HC Brake Fade

[MazMate]

G'day all, it's been a while between drinks, but I have a question for you fellas in the technical know-how of the HC. Basically when I depress the brake pedal it goes to the floor. It started gradually fading and then after about a week or two it now fades completely. At first pumping it was OK, but not anymore. I keep checking the brake fluid and it is OK, although before the brakes started fading, I used to have to top up the brake fluid by a few millimetres every couple of months.

I'm suspecting the Master Cylinder and/or possibly the Slave Cylinder, any ideas?

Also does anyone have a copy of the releavant pages of a workshop manual that they would be so kind as to scan and post or email to me?

Your help is appreciated muchly

Cheers,
Alan

[MazMate]

Well, I've taken the gamble, more of an educated guess I suppose, that it's the master cylinder that is the cause of the brake failure and rang the local Mazda dealer and got a quote for a replacement, hope you're sitting down... AUD$592.95!!! Ya gotta be sh*ttin' me?!

Thankfully I managed to source a 2ndhand one from the wreckers for $125 with 6 months warranty... phew!

By the looks of it it shouldn't be too difficult to fit, famous last words :P Of course the usual brake bleeding will have to be taken care of It'd be good to have brakes again

[NoD]

Master cyl from 50 to 150 bux new @ rockauto
Master cyl repair kit 30bux
u can find some parts cheap on ebay.

Changing the master should not be too difficult.
The manual says something about checking the clearance between the power brake push rod and master pistonbut it requires a vaccum pump, so u should not worry about that.

[bk94si]

Make sure there isn't brake fluid leaking onto the floor inside of your car.

[MazMate]

Master cyl from 50 to 150 bux new @ rockauto
Master cyl repair kit 30bux
u can find some parts cheap on ebay.

Changing the master should not be too difficult.
The manual says something about checking the clearance between the power brake push rod and master pistonbut it requires a vaccum pump, so u should not worry about that.[/b]

Thanks for your post NoD

I'll certainly keep that parts site listed for future reference. I'm in Australia tho' so it might take a while before I could get those parts, and unfortunately there's not much on ebay Australia for HC parts :P Worth checking ebay US tho' if I don't need anything in a hurry

Cheers,
Alan

[MazMate]

Make sure there isn't brake fluid leaking onto the floor inside of your car.[/b]

Actually that's one thing I haven't checked, thanks for the pointer

Cheers.

[NoD]

Jea brake fluid is bad for the paint job.


Im not sure about the shipping speed to australia. But i have done alot of ebaying, and the shipping times are between 5days to 3weeks. Atm im buying up a small stock of 929 parts, bushings/gaskets engine parts and so on. parts for the 929 are fading away

[MazMate]

Jea brake fluid is bad for the paint job.
Im not sure about the shipping speed to australia. But i have done alot of ebaying, and the shipping times are between 5days to 3weeks. Atm im buying up a small stock of 929 parts, bushings/gaskets engine parts and so on. parts for the 929 are fading away[/b]

I suppose if you had room it wouldn't be a bad idea to find a wrecked or undriveable 929 as a parts car. Although we can still buy a lot of the the parts we need for the 929 out here, but there as dear as poison, you saw the price for the master cylinder, another example, the centre bearing housing for the drive shaft is near enough to AUD$400 wholesale and if you wanted to buy new the body moulds that will cost over AUD$2000. Some parts like some of the rubber mouldings can be reasonably priced though.

Having said that other parts have been discontinued to, a while ago I was after a switch blank for the dash and was lucky enough to get one from another dealer that had one elsewhere in the country, they weren't available anymore. Also the rubber moulding (the part that sits beneath the chrome surround) for the blinker surrounds aren't available anymore yet the one for the bonnet is.

SO if you can keep an inventory of your own parts it would be worth it

Cheers

[Netopia]

If you have no petal at all it your power brake booster.
That control's your pressure of your petal

[MazMate]

Well I replaced the master cylinder, bled the lines and took the car for a test run. I do have brakes again, but there's still an issue there somewhere, for the brakes to be really effective I have to pump the pedal a couple of times. It will stop quite well if I don't pump the pedal, it just means I have to push the pedal to the floor, which is obviously not very good.

Thanks for your input Netopia, but I'm thinking that the power booster is OK considering I still have brakes. The pressure will most likely need to be checked though, which could have some significant bearing on the whole thing.

Do they make a seal kit for the master cylinder for the HC at all? Coz I spoke to the Mazda dealer and they don't have any such thing on record.

Any other ideas anyone?

Again, thanks for any help you can offer.

Cheers,
Big Al