brake fade

[dinkydimps]

Had a scary experience the other day when approaching a roundabout, applied the brakes which initially worked then applied more pressure and brakes faded to nothing, just managed to stop in time.

Think it might be the servo, I have a warranty which I hope will cover the costs so in accordance with their policy have booked the car in at Halfords for a free brake check.

My car 2.7d s type has only done 78k I wonder if this is a common fault with the model?

[Raistlin]

It is quite a common problem Stuart.

 

The fault is either with the servo or the vacuum pump. Most often the servo though. It becomes contaminated with brake fluid and the seals no longer function correctly.

 

The vacuum builds up but can't maintain itself so repeated use of the brakes without recovery time leads to the situation you describe.

 

There is nothing wrong with the brakes but of course, without servo assistance it takes a lot of effort to haul a car of this weight down to stop.