[Brakes] Brake/Servo/vacuum issue

[bhcalcutta2]

1.6 HDi van.
Occasionally when I brake, it feels as if the servo isn't there, yet if I let off and brake again immediately all is good. So, a few questions;

i) Is this a sign of the servo failing?

ii) do these vehicles have a remote vac tank like the bigger diesels, or is the servo it's own reservoir?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, BH (Pat)

[brodfather11]

Do you mean when the brake pedal is pressed it feels hard but nothing happens or the pedal goes to the floor as if no fluid.
The servo are quite dependable , don't normally fail . They don't need big air tanks , the servo is all the berlingos need.
The vacuum pump or pipes will give more trouble than the actual servo.

There is a check valve on the vacuum pump which can be tested by removing and seeing if air can pass both ways ,if so its faulty ,its meant to be a one-way only.

To test the servo, pump the brake until the servo is empty (or full of air) then with foot on brake start the engine, the pedal will start to go down as the air is sucked out of the servo. The pedal should then be able to pump up and get harder.

The other culprit could be the brake master cylinder, seals not just quite right .

[bhcalcutta2]

Sorry, I should have been a little clearer.

when this happens ( twice today) it's just hard, and takes considerably more force to stop, just like an older non-assisted  braking system. Can lead to a few brown trouser moments if you're not expecting it

[Silverberlingo]

Sorry, I should have been a little clearer.

when this happens ( twice today) it's just hard, and takes considerably more force to stop, just like an older non-assisted  braking system. Can lead to a few brown trouser moments if you're not expecting it

Did you get this sorted ?

[brodfather11]

Sorry, I should have been a little clearer.

when this happens ( twice today) it's just hard, and takes considerably more force to stop, just like an older non-assisted  braking system. Can lead to a few brown trouser moments if you're not expecting it

Sorry I missed your reply. Probably too late now but I'd be looking at the vacuum pump and pipes but with it intermittent it is hard to pin down.  I'd suspect the valve in the pump sticking now and again.

Hope you get the skid marks on the road  soon.

[bhcalcutta2]

Hope you get the skid marks on the road  soon.

Oh, It's caused a few skid marks alright, just not on the road

After having a bit of a play, I think I've narrowed it down to the seal on the vac pipe at the pump end, I took it of to look, cleaned it, and the issue didn't rear it's head for a while after.

As it looking increasingly likely I've got HG failure though, it's become the least of my worries at the moment.

This 10 yr old heap of cr@p has given me more trouble in 2 months than my 22 yr old 4x4 has in 7 years