeding that takes some time.
 
Thanks all. I'm going to get new hoses and cylinders - and maybe shoes (I'll pull the wheels and check those before ordering. Has anyone tried the bleeding tool you hook up to the tire valve? It's supposed to make it a one person job. Is it worth buying? Gary
 
Ezi-bleed? I have one and think it works fine. Just be sure you have a good seal at the cap before adding fluid.
 
I'll second Jessie's comment. Eezi-bleed is a great tool. With the rear cylinders, the cost is so low it'd be worthwhile to save some time and aggro by replacing rather than rebuilding them. I would say replace all three flex hoses too, while you're at the brakes. They tend to deteriorate from the inside out.
 
Back
Top