hard brake peddle

[easylife]

hi all great site can any body help the brake peddle on my 190 suddenly went rock hard , i got told it was the pump on the end of alternator so got a brand new one but it still rock hard

[Hairylex]

hi my last van did this too.
make sure you havenot crossed the lines to the pump on the back of the alternator and cheack for leaks in the hoses.
ALEX

[Nighthawk]

did you look at the condition of the drive splines on the altenator?

It was common to find the spines on both the alt and vacuum pump to be worn smooth.

You can check if you have vacuum assistance by putting your finger over the end of the servo pipe with the engine running.

[easylife]

i replaced the alternator with a brand new one at the same time as the pump, is it the little pipe on the sevo that i check for vacumn

[Nighthawk]

aye, the black plastic one goes from the vacuum pump up to the brake servo unit.

The metal braided pipe is the oil feed from the engine to the vacuum pump.

[FredTransit]

Have you checked that the servo pipe is firmly in the servo? Had a hard pedal on of ours, perpared myself for a new servo (and therefore brake master,a s to replace with a Mk3 you have to do both). Turned out the pipe had come out of the servo!

[easylife]

checked the servo pipe and it ok think it could be the seal between the pump and alternator

[Nighthawk]

If the seal between the vac pump and the altenator was defective, you'd know by now as it would be dripping oil while the engines running.

Did you start the engine and check for vacuum at the pipe?
If you had it sucking on your finger the pump is OK and the problem lies with either a defective servo or 1 way valve in the pipe.

If this were mine, I would get in the van and with the engine OFF, press the brake pedal 5 or 6 times and on the last press keep your foot ON the pedal.

With your foot firmly on the pedal, start the engine and vacuum should build almost instantly and the increased assistance will allow the pedal to be pressed down further.

Are you sure you removed all the sealing bungs from the new vacuum pump? i've looked at a few over the years where people have left the bung in the oil return pipe and fitted the rubber hose. No oil flow through the pump =No vacuum.

[easylife]

did the brake test pressing it like it said in book checked the vacumn from the pipe it sucking just not much though ,did not look if any bungs in oil pipe .i not got any leaks of oil any where it driving me round the twist it going in the garage tommorrow see if they can find fault thanks for all your help when i find what the problem is will let you know.

[easylife]

found the problem the oil pipe was kinked

[Nighthawk]

Nice one, was it always kinked and it's cost you a pump or altenator ?

[easylife]

cost me about eighty pound of ebay for pump and alternator thanks for the help every one