Mini brakes silly season continues.

[InimiaD]

The front brakes on my standard MK2 have been playing up recently. They were pulling to the left, then the right, then back to left and so on.

After checking the cylinders one of the nearside ones had sprung a leak. No problem, whack a new one in, bleed the system and away to go. NOT.
The brakes were pulling to the left even more severely and the brakes on the off side were locking on.
After checking the cylinders on the off side again I found another leaky cylinder which wasn't
leaking 2 weeks ago.
After whacking in a new cylinder I tried bleeding the brakes, using an Ezibleed and sod all came out of the bleed nipple.
When I pressed the brake pedal with the nipple open there was a pathetic trickle.

After experiencing a weird clutch problem a few years ago which resulted in me changing everything except the flexi hose, which had disintegrated internally and was blocking fluid movement, sometimes.
New braided hose and problem solved.

Back to the front brakes, and this is the crap which I found in the cylinder which is fed by the flexi hose.



The crap is bits of rubber more than likely from the internals of the flexi hose.
Normally, when you crack open a brake union, fluid pours forth. Not from this hose. It must be completely blocked up with rotten rubber.

Lesson to be learnt here. Although externally the hose looks good, the internals are shot to bits.

[Lord Croker]

I've had the same kind of thing happen on my Mini & a few others over the years, about 10 years ago I started fitting braided type flexi hoses, never had any problem of that kind since doing that. I hope this Mini brakes silly season doesn't go on too long, mine is due for MOT next month!

[Lord Croker]

I guess this is a little off topic, but I was preparing a 1935 Morris 10/4 for MOT yesterday morning, it had a severe pull to the left when braking. I was concerned it may be a flexi hose problem, (such parts take time to find!) but it turned out to be no more than sticking pistons in the front brake cylinders, The front brake set-up is like an enormous single leading shoe Mini front brake turned through 90 degrees, beautifully made, with cast alloy brake shoes. Hopefully this will put an end to the braking silly season when it goes for MOT later this week. Sorry to go off topic a bit, but I thought Mini owners would like to see what is essentially an important part part of Morris heritage.

[InimiaD]

That's a sturdy looking brake set up considering it's nearly 80 years old. Parts must be a bit thin on the ground now.

I put a new flexi hose on to replace the suspect one and the jobs a goodun. The brakes are nearly back to normal.

I cut the old flexi hose up today and as expected the inner section has collapsed in on itself. I couldn't even pass some stiff wire through it such was the blockage.

[Lord Croker]

Yet again another example of the reason I only fit braided hoses, they are a little inconvenient at times because you can't use clamps on them, but overall, I'd say they're worth that for their long service life & slightly better feel to the brake pedal. I imagine there is some point at which they need replacing, but the ones fitted to my own Mini have been there for over 10 years, I just keep them clean & check for any dampness or damage to the braiding & all seems to be well.
The Morris 10/4 with it's very sturdy brakes flew through the MOT, it is actually 80 years old, it's what they call a pre-series model built in 1932.