I've just had new discs, pads and calipers fitted and bled, so I know these bits are good (the problem was there before these were fitted anyway)

my pedal has far too much travel, i.e. it nearly hits the floor!

if you pump the pedal, it does build up pressure and doesnt drop, pedal feel is then good and the brakes are nice and sharp.

however if i removed my foot from the brake, pressure will drop and my foot will go nearly to the floor again.

Its not using any fluid, so i've ruled out there being any leaks, the rear drums are self adjusting right? I know there is a brake pessure adjuster attached to the rear beam, could these be a possible cause?

The other fault i can think of would be either the master cylinder is pooped or the servo has failed.

when the engine is off, the brake pedal can be pumped up till there is no travel and it will hold. I'm puzzled. I'm thinking master cylinder at the mo, and a couple of other people have suggested that too, but i'm not 100% sure

can anyone give any pointers

Check your hub nuts are tight and also wheel bolts. I had a similar problem and it has the hub nut that was loose. Strange but true.

New pads are known to be spongy but that would be constant till they have bed in. Other than that it would be a master cylinder me thinks.

hub nuts are tight, also had wheel bearings done at the weekend.

I've done just over 100 miles since the new pads and they are normally beeded in by then in my experience, plus the fault was there beforehand.

looks like i will have to sling a new master cylinder on.

I'd start off by stripping down, cleaning up & rebuilding the rear drum assemblies, replacing any worn parts. This is a common cause of excessive pedal travel and is good to do anyway. Then start looking at the master cylinder if the problem is still there.

^ anything on the rear brakes that are obvious to look out for? I've only ever had the drums off to change the wheel bearings, so not that clued up on them!

leaky cylinders, worn out shoes, large lips worn into the drums themselves, seized up adjuster system.

cool. cheers for the heads up

mine were how yours sound, so i bled the front ones, put new cylinders in the rear and then bled them noe there ace!

when you put your foot on the brakes, does the light come on and then go off as your foot goes further down, i think it could be air in the lines related,

how did you bleed the system? eazibleed kit or by hand?

when you put your foot on the brakes, does the light come on and then go off as your foot goes further down, i think it could be air in the lines related,

how did you bleed the system? eazibleed kit or by hand?

eh? havnt noticed any lights going on and off, other than the brake lights which I'm presuming are still working!

system was bled by my mate who works at a garage using a brake bleeding vacuum pump of some sort. he only bled the fronts though

It doesn't sound like the brake fluid has been fully changed then...not that that would give the effect that you are having as the pedal does eventually go hard. But it might be worth doing anyway if it hasn't been done in a while.

As has been said start from the back and work your way forward checking the stuff that the garage did as well.

when i bled my system after replacing all the brake lines, i went round the car three times and although I had really good pedal feel, i would just press the brake pedal gently and the brake lights would flash on and go off again. it took another two goes round the car and finally the brakes were sorted and the lights would stay on all the time.

in my case it was just excess air that was causing a weird pedal feel, the brakes are hard as fook now as theres no servo, but its just the way i like it.

It is possible for the MC seals to perish, but you would most likely notice some fluid loss

one other thing i remembered is that I've fitted vw2 calipers, but have retained vw1 sliders and bolts, due to misplacing the vw2 ones, gonna swap them back when i get home though, as i've managed to find the vw2 bolts

fixed them, twas the rears that needed bleeding