Bentley Brakes and long start up

[davidat]

Hi all, can anybody help please? I have a Continental R 1994 and the vehicle checks at start up seem to take forever, some 3 minutes. I believe it should be 2 (extremely frustrating). Often the brake pressure warning flashes and so I check the hydraulic level in the reservoirs and they seem to fine so I wait and then it starts. Today it took 5 mins!!!
Any ideas, do you think it's an electrical problem, hydraulic, brake line leak???
Also the acc position on the ignition switch doesn't seem to work.
Any suggestions, comments or advice gratefully received.
Best regards......

[andypocock]

I think your pumps have had it. 2 mins is a worse case scenario on a car that has been left for ages. Really 20 secs is all it should take.

If you had a leak your fluid levels would be going down.

Not a terrible job.

Andy

PS: Just check with Flying spares and recon pump is a couple of hundred quid. New seals about thirty quid if you fancy reconditioning them yourself

Edited by andypocock on Wednesday 1st July 20:27

[escort 1983]

Personally I think the issue could with the accums which have gone flat overtime. The best way to know for sure is to take it for a brake system pressure check. This will only take around 1/2 hour to carry out.
That way you will know for sure what the problem is.
It will tell you the flick up pressure in the accum sphere and whether the brake pumps are pumping strong.
Otherwise you could be wasting money overhauling the complete system.
Hope this helps regards

[davidat]

Thanks to andy and escort1983 for their advice and suggestions, I'm a bit new to Bentleys. I know they have 2 braking systems for front and rear but does each system have its own acc and pump? Thanks

[matt5791]

I would agree - most likely the accumulator spheres which are located down the left side of the engine. the nitrogen spheres are similar to those found on Citroen suspension and also on the top of the rear dampers on your car. They are a cheap replacement part and easily changed. You could almost consider them a consumable part like brake linings - they just fail after a time.

My own car will need them doing really (1996 Cont. R) pretty soon.

I believe one way you can check how bad they are is to drive the car, pull up, switch off the engine and turn on the ignition. Pump the brake pedal and see how quickly the brake warning light comes on. (Pumping the pedal with the engine off de-pressurises the system - it should take about 40 pumps to do this). However, someone else may be able to confirm this as I'm not 100%.