Corsa brakes and coolant problems

ricriley

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can help me.

I own a 1998 Vauxhall Corsa SXI. For the last few months I've had a strange problem with the brakes.

It seems that after about 15 minutes of driving (when the discs get hot) the brakes tighten, the brake peddle becomes firm. I can feel the front brakes rubbing.

This sounds like a servo problem but I have check the servo unit and the vacuum is fine. Any ideas?

I have another issue with the coolant. Every month I have to top up my engine coolant, it isn't leaking into my engine I have no white smoke and my oil levels are consistent. I have found a pipe under the bonet that has a 'white power' residue on it, would this be where it is leaking? What else could it be?


Thanks for you help!
Ric

Thunderbird_2

Hi

I will reply to the coolant bit of your post as my mind is a bit occupied at the moment with another vauxhall brake issues, I promise to think about it later, untill then, I hope somebody will offer you their advice.

You say you are topping the coolant up once a month or so. It seems to be a very small leak as small as a pin hole. In ideal world, you will need to replace the defective part, but, in our world ( My world at least) I would use RADWELD to stop the leaking thing. You can get a 250ml bottle from Wilkinson for £3.99 and watch the coolant level. Hopefuly, this will cure it.

Good luck

Conor_3

NEVER EVER EVER EVER use Radweld. It causes more trouble than its worth. It blocks up all the small water galleries and the bypass hole in your thermostat. It also clogs up heater matrixes.

The white residue will be dried out antifreeze so this is where you want to look. Also check the rubber seal on the expansion tank cap (where you top it up).

Regarding the brakes. It could be that the caliper sliders are seized or the bit of the caliper the pads slide in is full of muck. A strip down, clean and grease up with copaslip should cure that. It could also be that there's a fault in the master cylinder preventing the fluid from returning but I'd be checking the calipers are working properly first.

ricriley

Thanks for your replies.

I think it might be one of my calipers. The rubber boot that covers the master piston has perished, I'll replace this and hopefully it'll solve the problem...

I think that the coolent could be easy to solve, just tightening up a hose clip I think. But the clip is a real sod to get at!


Thanks

anewman

ricriley wrote: »

I think that the coolent could be easy to solve, just tightening up a hose clip I think. But the clip is a real sod to get at!

You can get hose clip drivers with a long bendy thing.

E.g. http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_196377_langId_-1_categoryId_71556