[Nick Jones]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

Assuming they are the same brake fittings as the D2 with the C-shaped spring holding the flexi in to the bracket:

1. Press the brake pedal and hold it down with a broom. This stops fluid draining out when you open the system
2. Try and get the hardline union moving in the flexi fitting, but obviously don't turn it too far otherwise you'll corkscrew the hardline. Just enough that it comes loose.
3. Cut the flex off as that is sacrificial.
4. Cut the C-shaped spring off (chunky wire cutters + metal fatigue)
5. You're left with the hardline and the flexi end fitting. Hold the hardline fitting still and wind the flexi fitting off it (mole grips etc)
6. Let the brake fluid drip out (won't be much - only the downward portion of the line, as the master cylinder is cutting off fluid flow from the reservoir)
7. Heat the hardline union with a blowtorch until the plastic coating melts and oozes out of the union, then before it cools use a spanner etc to wiggle it and get it rotating. You can then wiggle it up from the flare whereupon you can clean out all the corrosion and old plastic and eventually get the fitting to spin freely.
8. Clean the end of the hardline with sandpaper and thinners and paint it with direct-to-metal paint (I use Rustoleum).
9. When the paint is dry, reassemble with the new flexi and a replacement C spring, then I usually give it a squirt of spray grease or waxoyl to stop moisture getting in again.

Thanks for this MJ. Some good tips there. Especially holding down the brake pedal to prevent fluid loss (why have I never twigged that one before?). Only snag is that the designers must have realised they had inadvertently left a work-around loophole with the C-clip design and the Skoda is different. The fittings on the end of the flexihoses have flats to prevent them rotating in the support bracket and a single forked clip to hold them in it. This means your trick can only work fully where there is enough freedom in the hard line to release the fitting from its bracket while the joint is still done up. It would have worked on one side, but not the other.

FWIW, the more exposed pipes on my C4 A6 seem to be made of Kunifer and still mostly undo even after 24 years.....

Nick