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[terry paget]

2003 3.2 manual ex-police saloon
I have owned this car for 12 years. The brake pedal travel before biting has steadily grown over the years. I suspect master cylinder bore wear, and have retained a spare from a scrapped car for this reason. Daughter has just brought this car home to return to London in the 2008 Astra. Even after 2 yearly brake fluid changes pedal travel has not decreased. 
Haynes rates this job a 4 spanner job, and says it needs a new O-ring and new grommets, are these really essential? Is it really a difficult job?

[Nick W]

Worst bit of the job is bleeding the brakes afterwards. And that can be done with the car on its wheels, so is hardly difficult.


Personally, I'd buy a new cylinder rather than fit a used one. That does add swapping the reservoir over to the job.

[biggriffin]

Worst bit of the job is bleeding the brakes afterwards. And that can be done with the car on its wheels, so is hardly difficult.


Personally, I'd buy a new cylinder rather than fit a used one. That does add swapping the reservoir over to the job.

.

As Nick says fit a NEW cylinder I'll say that again in case Terry doesn't hear, Fit NEW, it's your daughter who is driving it.... You might be able to buy new seals.  But fit new it's brakes....

[terry paget]

The old prae master cylinder doesn't work at all! I guess I must buy new - could not be anything else wrong, could it? Have bled the brakes twice, but pedal still goes to the floor.

[Nick W]

The old prae master cylinder doesn't work at all! I guess I must buy new - could not be anything else wrong, could it? Have bled the brakes twice, but pedal still goes to the floor.

how about some proper fault finding?
Disconnect the brake pipes from the M/C.
Screw a bleed nipple in each hole, and check that fluid come out of each.


Then buy a new cylinder, they're about £20 on Ebay

[terry paget]

The old prae master cylinder doesn't work at all! I guess I must buy new - could not be anything else wrong, could it? Have bled the brakes twice, but pedal still goes to the floor.

how about some proper fault finding?
Disconnect the brake pipes from the M/C.
Screw a bleed nipple in each hole, and check that fluid come out of each.


Then buy a new cylinder, they're about £20 on Ebay

Thanks, will do. I presume all bleed nipples have the same thread, will buy a couple. Will report back.

[biggriffin]

The old prae master cylinder doesn't work at all! I guess I must buy new - could not be anything else wrong, could it? Have bled the brakes twice, but pedal still goes to the floor.

how about some proper fault finding?
Disconnect the brake pipes from the M/C.
Screw a bleed nipple in each hole, and check that fluid come out of each.


Then buy a new cylinder, they're about £20 on Ebay

For £20, why bother faffing about.

[Andy B]

....
Then buy a new cylinder, they're about £20 on Ebay

There are a couple of master cylinders on eBay sub £20 (no idea if Omega A/Carlton or Omega B) but would you really want to fit a £20 master cylinder to a car you or your family is going to drive? Most seem to be in the region of £50/£60 and I dare say a dealer price is some what more.

[terry paget]

I see new master cylinders for Omega A for £18, or used ones for Omega B around £20, but I have just fitted a used one and it don't work. New ones for Omega B are £60 plus. If you can find a new one for Omega B for £20 I should be grateful.

[terry paget]

The old prae master cylinder doesn't work at all! I guess I must buy new - could not be anything else wrong, could it? Have bled the brakes twice, but pedal still goes to the floor.

how about some proper fault finding?
Disconnect the brake pipes from the M/C.
Screw a bleed nipple in each hole, and check that fluid come out of each.


Then buy a new cylinder, they're about £20 on Ebay

My thanks to Nick and others for advice. This morning I failed to find anyone open selling bleed nipples. I removed both output pipes from the master cylinder, and brake fluid trickled out of both. Oh good.

SWMBO pointed out that this car had major rust welding 2 years ago, scraped through MOT last year, and is expected to fail terminally this July, so is not worthy of much expenditure. This morning I replaced the original master cylinder, using the original grommets and servo O-ring, and the foot brake now works fine.