ah yes, that instant adrenalin rush when you go for the brakes, usually doing the most mundane of manoeuvres, and they are not there !. Respect for this gents openness just to give salutary reminder to us all.
Hi Dave so glad you didnt have a serious accident , and very sound advice you gave regarding the brakes.Even though i did have a chuckle i remember this happening to me in my E-type, after fitting Classic fabs long s/s exhaust.The heat generated from the exhaust manifold pipes caused the safety return valve to stick shut in the servo and the only fix to me was to dismantle and regrease(red rubber) and then fitted the Fosseway exhaust heat sheilding.Seems this problem only afflicts LHD cars as the exhaust is too close to the brake servo. In my case the brakes locked on and made the car very difficult to move,but they did free up enough for me to get home.NB Classicfabs manifold is long gone.Happy motoring ..Nick near Munich
Nick, Thanks very much for you comments and your experience there seems to be quite a few of us. 🤔 I have classic fabs exhaust systems on both my e type and XK and i think they sound great and are beautifully made. I know the heat shield you mean but Jimmy from Classicfabs supplied one with the kit. I have to say they fit together far better than any other exhaust I have ever come across. I hope this near miss will just raise our thoughts on safety and make us stop and think for a second before driving off. It certainly has for me! Cheers Dave
I had a similar problem on my LHD E Type. The brakes would alternately stick on then not work. The cause was the vacuum valve on the servo sticking due the exhaust heat. Luckily it was on the first E Type round Britain run for Prostate Cancer organised by the club and the SNG Barrett lads were on hand to help me sort it.
Some one else mentioned this same kind of situation with servos in the comments. I remember the prostate cancer tour with the E Type club run by Phillip Porter press. A very worthy cause indeed. I know from my own treatment if you catch it early it very treatable. Cheers Dave
Crikey Dave you were bloody lucky! I had something similar happen to me in my E Type but I was driving on the road and the brake fluid boiled whilst I was on mountain roads with shear drops. No brakes via the pedal but the handbrake worked and some nifty gear changing got me roughly to a halt. Gets the heart rate up doesn’t it 😉
Alan, Thanks for sharing what happened to your car. I had a feeling there would be quite a few of us who have experienced some kind of brake failure at some point and hopefully this reinforces to us all to just check before moving off. 😉Cheers Dave
Never has your saying been so apt. “Stay safe, keep the faith and be good to your cars. (Slight amendments) So glad you were ok and the car didn’t collide with anything.
What is really annoying is check the brakes for me is a standard or automatic thing I do. Not doing a check due to time pressure bit me in the arse on this occasion. From the feedback I‘m getting this is a more common occurrence than you might imagine. Cheers Dave
@@ClassicCarCave I did a kind of similar thing back in the day with my first car. Decided to play with the carb on my Vauxhall Chevette (I know a British classic 😂) not to be confused with a Chevy. Anyway whilst tinkering I thought I’d quickly nip off for a test drive and in my haste forgot to close the bonnet completely. Down the road I went it sounded better than it had before and then BANG, the bonnet whipped up and hit the roof just above my windscreen. God did I jump. I was so lucky that it didn’t damage the screen or the roof. I got out and secured the bonnet closed. Never rushed to test drive a car since. Always conscious to close the bonnet properly from then on. You live and learn.
I did the same thing with my Mk2 the driveway is a 8% grade I tried to stop but no brakes. There are guardrails on both sides of the driveway and some how I managed to miss them and coast into the field just missing a piece of antique farm equipment. Upon investigating the failure it was the seals I used to rebuild the master cylinder that I purchased from XKs. The almost new seal on the piston was hard as a rock and broke into pieces. I purchased a brand new master cylinder and I’ll never rebuild one again it’s just not worth it. Glad all is well cheers 🍻 John
John, Thanks for telling us about your experience with brake failure as it probably happens more often than we like to think. Like you when it comes to breaks i will not use seal kits even if the bore looks good. To me brakes & steering are two systems you can‘t afford to lose or be messed around with if you're not experienced with them. Not something I want to experience again 🤔Cheers Dave
@@ClassicCarCave Dave the scariest thing is how fast it happens the realization the brakes are gone is instantaneous and you’re off to the races and it happened in seconds and how far you can travel.
Thanks for video. Happened to me after fitting brake pads took it off the ramp without pumping pedal. Luck was with me and I managed to pump very quickly to get a pedal... GN
We always use wheel chocks when cars on the ramp and as a matter of course dab the brakes.This time I nearly paid for not doing this simple check of the brake system 🤔 lesson learned the hard way. Cheers Dave
Glad you and the car are ok, an excellent reminder not to take the brakes for granted. Check & check again
Brendan, Thanks, It just shows that being in a rush can push you in to a bad decision or outcome. Cheers Dave
ah yes, that instant adrenalin rush when you go for the brakes, usually doing the most mundane of manoeuvres, and they are not there !.
Respect for this gents openness just to give salutary reminder to us all.
Thank you very much it‘s kind of you to say! I just wanted to pass on my experience and hopefully alert other people watching. Cheers Dave
Wow - narrow escape - good that you made it to tell the story.
Raj, Very much so but it all happened so quickly. Cheers Dave
Hi Dave so glad you didnt have a serious accident , and very sound advice you gave regarding the brakes.Even though i did have a chuckle i remember this happening to me in my E-type, after fitting Classic fabs long s/s exhaust.The heat generated from the exhaust manifold pipes caused the safety return valve to stick shut in the servo and the only fix to me was to dismantle and regrease(red rubber) and then fitted the Fosseway exhaust heat sheilding.Seems this problem only afflicts LHD cars as the exhaust is too close to the brake servo.
