Brake pedal travel

Gents
406 1.9TD with ABS
I have just replaced the rear cylinders with their fixed brake hoses, front
pads,disks, front flexible hoses and master cylinder.

Before starting I disconnected the battery to protect the ABS. I have bled
the brakes front and back and cannot get any more air out 1.5 litres fluid
used. The pedal is now back to the top of its travel with the engine off.
When the engine is switched on for a few minutes the pedal dips (I would
expect this as the servo starts to operate). Can any one give me any idea
how much pedal travel there should be when the pedal is pressed before it
becomes solid when the engine is running.
Thanks
Mike

 

If you keep your foot on the pedal it will gradually go all the way down
this is because the abs unit will keep recycling the fluid
if it feelsok on the road and stops ok then its probably ok

 

Not sure what the official measurement or travel is,but I would consider 20%
of the total pedal movement as the max,
on the other hand, you could have a perfect braking effort on all wheels,
but 50% travel in the pedal movement,
I think this is what MOT testers would call excessive pedal travel

Fitzy

 

Midwipe

The pedal travel with engine off and vacuum for servo exhausted is .5 inch
taking up mechanical slack There is then another .5 inch of pedal travel
until the pedal is solid. This is what I would expect.
With the engine running the pedal dips about 1 inch when your foot is on the
pedal and the engine started. If you keep pushing the pedal it goes down to
within 1 inch of the floor before being totally solid again. I don't think
this is due to the ABS as you cannot hear or feel it operating. If I brake
with one road wheel on the grass verge at 40 MPH you can feel and hear the
ABS working.

I guess this is OK as I took the car for an MOT yesterday and it passed
without problems. I usually test the brake pedal before switching the engine
on but I don't think I have tested it with the engine running previously. I
am very light on brakes as my rear shoes have done 70K and are still at
3.5mm and I have just changes front pads and disks at 70K and the pads were
not even half warn.

Thanks for all your help I was expecting the pedal to be firm a lot further
up its travel with the engine running.

Mike