I can't seem to find the total amount needed in the braking system? I don't have a haynes to hand either :(

I believe it's 2 litres

oh haha might have to buy a few more bottles then!

Thanks Mark :)

if youre flushing it you might just about get away with a litre , but if youve had it apart id allow more for getting the air out

5ltrs is only £13 at halfords with a trade card , do your mates cars then hehe

Well i had just planned to perform a bleed because of a spongey pedal, but I dont know how long the fluids been in and have read its a good idea to change it every 2 years so thought I'd possibly renew it if I could. I'll see how the bleeding goes, pending workable nipples (lol) but even if I just chuck this 500ml in and come back in a few weeks time to do a full flush with the rear drums too it will help, hopefully.

yeah I think I went through about 4 bottles when i did my brakes! :)

I bled the fronts, a bit of dirt came out, but no air at all, dropped half the bottle on front passenger, then to minimum on the driver side, then topped back up, not really made much difference to feel, new fluid was a lot cleaner though.

as I said before the front brake lines look quite well, so going to have a poke around on the rear.

is there a brake balance adjuster on these for front and rear?

I have got a bit of negative rake as it stands, but its marginal surely it wouldnt make that much difference?

Simply bleeding the brakes may well NOT be enough to get rid of the spongy pedal.

The question that you need to answer is, "How did the air get in the system in the first place?"

Assuming that the system was bled correctly in the first place, air should not have got in there at all, but if seals on pistons are worn, or there is corroded pipework, perished hoses etc., then air will probably have got in there, even without obvious fluid leak.

With the above in mind, you need to check the complete system - any 'damp' areas being particularly suspect.

The other point is, are you sure that the pedal is in fact 'spongy', as opposed to simply having excessive travel? - The latter can be caused by the auto adjusters on the rear brakes either not working or not working correctly.

What you refer to as a 'brake balance adjuster', is probably the pressure regulator (often referred to as a load sensing valve or variable load valve). This is linked to the rear axle and is intended to prevent the rear wheels from locking up under hard braking.

If your car is equipped with ABS, then the above mentioned valve is NOT fitted.

Regards

Thanks for those points caretaker, great as usual :)

I've yet to get the back end checked out, so will check the adjusters while I'm there. There is travel in the pedal, but after driving other cars my brakes feel totally different, no bite unless I stamp on the pedal.

This is the first time I've come across the problem but the brakes have definately changed feel from when I picked the car up so I do feel like I'm stabbing in the dark at what could be nothing lol.

My car doesnt have ABS so will have a look into that valve.

The total opposite from lots of travel would be for the pedal to feel 'better' than previously, regardless of whether the engine is running or not.

When this happens, it is normally due to the servo not working, and when on the road, the driver then has to press really hard on the pedal to achieve any braking.

Fortunately, the cure for this is not expensive, as it is normally down to the vacuum hose that connects the servo to the inlet manifold on petrol engines having either perished or split.

Regards

Hi mate, don't suppose you happen to know what kind of connector the front brake hoses used when you sorted the brakes out?

Need to get all of mine replaced on Saturday and I've got the banjo type, like this.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-BRAKE-HOSE-FRONT-VW-POLO-6N-6N1-6N2-1-4-1996-01-/371151995412?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&fits=Model%3APolo&hash=item566a620214

Hi Matt, unfortunately I didnt really look in detail at the connection, I just looked them over, any bleeding was done through the bleed nipple, sorry!

No worries, just thought I'd see if you'd noticed.