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MG TD TF 1500 - No brakes...sometimes

I purchased a mostly restored TD several years ago, and drove it a few times a year for summer events.

Last fall I was out and about and heard a loud clunk from the left rear and lost braking. nursed it home to discover the pad had delaminated from the shoe.

Parked it for a while, then went out, replaced the shoes, but no resistance on the pedal. I adjusted and bled the brakes all the way around, and had a good hard pedal with very little free travel.

Just went out this afternoon, no pedal again. Zero resistance. No puddles.

I've done a lot of work on a 72 B, but haven't had much trouble with the TD. This is a new one for me - what am I missing?

Thanks
SS Aichele

What troubleshooting have you done to the master cylinder?

Regards, Tom
tm peterson

Other than note that it's not leaking and confirm there's fluid in it, none. Having found a problem (the brake shoe) I mistakenly believed I had found the problem.

The MC/brakes worked fine before the shoe delaminated. What should I be testing?

I will note the handbrake works fine (now) but still no resistance on the pedal, even with the handbrake applied.

Thanks
SS Aichele

As something of an update, I went back and bled the back two cylinders again last night. Pedal firmed right up, and (for the moment) everything seems to be fine.
SS Aichele

Great news. Appears no need to follow up on what to check on the MC.

As a side note, you maybe aware, but if not, the hand brake is a mechanical back up. Your brakes can be flat and you can use the fly-away hand brake to stop. It has saved me once early in my ownership.

Regards, Tom
tm peterson

Yea - not sure the problem is solved, but the MC seems to hold pressure.

If the pedal's still firm in a couple days I'll feel better about it.
SS Aichele

Keep in mind that that the TD does not have self-adjusting brakes. You may need to manually adjust the engagement of the shoes on all four corners. This is a usual quarterly maintenance item.

Cheers
Charles Duffy

This thread was discussed between 23/05/2024 and 27/05/2024

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.