205 brake shoe changing/realigning + parcel shelf spares wanted

Hello!

About 6 months ago I had to come to an abrupt stop one day. The brake
warnign light flickered a couple of times and later that day started getting
scratchy noises under braking. Was told the shoes had gone down to the
metal. Had them replaced for 30 quid.

Today I had to do another emergency stop and the brake warning light has
been flickering again (no noticeable problems/sounds from brakes though).

Is it the case that my shoes may have just slipped? Or if I need to fit new
ones - can someone point me towards a guide? As usual, Haynes just says
"Remove the shoe. Refitting is the reversal of removal" without pictures,
handy :|

Also while I'm here I'm still looking for a 205 parcel shelf and one of the
little fixtures that holds them in behind the seats. And both little bits of
string that hold it up - am in London if that helps?

Thanks

 

Turns out it wasnt a false alarm either - can hear juddery noises at
crawling speed :/ Help!

 

I know this might sound silly but have you looked at your brake fluid???
to see if it is low,
from Chris Addlestone Surrey

 

My haynes has diagrams etc so I could scan you the relevent pages, and
its not hard to work out once you have it all apart, but theres two
different kinds of calipers fitted to 205s so you need to know which
ones it has, easily checked by taking the wheel off and looking at them
and comparing against diagrams, they look obviously different. I can
also give you more detailed instructions if you have the same kind as i
do (bendix).

I'd be amazed if you'd worn the pads down in 6 months unless you do
some pretty crazy driving. Check to see that the wear indicator wire
attatched to the front pads hasnt come loose and is connecting with
some other piece of metal.

 

Well I ended up having a look - neither front brake had the wear indicator
cabled up (that is, there is a wire coming down from inside the car with
nothing joined to it). This seems to be a common thing in base model 205's,
where they left the connectors in for features reserved for the higher end
models I guess...

The pads looked brand new btw. But one thing I did notice - when I unscrewed
the brake fluid cap to top it up (still fairly full) it was like the whole
fluid sunk down - as if I was somehow releasing some pressure or trapped
air. So maybe it was that.

But after doing that and poking the pads and reassembling the wheels, its
stopped.

Is ignorance bliss?


:-S

 

Are the end of the wires insulated? If they are just loose that might
be where the problem is, if they contact any part of the metal bodywork
it'll set off the wear indicator light.
But if topping up the brake fluid has (apparently) solved it, it could
be that as well...

 

I've got a 205 i'll be breaking for spares shortly, if you want to come
collect you can have the shelf/fixtures for a couple of quid. The shelf
is light grey, if it matters. Located in Fleet, Hampshire. Email this
address for further details if you're interested, and post here so I
know to fish it out of the spam bin...

 

replied

 

Could be your fluid check the bowl to see if its got any fluid in it .