brakes

[Michael J]

hi guys, just bought a 1987 scirocco gt but have a problem, ive no brakes. the handbrake is working but the pedel go's flat to the floor.
the resavoir is full so just wondering would it be the master cylinder or what. any help would be great

michael

[marcus]

How on earth did you get it home?!

If reservoir full then presumably nothing is leaking (otherwise the reservoir would empty), so next obvious question is whether there's air in the system... try bleeding the brakes first.

[Michael J]

Well I drove it up onto a trailer and stopped it with the handbrake just about but after 13 years parked in a guys shed, it looked pretty well.
ok so ill bleed the system and see. should there be any pressure on the pedal at all.

[marcus]

Check the linkage between the brake pedal and the master cylinder that crosses the bulkhead from the driver's side to the passenger's side - it's possible something has become detached or broken, meaning there is no connection between pedal and master cylinder.

[marcus]

And just having noticed you joined the forum just yesterday - welcome, hope you'll find this a useful, friendly and informative source of type 53 info.

[Michael J]

I checked that kind of arm that links the pedel to the servo and there is a air like noise coming from the servo when the pedal is pushed which I assume is good. ill give the bleeding a bash, other then that I could be looking at replacing some parts I guess.

thank you, yes hopefully helpful as im new to sciroccos but hope to get know a lot more about them and its great to talk to people with the same interests and help with situations your in that maybe they've been through

[marcus]

At the risk of 'teaching granny to suck eggs', do you have the Haynes manual? If not, I urge you to get one, because while it doesn't tell you everything you need to know, it does at least give you the 'lay of the land' of Scirocco-specific stuff, such as that annoying brake linkage.

[Nate]

If its been sat for 13 years, it will need a fluid change, almost certainly flexi hoses and wheel cylinders too. Don't mess about with it, just change them.

[the edmundator]

You might find the seals inside the master cylinder are gone after 13 years' inactivity, too. The last scirocco I resurrected from a long period of inactivity needed pads, discs, shoes, drums, rear wheel cylinders, master cylinder, servo and flexi hoses all round (new fluid too, of course). I think the only bits that didn't need any attention were the metal pipes and linkages.

[Michael J]

Hi guys,

well today I made an attack at the brakes. bled out the system with results that I got some results, good ones. got some good pressure on the pedal but I think a new set of pads would work wonders. see how they are then. it got all new fluid today so that should help too.
for a car that has been lyeing up its not to bad but new cylinders could be a good plan. hopefully a few more service jobs will have it up and running. defo goin to get myself a hynes manual now thank you