Well I think I'm not too bad at car DIY by now, but I've been utterly defeated by an 02 Skoda Octavia's brakes.

Featuring what Yeti calls modern bollocks, the brake system has Electronic Stability Program and Anti-lock Brake System.

Recently I had replaced the clutch hydraulic slave cylinder using a pressure bleeder as the gear-change to reverse was sometimes stiff after a long drive. Front brakes were a bit soft after this. But firmed up after foot pedal bleed.

Test drive to activate ABS assisted emergency stop made me think all fine.

But pads on rear offside inner were worn thin enough to get through MOT but with a strong advisory as disc beginning to score and brake imbalance nearing limit.

So new pads, new discs. Lifted rear of car to be level (drive has a slight slope) and for better access to caliper. Demounted caliper from carrier (did nearside first as was in shade). Could not rewind the piston to clear the new pads and disc -rechecked correct parts; finally clamped the rubber flexi line and removed the caliper. Could not even rewind it off the car in a big vice. Ordered a repair kit and a replacement pattern caliper part. Waited for a day of rain to pass. Managed to get piston out of old caliper, but not back in.

In the meantime over 48 hours about 80ml of brake fluid had leaked past the clamp into a plastic bottle which I'd put to catch any drips post clamp as brake fluid is toxic.

Replaced rear offside disc and pads including caliper rewind process in under 40 mins.

Fitted new disc and pads and new caliper to rear nearside, unclamped brake line. Started the bleeding process using a pressure bleeding system.

Nearside rear just a bit.of fluid came out, offside rear no problems. Pedal still had some travel. Bled nearside front, okay. Offside front, okay.

Checked pressure bleeder topped up and re-inflated Polo car tyre providing the pressure. Got assistant to press pedal while opened and closed the bleed nipple. Extracted some fluid and one small bubble. Firm pedal. Hooray.

Handbrake works. Disconnected pressure bleeder. Lowered car to floor. Started engine, Pedal pulled down by brake servo. All good. Reverse down drive, pedal goes to floor!

Next day I followed the full pre-bleed then bleed sequence from Haynes.4285 manual. Pedal still goes to floor.

No fluid from nearside caliper bleed nipple. Remove nipple and check not blocked. Attached pressure bleeder, remove brake pipe from caliper ... no fluid.

Checked the brake line from ABS unit to caliper with compressed air in case the clamp had blocked it inside. It was clear.

Gave up and got a Skoda garage to tow it away.

They attached the computer driven tools to OBD2 to run the full pre-bleed, then bleed sequence. No fluid to rear caliper for them either. It's not the brake fluid reservoir. It's not the master cylinder seals. It's the ABS unit.

Anyone got a 1J0698417A ?

VAG in the UK have n't.

Edited 15 July, 201412 yr by dvderlm

Should be easy enough to find off a breaker. But yep, I'll refer you to my earlier comment.

Are you certain you managed to get the calipers fully rewound before refitting?

Had to be fully rewound to get over pads and disc (39mm?)

Pattern replacement was fully in anyway. Handbrake lever later moved it against disc so cannot rotate wheel until release handbrake agsin

Offside caliper wound in much easier than the seized. I needed a G-clamp with about 2cm to go. It was so easy in comparison.

Edited 15 July, 201412 yr by dvderlm

What's different between 1J0698417A and a 1J0614417D ?

I had a similar problem when replacing the rear brakes on my Passat, turns out you can get the caliper to fit over the new disc without winding the piston in fully after all

Main problem I had though was my master cylinder being a bit broken, so every now and then when braking a lot, the pedal would go rock solid and feel like the brakes on my breadvan (no servo lol)