Spongy brakes after Cleaning pads.

[BarringtonL]

Its the first time i have checked the brake pads on my recently accuired '02 Ford Galaxy TDI .
I followed the Haynes manual, and jacked it up removed front wheels and took apart the calipers to measure and clean the brake pads.

It took me ages as there was a lot of crust etc to clean away and i have never done it before.

I put the wheels back on and drove off and immediatly noticed the brakes were very spongy.

Having searched online for the reason why, its seems it could be air in the system. Only thing is i didn't change the pads, i only cleaned and put the old ones back. I didn't push the piston in the caliper back at all as i didn't need to.

Could it be air? if so how did it happen?

The only other explanation i have read is that it could be that i but the caliper retainer clips back on incorrectly, i thought i had done them properly but will have to check.

Annoyingly as i have crap on street parking away form home it isn't the easiest to check, but this is what i will do at the next possible time.

Is there anything else i can check whilst i do this, if the clips are not the culprits?

Thanks

[TheEnd]

How did you clean them?
Maybe you've flattened off some peaks and grooves and it is going to need a bit of driving to bed back to the right "shape" to match the disc.

[BarringtonL]

With brake cleaner, didn't really scrap anything off of the pads, maostly roeund the caliper area. Definetly feels a lot spongier and takes more travel on the pedal to stop.

[trickywoo]

Could be that you have done more harm than good and pushed crud past the dust seals.

If you didn't touch the bleed nipples and no fluid 'escaped' you are highly unlikely to have introduced air to the system.

How worn were the pads?

[BarringtonL]

Not very worn, think they were about 15mm including the backing plate. Which seal do you think i could have pushed crud into?

How annoying, will have to take it to the garage if i can't sort it myself.

[ch427]

are the flexi caliper hoses ok and not kinked?

[BarringtonL]

Thanks, i'll check that aswell. I'm hoping that it is the pad retaining clips, i cant remember them being that hard to put back on, so i may have done them incorrectly. I've ssen a couple of post online where people have done this.

[BarringtonL]

I'm going to have to repack them if not. Wouldn't be so bad if i had a driveway!

[duncancallum]

If the discs are ridged the pads will need to bed in. Go give it a run with a fair bit of light braking to settle them in. They won't of gone back to exactly the same position.

Oh and I need to ask:

You put them back in the right order?

Edited by duncancallum on Thursday 7th November 19:26

[BarringtonL]

duncancallum said:

If the discs are ridged the pads will need to bed in. Go give it a run with a fair bit of light braking to settle them in.

Ah ok, i didn't realise you needed to do this even when you put old pads in.

[BarringtonL]

duncancallum said:

You put them back in the right order?

Edited by duncancallum on Thursday 7th November 19:26

How do you mean?

[Super Slo Mo]

He means each pad going back into the same side of the disk and the same caliper it came out of. If you didn't, the ridges and valleys on the pad and disk won't match, so you might get softer braking for a little while.

You might have contaminated the pads a little with the brake cleaner, a good, hard stop should shift it though.

[BarringtonL]

Right ok, i definetly put them back right. I Was quite liberal with the brake cleaner though


I saw this on another forum:

'I did this dumb mistake and funny enough, found someone else did the exact same mistake. Maybe a common mistake if you've not done a brake job in a while and work on these Volvos.

Check your retaining clips to make sure they are properly clipped to caliper and tensioned. I put one of my retaining clips on wrong and didn't have tension. The caliper would twist during braking and not get all of your pad surface on the rotors.

I had very deep brake pedal travels as well when I had this mistake.'

I know its a Volvo but could be applicable.

[Locknut]

My guess is that one of the pads is not seated correctly (assuming they are in their original positions as suggested above). Unfortunately you will have to open them up again to check. The good side is that you are unlikely to have done any harm and you will not have to buy any new bits.

[BarringtonL]

I'm going to do exactly that at the earliest opportunity. Oh well its all a learning curve, i've learnt since i started tinkering with my car that nothing is ever as simple it seems as first!

[duncancallum]

Where are you? If your near me I'd gladly offer a hand

[BarringtonL]

Im in Norwich, i can see from your profile you are in the North East, thanks for the offer though!

I need a bloody driveway, on street away from home parking is a real problem when it comes to working on your car. Finding myself with driveway envy.

[duncancallum]

North East, how dare you. Lancashire .

[BarringtonL]

duncancallum said:

North East, how dare you. Lancashire .

Ha just ssen this.

For anyone interested i eventually had a chance to get the wheels off and i HAD put the pad retainer clips on wrong!

Its surprising how much of a differnce it makes, the brakes feel fine now.

[Locknut]

Thanks for coming back about this, it's nice to know what happened in the end.