Brakes gone soft?

[Wimbledonian]

Hi all,

Our Altea's just over a year old and not reached 10,000 mile yet, but we're noticing the brakes have started to get a bit spongey - there's now a lot of travel in the pedal without much increased bite. And if you sit with the engine running and pump the brake pedal there's a whoosing air sound like it's a bellows, but when the ignition's off the pedal becomes really tight again.

I guess we need to take it to the dealers to bleed, and I'm guessing it's just wear and tear and won't come in under warranty. Is it just that, or do you think there may be a fault? There's no sign of brake fluid leaking, although the header is somewhat depleted.

 

[Dandle]

Sounds like your brake servo has developed a leak. Take it straight back to your dealer to get it fixed.

 

[Wimbledonian]

Thanks for that. Googling servo fault indeed seems to match what I'm getting.

 

[CrispDust]

sounds like a possible servo leak but if servo is leaking then brakes will be stiff and hard to apply all of the time as there is no or reduced vacuum assistance. Spongy/ long travel indicates lack of fluid, air in system (caused by lack of fluid) or something else leaking.
Basics - check fluid level in brake reservoir. Check thickness of pads. Do an emergency stop at low speed on a very clear safe rod and check if ABS light flases on.
Check you have no drips on your drive which could be brakefluid. It is not unknown for the rigid pipes or flexi hoses to leak on any car.

 

[CrispDust]

sounds like a possible servo leak but if servo is leaking then brakes will be stiff and hard to apply all of the time as there is no or reduced vacuum assistance. Spongy/ long travel indicates lack of fluid, air in system (caused by lack of fluid) or something else leaking.
Basics - check fluid level in brake reservoir. Check thickness of pads. Do an emergency stop at low speed on a very clear safe rod and check if ABS light flases on.
Check you have no drips on your drive which could be brakefluid. It is not unknown for the rigid pipes or flexi hoses to leak on any car.

 

[Wimbledonian]

Update: Dealer checked out but couldn't find any problem. Showed that all cars will have air hissing from brake pedal if pumped repeatedly. So, probably things bedding in as expected. No charge, and they gave the car a bit of a clean too.

 

[CrispDust]

Do you still have long travel/spongey? If so that needs checking. Try an independent. Dealers are sometimes useless at these things if the "computer says no", the techies (rather than mechanics/engineers) will give up.

 

[Keir]

I've got this as well. I pads and disc's look fine but you have to apply more pressure to the pedal for the brakes to really do anything worth while, they've started squealing when stopping also.