Mushy Brakes

[geeves]

The rears were done for me about 18 months ago including re sleeved pistons One caliper had to be replaced as the handbrake mechanism was caput. The only work done to the fronts has been the locating bolts / sleeves although I still have the rest of the kit. 18 years and 200k from original seals in the front isnt 2 bad. The wof man described my handbrake as marginal at the last wof but he didnt know the truth about isuzu handbrakes Its working as well now as its ever worked in my 10 years of ownership

[JustinW]

Put another caliper on the back last night. It now stops from 50k in just over it's own length.

[adam]

you mean with your handbrake ?

(you put larger calipers on both rears ?)

My old man put a shitload of Inox down the handbrake cable while i pulled the handbrake on/off working the lube through the sleeve, and it's improved it out of sight, it actually holds the car on a steep hill by itself.

Still not perfect though, so if it had larger calipers that may help.

Can you give me any more any more information on what you have done to fix it ?

[geeves]

Justins has a separate drum inside the disk for the handbrake which is realy the only way to get a decent handbrake but it makes 15 inch rims a major task.
If you have the disk only set up like the rest of us then the cable is one of the main killers as you have found out. I found that a trip to the wreckers and cutting the clutch cable boots out of Nissan sunnys or pulsars gives you 4 new boots for the cable which means the relubed cable stays good. You still need to put cable ties round the ends. Otherwise makeing sure the slides work and hopeing the caliper auto adjust works is about all you can do.
If you do seriously want to change calipers look at the front ones off a Subaru. For some strange reason there handbrake is on the front. Expect engineering work to fit them and low volume cert

[JustinW]

That stopping distance is putting foot on brake hard. It used to sit there and think about it for a few minutes to a few hours before actually stopping. A little bit disconcerting, but still got a WOF.

Not quite that good with the handbrake.

[wizbru]

I have a similar problem - Vehicle slows down ok with normal braking but doesn't like stopping in emergency situations.

New pads all round and just had discs resurfaced.

Brake comp said vacuum pump not performing too good at idle.

any ideas???

BTW Was wondering if someone could connect their boost gauge to the booster vacuum line and see what their's pulls at idle and if it increases when revving.

Also manuals say that there should be a non return valve in vac line mine doesn't - does anyone's?

[JustinW]

I haven't seen a non return valve between the vaccuum pump and the brake booster on a Isizu yet, and I've looked at a few of them. As for pump performance you can empty the brake booster of vaccuum (if thats the right way to express what I mean) fairly quickly. At idle the pump doesn't recharge it very quickly. You usually need to have some revs.
As for the stopping, I would try taking the slide pins out and see if they are free. You should be able to get to these without taking the calipers off.

[nig]

justinw said:

I haven't seen a non return valve between the vaccuum pump and the brake booster on a Isizu yet.....

I know there is one in my diesel Rodeo's vaccum line because it held its vacuum when I disconnected it from the booster when I was hooking up a cruise-control.
According to my workshop manual a genuine replacement vaccum hose has a label on it showing direction of flow and the check-valve is near the label (about 50mm before the booster). I have found the label but I cant read it as it has faded.
I have also found my brakes are good for one or 2 applications withou the engine running, whereas my previous petrol Rodeo's brakes did not want to work at all without the engine running