paultelfer Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 My van is just 4 years old (Bessacarr) and on a 2006 Mk2 base 2.3 engine. It has just failed it's MOT due to the rear wheel cylinders not working to the standard expected. The van has done 15400 miles since birth and she is used every week and never laid up. I am surprised that the cylinders need to be replaced on a van this age. I have told the garage to go ahead and fix it as I need the MOT certificate before we go over to France next week. I have also asked the garage to keep the old cylinders for me to take the matter up with Fiat UK as I am not very happy! Paul T :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 Hopefully your repairer will be able to confirm that it is not a problem with the wheel cylinders but more likely the hand brake cables. If it was indeed the cylinders that had restricted movement you would be able to see them leaking. In any case, 4 years is not unreasonable for wheel cylinders at whatever mileage, because it is the age of the rubber seals as much as the use that they have had that counts. Fiat will not be the slightest bit interested, of course. At least none of these parts are expensive, all are available after-market and are quick and easy to replace. Much easier and cheaper than those of a Ford especially. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Newell Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 At 15400 miles over 4 years your motorhome has only averaged 3850 miles per year, so it must spend a fair time doing nothing very much. Wheel cylinder seals can fail because of lack of use, over use or contamination. however it might just need the brake drums cleaning out and shoes adjusting to acchieve the required braking effort. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 Mine has just failed as well on parking brake inefficiency. It is a tag axle on an Al-Ko chassis and it was both offside linkages that stiffened up. It has disc brakes all round and one of the pads had not been operating properly as well but no leaks anywhere. I have put mine down to traffic muck causing it to stick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Newell Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 While you might expect a tag axle handbrake to outperform a standard single rear axle handbrake the opposite is often true. Tag axle handbrakes are notoriously difficult to setup correctly for even application of parking brake effort, something akin to the old rod and cable brakes that preceded hydraulics. This is compounded with rear discs as they require higher clamping force compared to drums and shoes which have a much bigger surface are to work with. Its also difficult to test them accurately as you can only get one axle at a time onto the testing rollers which leads to unequal weight distribution between the two rear axles. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 Both my wheel cylinders on the 02/06 model failed within 3 years and under 15K miles. They siezed up due to corrosion of the bores. Fiat did not want to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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