Did a semi emergency braking when I saw a moose at the side of the road. The pedal started firm, then went soft. After, I got a bit of pedal back when pumping, then no brakes at all. Then the low fluid light came on.
I filled up the fluid, and had a little braking when pumped a few times. Managed to get home on the handbrake, and the fluid was empty again.
Had a quick look at the rear drums and rear flexies, and all seems dry. Haven’t had a chance to look at the front yet. All the visible hard lines look good with no corrosion. ABS unit looks dry. Can’t see the master cylinder as it’s hidden away.
But where has all the fluid gone? And why didn`t I still have one circuit working?
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Any white smoke with engine running? If there’s no external fluid leaks , then it could be leaking from the master cylinder into the servo .
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Didn’t notice any, but then I was trying to anticipate the roads on the way home with no brake. lol. But in theory I should still have one circuit left, shouldn’t I?
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>> But in theory I should still have one circuit left,
>> shouldn’t I?
You'd think so, wouldn't you? I'm old enough to remember when dual circuit brakes were hailed as the new, wonder safety mechanism. I'm not up to date with modern stuff, so perhaps with ABS it's no longer considered necessary?
I'd be tempted to park the car somewhere dry, put some fluid in the reservoir, start the engine, firmly apply the brakes several times and see where the puddle appears on the ground.
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Yeah, Its clearly a big one, wont take long to appear.
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I’m just waiting for slightly drier weather, and I’ve a got a litre of fluid. Hopefully I’ll see it coming out somewhere.
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Do the clutch and brake share the hydarulics ?
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If the fluid reservoir is empty, there won’t be any braking effect no matter how many hydraulic circuits there are. Any evidence of fluid under the car if you pump the brakes while stationary?
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Except the pot is divided into 2 parts at the bottom, in theory I guess for each circuit. Yeah, I’ve got some more fluid and will take a better look when its a bit dryer out.
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No, fortunately, old fashioned cable.
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UPDATE: I found the leak! It’s on a short piece of flex thats crimped to the hard line that goes all the way to the front, and up behind the rear wheel arch and over the rear silencer and heat shield, all one piece, and a real awkward location. The (original) exhaust is all one piece, so difficult to remove, and all the brake pipe connections are pretty rusty.
I don’t have a flaring tool, the location is difficult, and everything is rusty, so it’s time for the scrappy, unfortunately.
It’s been in the family since new (2001), with very few problems - a couple of calipers, rear wheels cylinder, crank sensor, a wheel bearing, and a few sets of coils. Even the cambelt has only been changed once, in 2007, so can’t really complain in 25 years and 120k miles.
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Is it not possible to fabricate another pipe and re route it so as you don’t interfere with the exhaust system??
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Couple of things, seems a shame to scrap it for such a minor fault, a decent motor factor will have that on the shelf, secondly considering this place is a motoring forum I'm disappointed by the lack of response to your original post.....
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The line runs from the front to the back, up behind the inner rear arch, and across the boot floor to the centre where it joins the flexi to the rear axle. Its all one piece with no joints. I can’t find any kits or anything to replace a part of it, and they haven’t made the mk1 megane for 25 years, so its unlikely there is anything available.
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Its possible, but I don’t have the tools or facilities, it connects to the rear flexi that goes to the axle, and it doesn’t look like that will come undone, which then means replacing the hard line to the wheel cylinder, and that is unlikely to come undone, so it will need a cylinder as well. It’s all pretty rusty, so I’m not going to spend time on my back under a rusty car fixing one thing after another.
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It’s certainly fixable. Why don’t you ask a garage for a quote? They will have all the required materials and tools to do the job.
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Its time to go, its a lot of pipe fabrication to do, as you say nothing is coming off easy, the bottom is probably waiting to drop out, and the cam belt is probably due to lunch the engine.
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Pretty much sums it up. Had a 1/4 century use out of it, so can’t complain.
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I didn’t make clear, but it’s the crimped in flexible part that’s leaking, so not sure how anyone can repair just that section. It’s hard to get at, and bends over 90°. The pipe that goes to the other side rear brake also has a flexible part in the same place, so probably isnt far behind, certainly once its been yanked about a bit.
Last edited by: Dave on Wed 11 Mar 26 at 18:35
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Renault Megane - 01 1.6 No brakes, then no fluid - carmalade
