XH Brakes.. FIXED ..!!!

[vanJack 43]

So ….. after all the searching on-line looking for a fix for the unbelievably crap brakes that is el/xh..  and two very expensive "repairs" by a "reputable" mechanical establishment.. resulting in the same crap brakes as before.. (I had to plan ahead to be sure of enough braking distance).. I sent a mayday to my brother in law who had just set himself up in his own business in Toowoomba..  seriously my old xf van would s#!t on the xh van for braking ability, and it had totally standard brakes..  

Soo... once again.. an expensive couple of visits to the car doctor.. (there was a heap of other stuff to fix as well, a new exhaust system included), and still crap.. there was a hesitation between foot on pedal and actual braking response..  and I'm like wtf.. seriously pissed off..! (I nearly rear ended a car on an off ramp when it stopped suddenly in front of me, saved by a grass verge run off area).

Again sooo… I'm on the dog and bone big time pissed off whinging to my "Bro", he says "hesitation hey?" " I think I know what's wrong, bring it back to me, I think I know how to fix it'.. 

After all the money my misses was NOT sharing my passion for fixing the van AGAIN.. but I thought maybe he's onto something.. so I took it back to him..

Weeeell…. what a difference.. ladies and gentlemen.. we have brakes!!!!! Good brakes, that work.. FINALLY!!

 

And what did he change ? THE BOOSTER.. as per the photo.. It's a AU series 3, 9 inch dual diaphragm METAL, not s#!t plastic.. booster. That's right folks, all that effort to fix xh brakes and the real go to fix area is the crap flexing under pressure 8 inch plastic booster. Why o why Ford..? No prizes for guessing why they changed back to a decent sized metal job, but it took them till series 3 AU to do it.

(I think.. series 1 and 2 were plastic 8 inch weren't they?)

Anyway, apparently the fire wall is the same or similar enough up to that seam for the series 3 booster to bolt on, but the seam itself requires a little surgery as per the pic and the install requires an Engineer Certification plate. (Forgot to take that photo).

Now.. to just get rid of that damn annoying hand brake dragging noise, and fix the hand brake light and it would  all be sweet.

 

                                                                                                       

[gerg 10,871]

I had that exact thing happen to me with my EF, except it happened suddenly on the way home from work. I too had to swerve off onto a grass median strip (very lucky to be on the main drag into Mt Druitt) and promptly went straight to the wreckers to see if they had any. Sure enough, plenty on the shelf as they're a fast mover. They said the boosters like to crack from the pushrod hole outwards and leak all their vacuum out.

Sure as shit when I pulled mine out, it was cracked exactly right there.

Sent from my CPH1903 using Tapatalk

[vanJack 43]

Not nice feeling avoiding car in front by steering reflex.. So you just replaced like with like..?

[gerg 10,871]

Not nice feeling avoiding car in front by steering reflex.. So you just replaced like with like..?

Yeah there wasn't a regular fix back then. We're talking nearly 15 years ago when AUs weren't exactly crowding out the wreckers.

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[macman 774]

I've also had a friends EF Falcon's brake booster fail. Luckily at slow speed in a carpark. Plastic brake booster housing had split.

 

AU series 2 onwards have the metal brake boosters FYI. Good upgrade as opposed to fitting another good plastic one. Interesting to hear it's a relatively straight forward modification to instal.

 

Glad you've got to the bottom of it and can enjoy (safely) driving your XH again.

[vanJack 43]

Ok.. thanks for the clarification macman. Yes.. good to have it sorted. It's a totally different pedal now, just light pressure and the brakes actually work.

Thought folks here would appreciate it.