Chimaera fun in the wet!?

[shadowninja]

So, what does it mean when you try braking and it bites initially then the brakes start to fade and the pedal starts to slowly sink into the footwell? Releasing the pedal brings it back up and then when I depress pedal again I get the initial bite... Was cadence braking all the way home through rush hour traffic in the rain... who needs snowboarding for a rush?

[jsr]

Had a similar thing on my first ever car (Fiat Uno) - it was the brake master cylinder.

[shadowninja]

Thanks. How much is that per word to fix? Sounds mightily impressive!

[jsr]

I got a master cylinder from a breakers yard which only cost about £10 and then brake fluid on top of that.

No idea what car the master cylinder is from on a Chimaera though - the bible does state that the braking system is based on the Ford Cosworth system

Try bleeding the brakes first and also check the fluid level.

Does sound very similar to what happened to me - firm pedal and working brakes for about 0.5-1.0 seconds, then the pedal sinking to the floor and braking power reducing to almost zero. Had to stop using the handbrake!