Morris Minor Owners Club

Fitted a replacement servo which works fine only one slight problem - during normal braking the brakes have a nice light pedal action but push them just a little harder and they come on with a thump - no progression just heavy braking - any ideas/suggestions
And no Roy I'm not going to remove the lot and offer them for free on fleabay

As you have guessed Bill - that would indeed be my suggestion! Were the brakes impossibly heavy before fitting the servo ? Are the rear brakes piped in to the servo too - or just the fronts ?

Roy I thought the brakes were a little heavy, with discs and no servo, but not too bad although my wife who drives the car very occasionally found them almost unmanagable. Servo is linked to front and back. The change in pedal is really quite pronounced a tiny increase in pedal pressure slews you to a halt almost. Before this point the brakes are great, progressive, reasonably light with good firm pedal pressure. Strange!

Is this "replacement" new or old? Only thought is maybe somehow the actuating side of the mechachanism is sticking at one point in it's travel, then suddenly overcoming it.







Threat level is moderate

New - supplied by BM - not the genuine Lockheed part but the cheaper copy used in by a huge number of suppliers as a replacement or part of a kit.

There have been several issues with the non standard (Lockheed) servos, I'm afraid. Loads were sold on fleabay for about £75 each

Servos come in all sorts of different 'power ratios' - any idea what ratio this one is ? If it's not working safely (and that doesn't sound too safe to me!) - then ask BM for a replacement - or money back!

I notice that BM no longer quote the 'offending' part. I'll contact them in the morning.
The original bumf supplied (Manufacturer/importer seems to be Powertune) states 1.90 to 1 Part No RLE72696

A lot went into the kit car market. I'd send it back and ask for a proper one

I'll let you know what response I get in the morning

Need some semi-legal advice. Spoke to BM this morning and I admit they were very helpful, they offered quite a few suggestions until they realised that it was a Powertune. They inherited the Powertune stock when they took over MGM. They are contacting the importer (Powertune are Chinese) regarding the problem but did not hold out any hope of a technical solution. BM readily admitted that they are no longer are prepared to supply the Powertune part and suggested replacement with a Lockheed unit. Cost dependent on Powertune accepting the unit as faulty.
?How do I stand legally? Ideally I want a refund as a credit off a new Lockheed unit. What I dont want is to have to buy a replacement with the possibility of getting my money back from the old one pending investigation by Powertune in China - you can just guess how that would turn out.

The unit is clearly not fit for purpose and as it is a safety critical item there should be no hesitation in offering a refund or replacement. Many places will (should) give you a credit note at the very least. I would push for you to return the faulty unit and pay the difference for the Lockheed unit to be sent as a replacement.

Hi Bill, If the unit is not fit for the purpose it was made for i.e. it's faulty and can return it in it's original packaging to BM with a reasonable time usually 28days then they should give you a full refund which will allow you to buy the lockheed unit. If 28days has past then the unit will still have a 12m guarantee which should be honoured. The fact they inherited the stock when taking over MGM is BM's problem and they shouldn't pass it onto a customer. If they know they have a problem with them then they shouldn't be offering them for sale.

You might want to clarify your position with the trading standards if BM don't play ball as if you ordered over their web site then there is regulations covering this (distance selling I think it is called).

Let us know how you get on.

Oh dear oh dear - I'm glad I don't have any of these problems........ Good old trouble free W brakes !

Jefftav wrote:Hi Bill, If the unit is not fit for the purpose it was made for i.e. it's faulty and can return it in it's original packaging to BM with a reasonable time usually 28days

I have a few questions..

why is it only 28 days?

and why do you need the original packaging?

If it is not fit for purpose it is not fit for purpose..

this link is to the sale of goods act and i think shows that despite what any seller states your case is with him and not the manufacturer.. as for 28 days.. it is not unreasonable to buy something in advance and not fit it for a while.. ok if it was several years ago that is a different matter..

http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consume ... 38311.html

Thanks for that Charlie I notice that it is up to the supplier to prove that it is not faulty and not vice versa. I did indeed buy the servo in October but didnt fit it until between Christmas and New Year and to their credit BM are not disputing that fact (I bought a pile of brake parts from them in December to fit the system).

I wouldn't pretend to know the legal ins and outs. The 14/28 days is usually a time that the seller puts down on receipts etc when they will accept returns and original packaging is so that they can re-sell it or return it to manaufacturer as for faulty goods a retailer also has to claim their money back. If you have the original receipt a lot of shops will exchange or refund faulty goods within 12 months as I think this is deemend to be a fair period of time.

Maybe in this instance and In reality I doubt it really matters as this problem Bill has should be covered under the warranty and a replacement unit or full refund offered and then the retailer should be taking up the matter with their suppliers.

In my opinion, if a product has known faults, indeed enough for the trader to no longer stock them then I'd expect them to offer a full refund or credit note towards the cost of a Lockheed replacement. As you have said they do not dispute the problem nor the purchase/fitting time, so I'd be back on the phone asking for them to sort the issue asap.
On the other hand, from a traders perspective, not many manufacturers will accept returns of faulty goods, or its simply not financially worth it for the trader to send the goods back to the manufacturer.
If we are talking fit for purpose then I'd say that probably 60% of panels should not be sold, 1oo% of some header tanks, 100% of some rear suspension kits, 60% of rubber products and 80% of chrome parts. Yet we accept these parts, largely because there are often no alternatives or cost is the dominant factor.
Bully is a very good company and I have dealt with them for almost 20 years. I'm sure Mark will deal with this matter in an honourable manner.

Jefftav wrote:The 14/28 days is usually a time that the seller puts down on receipts etc when they will accept returns and original packaging is so that they can re-sell it or return it to manaufacturer as for faulty goods a retailer also has to claim their money back.

most of them will also say this does not affect your statutory rights.. because their policy sails very close to the wind and they hope most people will not know their rights so will not enforce them.

A few years ago I had reason to return a cd player to a big chain.. i had purchased it before going on holiday (2 weeks) and then did not go back to the shop until the friday after my return.. they tried to tell me that they would not replace it because i was outside my 14 day period they would give me a credit note but that was it.. after five minutes i just asked them to give me it back and that they would be hearing from trading standards.. i got a full refund on the spot.