In my case the brakes locked on and made the car very difficult to move,but they did free up enough for me to get home.NB Classicfabs manifold is long gone.Happy motoring ..Nick near Munich
Nick, Thanks very much for you comments and your experience there seems to be quite a few of us. 🤔 I have classic fabs exhaust systems on both my e type and XK and i think they sound great and are beautifully made. I know the heat shield you mean but Jimmy from Classicfabs supplied one with the kit. I have to say they fit together far better than any other exhaust I have ever come across. I hope this near miss will just raise our thoughts on safety and make us stop and think for a second before driving off. It certainly has for me! Cheers Dave
I had a similar problem on my LHD E Type. The brakes would alternately stick on then not work. The cause was the vacuum valve on the servo sticking due the exhaust heat. Luckily it was on the first E Type round Britain run for Prostate Cancer organised by the club and the SNG Barrett lads were on hand to help me sort it.
Some one else mentioned this same kind of situation with servos in the comments. I remember the prostate cancer tour with the E Type club run by Phillip Porter press. A very worthy cause indeed. I know from my own treatment if you catch it early it very treatable. Cheers Dave
Crikey Dave you were bloody lucky! I had something similar happen to me in my E Type but I was driving on the road and the brake fluid boiled whilst I was on mountain roads with shear drops. No brakes via the pedal but the handbrake worked and some nifty gear changing got me roughly to a halt. Gets the heart rate up doesn’t it 😉
Alan, Thanks for sharing what happened to your car. I had a feeling there would be quite a few of us who have experienced some kind of brake failure at some point and hopefully this reinforces to us all to just check before moving off. 😉Cheers Dave
Phew ! But l bet you could smell the fear ! We've all been there Dave.
John, I suffer with high blood pressure anyway and I certainly didn't need the experience to blow it off the scale. Cheers Dave
Never has your saying been so apt. “Stay safe, keep the faith and be good to your cars. (Slight amendments) So glad you were ok and the car didn’t collide with anything.
What is really annoying is check the brakes for me is a standard or automatic thing I do. Not doing a check due to time pressure bit me in the arse on this occasion. From the feedback I‘m getting this is a more common occurrence than you might imagine. Cheers Dave
@@ClassicCarCave I did a kind of similar thing back in the day with my first car. Decided to play with the carb on my Vauxhall Chevette (I know a British classic 😂) not to be confused with a Chevy. Anyway whilst tinkering I thought I’d quickly nip off for a test drive and in my haste forgot to close the bonnet completely. Down the road I went it sounded better than it had before and then BANG, the bonnet whipped up and hit the roof just above my windscreen. God did I jump. I was so lucky that it didn’t damage the screen or the roof. I got out and secured the bonnet closed. Never rushed to test drive a car since. Always conscious to close the bonnet properly from then on. You live and learn.
Very true! You defiantly learn from mistakes hopefully there not expensive ones. Cheers Dave
Lucky , it would be a shame to have the jag damaged.
Steve, It all happened so quickly a bit like motor racing a split second can be the difference between luck or disaster. Cheers Dave
I did the same thing with my Mk2 the driveway is a 8% grade I tried to stop but no brakes. There are guardrails on both sides of the driveway and some how I managed to miss them and coast into the field just missing a piece of antique farm equipment. Upon investigating the failure it was the seals I used to rebuild the master cylinder that I purchased from XKs. The almost new seal on the piston was hard as a rock and broke into pieces. I purchased a brand new master cylinder and I’ll never rebuild one again it’s just not worth it.
Glad all is well cheers 🍻 John
John, Thanks for telling us about your experience with brake failure as it probably happens more often than we like to think. Like you when it comes to breaks i will not use seal kits even if the bore looks good. To me brakes & steering are two systems you can‘t afford to lose or be messed around with if you're not experienced with them. Not something I want to experience again 🤔Cheers Dave
@@ClassicCarCave Dave the scariest thing is how fast it happens the realization the brakes are gone is instantaneous and you’re off to the races and it happened in seconds and how far you can travel.
John, It was over in a flash but it seemed a lot longer at the time. Cheers Dave
@@ClassicCarCave I agree and it took far longer to recover
Wise words Dave glad you and the car are ok
David, Thanks, Pure luck I didn't hit anything with the car 🤔 Cheers Dave
Thanks for video. Happened to me after fitting brake pads took it off the ramp without pumping pedal. Luck was with me and I managed to pump very quickly to get a pedal... GN
Thanks for your comments. It‘s a horrible feeling when you realise your car is out of control and a few seconds seem like minutes. Cheers Dave
Uups, that must have been scary...Lucky you and the car are OK! ❤
Jukka, It was just a few seconds but seemed longer when it happened. As you say no harm done thankfully. Cheers Dave
Scary! Might want to think about a rubber speed bump at the entrance. Amazing how the momentum builds up on a decline...
We always use wheel chocks when cars on the ramp and as a matter of course dab the brakes.This time I nearly paid for not
doing this simple check of the brake system 🤔 lesson learned the hard way. Cheers Dave
Could it be you have the hoses the wrong way around on the vacuum tank ?
Gary, Not according to the XK bible but I have had a WhatsApp call with David In DC and we have a plan to change the servo out. Cheers Dave
@@ClassicCarCave you simply test it by sucking in the valve, just a thought
Gary, I will check it out but I have a few other projects to finish up before next weekend. Cheers Dave