spongy brake pedal please help

I have a 2000 x reg range rover with the late 4 wheel traction control. and was sat outside on our driveway for a month or so over xmas (went to use it when the snow was about last month) and when i got into it and drove it the brake pedal seems to be spongy. the level is not below the min, and new brake pads front and rear was fitted only less than 8,000 miles or so ago. I have checked for leaks and cannot see any leaks. The pedal has that woosh sound like before but the pedal goes much more down to the flow and as i said feel spongy.
Does anyone know what is wrong with the brake pedal...........?

it does sound like air in the system.. either from when the work was done before or from a leak somewhere and being sat for a while... try bleeding the brakes..

the brakes was fine before, and if air has got in then i would have thought some of the brake fluid would have leaked out? just reading on a post and not sure if this would have anything to do with it BUT very strange if it does...... one of my bratts left the light on in the back and the battery was flat and i mean nothing not even a door light would work....

if you have a pin hole somewhere in the pipes then it's possibel air has got in the system enough to make spongy pedal without a noticeable drop in fluid I think.. you wont see a drop in the fluid level anyway except when the brakes are applied becasue the sponginess is casued by the air being compressed.. under normal load (brakes off) the air isn't compressed so the fluid level in the engine bay will look normal..

if you don't wanna try that best waiting for one of the experts....

i can see your point but the system will be under pressure when the pedal is pushed so any leaks ( should ) or will show up..... maybe i need to look again for leaks.....

I once had a small pin hole leak in a copper brake pipe that sucked air in when the pedal was released but didn't let any brake fluid out.

warning You will need a test book or similar to bleed the brakes on this RR. Yuo have to put the ABS pump into 'bleed mode' and this can only be done with the right diagnostic kit.

ouch.... test book for brake bleeding..

which beggars the question.. was this done when they work was carried out previously?

I have also had that type of pin hole.. granted it may have let out a drip once in a while I wouldn't notice..

when the pads was changed the system was never bleed as all they did was changed the pads. the fluid wasn't even topped up as the level was back to the max when changed.

yeah sorry just re-read and spotted it was only pads you had done..

jamescherry said:

when the pads was changed the system was never bleed as all they did was changed the pads. the fluid wasn't even topped up as the level was back to the max when changed.

Click to expand...

Erm, where did all the fluid go? If the new pads are fitted then the pistons have to moved back into the caliper and that 'excess' fluid has to go somewhere.

Open nipple and let fluid out that way....good idea, or just push pistons back in.....bad idea.

To be honest I am thinking that this is either damp brake pads or the fluid needs changing. A garage should be able to test you brake fluid boiling point. Best to test a sample taken from one of the calipers, not the freshly topped up reseviour.

HTH

the rave for the discovery (why am I even in here) says to take the cap off the brake reservoir when you push the pistons back in.. I suppose if that wasn't done the cap could have burst meaning even though it looks secure the seal has been compromised meaning when you brake the pressure is released up through the cap rather than to the pistons meaning your brakes will be soft and virtually useless..