Rear Brake lights and rear Brakes

[Dazzle]

Hi everyone, Newbie here - this is my first post since getting my Bongo 2 months ago. I have been working on it nearly every day since then and could not have achieved anything without this fabulous forum - maybe I should say your fabulous comments ? Having replaced the rear pads and discs I was in the process of bleeding the braking system when I noticed the brake lights were coming on (illuminating) every time I depressed the brake pedal - and the ignition wasn't on ! Is this correct ? With every other vehicle I have owned the brake lights only work when the ignition is turned on. Admittedly I was doing some electrical work today on my 1995 2.5 Diesel Bongo - fitting a Coolant Low Level Alarm but the point at which I picked up a feed for it had nothing to do with the brake lights.

Sadly that's not the only problem I have and your help would be much appreciated. Having renewed the rear calliper seals the rear pads and discs were fitted without too much trouble. However, after tightening up the Calliper Slider bolts to the correct torque both wheels (especially the N/S) are unbelievably stiff to turn. I appreciate that with discs there can be some slight scuffing but I need a long piece of wood wedged between two wheel bolts to get the wheel to move. The discs I replaced had no anti squeal shims fitted but the new ones came supplied with shims - so I fitted them. I had no trouble fitting the callipers over the pads and there seemed to be sufficient clearance to enable me to do so. It all seemed to 'bind up' once the Slider bolts were torqued up. Can you suggest anything for me to 'double check' please ? Thank you.

[Bob]

Hi, and welcome.

It's normal for Bongo brake lights to come on without ign, be careful when camping and storing 'stuff' in the driver's footwell as they can flatten the battery if not noticed.

Can't help with the calipers I'm afraid.

[Northern Bongolow]

fitting new discs and pads can sometimes/usually make the fluid level too high in the res under the bonnet, check the level isnt over the high mark.

[Dazzle]

Knowing the brake lights come on without the ignition being turned on is good to know Bob - thanks for that.

Northern Bongolow, yes thanks for the timely reminder regarding the Brake fluid level. I have been keeping an eye on the level throughout the pad fitting and bleeding process. When working alone on such things it's surprising just how much 'monitoring' one has to do to make sure nothing goes wrong or gets damaged unknowingly.

Once the Brakes are working ok my next job will be to bleed the Cooling system - not something I'm looking forward to doing for the first time. I was hoping to do it on my own but doing the 'see-saw' action with the funnel in the Bleed Tube, monitoring the Header Tank coolant level, squeezing the Radiator bottom tube and checking it's temperature plus holding the revs at 2500rpm means help will be required !

Once I have the Brakes working I will post the conclusion here.

Many thanks for your views and welcome.

Dazzle

[Bob]

Just idle curiosity, why do you want to bleed the cooling system?

Is it loosing coolant, or another problem?

[Dazzle]

Hi Bob, I'll try and condense my answer as much as possible - I was about to take the Bongo to the welder a few weeks ago and thought I would top up the fuel tank the day before. When I got back and parked on the drive, I noticed an oil slick forming under the O/S of the van. The 'Tee' piece had rusted through and was leaking ATF. Whilst repairing this I noticed a Heater pipe was leaking also right next to the ATF pipe. That too had rusted through and that's why the cooling system had to be drained. Whilst it was in this 'empty' state, I decided to fit a Coolant Low Level Alarm.

Getting back to my original Brake quiery - both rear Calliper Slide Pins were taken off today and aslo the new pads. Slider Pins and Calliper were then reinstated (without Pads) and torqued up to see if the Callipers slid in and out ok. They did. New pads reinstated but this time I screwed in the Slider Pins very slowly and evenly whilst moving the Calliper in and out all the time to see if it got stiff as I tightened the Slide Pins. They didn't. So the Wheels arn't stiff to turn like they did the first time round and I don't know why ? Maybe the Callipers were squed and not at right angles the first time round ? One thing I did change - One Slider Pin each side has a rubber sleeve at one end - the other is just plain. I changed those around so that the rubber sleeved one's are at the bottom fixing on both sides. The Workshop manual doesn't show the rubber sleeve in the diagram or make mention of it in the notes, so I guessed it didn't matter ? Does anyone know what the rubber sleeve is for ?

[TheLongRoad]

The rubbers are just to stop any rattle (vibration) between the caliper and slider. Doesn’t usually matter if they are on top or below. Most cars I’ve worked on have them.

[teenmal]

This might help you..

http://lushprojects.com/bongopartsmk2/c ... mgno=.html


take care

[Dazzle]

The Long Road - thank you for enlightening me about the slider with the rubber grommet. It's good to know I haven't put them in the wrong way round.

Teenmal - I looked at the link and couldn't tell which slider was which. One was labeled 'Lock Pin' - is that the one with the rubber grommet ? Thank you any way.

[TheLongRoad]

Think I read that the one with the sleeve goes on the trailing edge so it depends on caliper orientation on the hub. Cars I’ve had that have been main dealer serviced have had them fitted in either position- so I don’t think it matters. Make sure they’re well greased with the correct grease as these are the pins that tend to seize in.

[teenmal]

The Long Road - thank you for enlightening me about the slider with the rubber grommet. It's good to know I haven't put them in the wrong way round.

Teenmal - I looked at the link and couldn't tell which slider was which. One was labeled 'Lock Pin' - is that the one with the rubber grommet ? Thank you any way.

They are both Guide Pins and should be fitted with a rubber boot/protector as in the drawing, you can get guide pin kits on Ebay.

take care

[Dazzle]

Bongolia - All noted regarding the 'greasing of Slide Pins'. Yes, I found on dissassembly both calliper slide pins were almost devoid of grease and what was there was very old and tended to give the Callipers a tendancy to be very sluggish. The new Callipers seals came with the red rubber grease for assembly and also a sachet of silicon grease specifically for the Slide Pins.

Teenmal - I was looking at the Slide Pins on the link which are identical. Having viewed the link again, the Bush (10) is shown separately adjacent the upper rubber concertina thingy. Typically I fitted mine to the lower one - but it seems to work ok ?

Thanks

[TheLongRoad]

In the diagram that Teeminal provided the little sleeve is fitted to the top or ‘trailing’ pin. The disc will rotated anti clockwise in that diagram as per the arrow for ‘front’ of vehicle. That would make the top the trailing pin.