Important or not?

[tonupkid]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

It can be bought in different colours too, so you can see when it's coming through when bleeding.

So that'd make it 'bleeding obvious'. As Notorius would say

[Dezzy]

Originally Posted by tonupkid

So that'd make it 'bleeding obvious'. As Notorius would say

Nick! now that's the name for coloured brake fluid. Someone will steal that.

Bleeding Obvious Brake Fluid in Red or Blue.

[V8man]

Update.......

It never rains but it pours!!

Brought the car back to garage on Monday. Asked that the brake fluid be changed and the pads be looked at again to clarify correct positioning. He calls Tuesday night and says bad news is that your brake pipes are fubar and more or less disintegrated. Gonna have to fabricate new ones and to replace them is a mare of a job. Gonna keep the car for at least a week to do the job.

Am I being taken for a 24 carat mug? Do the brakes pipes on Audi A8 D2 badly corrode over the years to the extent that they need replacing?

Anyway I used to fully trust my local garage. Now I'm starting to doubt if my trust is misplaced. Is this brake pipe problem a result of me questioning the mechanics ability or a genuine issue that is a known problem with older audi a8s.

Fecked if I know. But I do know it's gonna cost me, big time!!

To clarify he said brake pipes not hoses.

[Goran]

No idea, I've had 2 D2s and only on one of them the brake lines, ie, rubber hoses which only connect at the end to the caliper did corrode on one of the D2s.
The steel? break lines were fine on both. But the calipers were corroded. I don't know if that's any help.

[V8man]

I suppose I'll just have to take my medicine like a man and hope he's gentle when he adds up the man hours.

[Dezzy]

The brake pipes from front to back are copper or copper nickel or similar, then there is a flexi part and another short copper pipe to the caliper. The rubber flexi part can perish and can bulge under braking this could feel like a soft peddle or excessive peddle travel.
Now they are really easy to change however they can and do corrode at the nipple at the bracket end (you can see this as the rubber that sleeves it bulges and splits) so when trying to undo the copper pipe twists and is then dead. But it should be possible to put a new end on and if needs be an in line repair.

I had to make new ends from the flexi to the calipers when i changed them. But for a garage i can't see it being more than a couple hours.

A8Parts will have second hand parts rather than buying new if they can't make it. See HERE

[ainarssems]

I have have never had any issues with brake pipes on any of the Audi's, they seem to make them out of fairly corrosion resistant steel. Even if the coating (paint) on the pipes have gone they only get surface rust which is not really an issue. I have seen a lot of badly corroded pipes on Vauxhalls, Fords, Rover and Land Rover. They are usually corroded near the ends where the coating gets damaged from turning nut or at the mounting points where moisture stays in for longer under rubbers. Even had one fail and start to leak while driving on 1980 Opel Kadet which was my first car. Replaced the leaking rear pipe, slammed on brakes to test and burst front pipe . That looked like too much job to replace so just soldered bigger pipe over it so seal and connect.

Nickel (or rather nickel alloy stainless steel) and copper pipes that Dezzy talks about are used in aftermarket repairs/replacements, factory pipes are usually carbon steel as the steel is cheaper for manufacturers to use. Copper is most popular in aftermarket repairs because it's soft and easy to work on, does not corrode to badly and is relatively cheap. Nickel alloys steel is more expensive and hard to work on, benefits are strength, corrosion resistance and some say harder feel on the pedal but I am not sure about that, mostly used as replacement on race cars.

Another thing to remember is that you do not necessarily need to replace whole pipe if only one end is corroded. I had Freelander fail MOT on corroded brake pipe and it was too involving to replace whole pipe running from the ABS pump in the engine bay to rear wheels. So i just replace corroded rear part and and joined the pipes with compression fitting similar to this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Equal-Ende...item19fd4a9ef9

Was not sure what the MOT tester will think of it when I went for re-test but got thumbs up.

[A8 3.7]

I have had an issue with mine a 97 model with the rear brake flexi pipe where it joins the metal pipe behind the wheel arch liner. The crimped metal part of the rubber flexi pipe had totally corroded away on both hoses, without moving the wheel arch liner you wouldn't see it not even a mot tester would pick it up. I only picked this up when changing the rear calipers. Hoses are about £15 depending on the brand.

[V8man]

Local garage has had car for over a week now. I was happy for him to work on it in between other jobs. Still, Not looking forward to the bill. Expensive lesson. Only take it to audi independent in future. You pay for what you get 9 times out of 10. At least they can fault diagnose and clear faults.

[V8man]

Looks like brakes pipes were not the problem as they fixed the ones they could access and now they say the brakes are binding on permanently. They say it's not calipers and may be master cylinder. It's turning into a nightmare. Still no car and I ain't inclined to let them start buying expensive parts unless they know that will fix the problem.

At this moment in time the mechanic is still fault finding, God knows what the outcome will be. Should I cut and run to an Audi specialist before I have to re mortgage to pay labour costs which may have been a fraction for someone who works on these cars everyday? Is the Audi brake system too complicated for a jack of all makes mechanic? No offence intended.

Any suggestions greatly relieved.