dodgy brakes

got a bit of a prob with the brakes on my early s3.

the prev owner replaced the shoes and the all pipe work. i have done about 1200 miles since.

the fluid level is on max, is checked every week and has not gone down since i have owned it.

the problem is that if i press the peddle, it goes to the floor and the brakes hardly work, if i then release the peddle and press it again quickly the brakes are good and work as they should.

this has been getting worse and started a few weeks ago with the peddle just travelling a bit further than it should.

any one know of any common problems or what to check first?:scratching_chin:

It sounds like the brake shoes are out of adjustment , ie too much distance between them and drum , so pedal needs two pumps to get them from stops to drum . If the new shoes were fitted without bevelling edges the shoes will brake poorly at first as limited contact patch which wears quickly resulting in excess travel. The other thing that can happen is snail cam adjusters are u/s and they are adjusting off with use HTSH

...or air has bled into the system somewhere and you have to pressurise it first before the brakes will work. Check the adjusters first then bleed the system.

I had exactly the same problem, and it turned out to be the connector pipe between the master cylinder and the remote resevoir letting air in the system, so give it a check and replace it, you can get one for about £6! Bled the brakes and all was fine!

I too had a similar problem and in my case it was the master cylinder. I also had no noticeable fluid loss. Good luck, simple system there aren't that many things to go wrong.

stevealg said:

I had exactly the same problem, and it turned out to be the connector pipe between the master cylinder and the remote resevoir letting air in the system, so give it a check and replace it, you can get one for about £6! Bled the brakes and all was fine!

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you mean the lovelly bit of badly perrished hose with cracks in?:doh:

cheers for that.

thanks again guys and galls.