Grinding and "jumping" brakes - 2002 406HDi

[LeeB]

Hoping somebody here may be able to shed some light on this one?

My car is a 406 Rapier Saloon 2.0HDi - 2002 year (UK).

When braking, it started with an intermittent problem that is quite scary
When you brake (at random times) the pedal will pump up and down and, there is an awful grindning noise that (seems) to come from the front brakes. While this is happening, the braking effort is VERY low. It IS possible to push the pedal through this problem, and regain useful braking effort - though not 100% effort.

This happens at all speed ranges. It might happen 6-10 consecutive times I brake, and it might not happen for another 30 times. It seems to be purely random when it does happen.

When it DOESN'T happen, then the brakes are working perfectly.

In order to try and rectify this, the car has recently had all new (4) discs, with new pads on all four wheels and, the handbrake shoes have also been replaced. The old discs which came off were virtually rusted away on the back, despite being only around 2 years old.

There are NO lights showing on the dash, even when the fault occurs.

The car has been on a "diagnosis" machine, (not Peugeot), and is apparantly showing no problems on the braking/ abs/ anti skid systems.

Hopefully somebody can advise as to whether this is a common problem to Peugeot, or a peculiarity to my car that will probably cost more to repair than the crs worth?

Finally, can somebody please confirm if these cars have drop link arms on the front, same as the Xantia, as in the last day or two it's started with a similar knock to what these would generate?


Thanks very much,

Lee.

[jasper5]

Firstly, I would check all the ABS rings for cracks or breakage, a cracked or broken ring will give you judder.

As for the drop links, there are drop links (anti roll bar link rods) on the front.To check them, have the car level on the ground and try to lift the anti roll bar up and down with a crow bar or something similar any movement means replacement.

[hammerman]

Mine did this last year(not grinding but juddering,like the abs semi-kicking in under normal braking).After a week or so it dissapeered.Then about a week later my abs light came on.Turned out it was broken abs rings(see my other posts).
Dont know if this was the problem,but it never came back after the abs light came on.

[mjb]

The front ABS rings are a common failure point on 406s now. Jack up the front wheels and you should see a toothed ring around the driveshafts near the outer CV boots. Spin the wheels and check for a crack/split. Some people have reported success in getting these welded up

[LeeB]

Thanks for the suggestions Guys,
have to take a look at these ABS rings, see if they're the problem - seem to be a common consensus of opinion!!

Just as an aside, can anyone point me to where the ABS ecu is , so that I can unplug the power to it and try that for a mile or two, to see if it IS the ABS causing the problem? I'm assuming if I disconnect the ABS, the problem SHOULD go away if the ABS is the cause?


Regards,

Lee.

[bangernom1cs]

HI,

Its the little grey multiplug on the side of the ABS actuator which is located just in front of the brake servo.
Had to do that on mine.
DONT disconnect the big multiplug as you'll lose the speedo etc.

T