And i really do appreciate any help that is offered, on the first one, the small mounting bracket that holds the brake light switches, one of the rivets had come slack and finally snapped, causing the brake lights to be on permanantly, the second one, the reason the pedal was hard to pull up was because it was at the top end of its travel and was hitting the stop, and the reason that the pedal was hard to push down is because the brakes were applied almost fully, but when the master cylinder was removed, the pedal and the connecting parts were free and moved very easliy. As i said when i removed the master cylinder, as i slackened the nuts that hold it on to the servo, the brakes were slowly released. But when the brakes were jammed on and i removed the vacuum pipe the brakes came off straight away, There is about 3mm of free play when the car has been staning and engine not running, Never tried disconnecting the rod while the engine is running but i am willing to give it a try. And that is the suituation we have at the moment, but as i am going on holiday, it can wait until i get back, my son says he will have a go at it when i am away, but there is no rush so i have told him to leave it in the garage until i get back. but i really do appreciate any imput anyone is willing to give and so i thank you again, if this sheds any light on the suituation, please let me know what you think, weather it is the same or you have changed your opinion on the fault, but i won't be able to answer until i get back, its a very interesing problem and i am quite enjoying trying different things to solve the problem, i am lucky in one sence as my good friend brakes the x type, so parts are very cheep, its time thats difficult to find