Brown Boxers moment !

[S3 Paul]

On my drive home last night i was moving in trafic , not at any great speed but moving steady. The lights up the road turn to red... i brake and......
NOTHING!
pedal to the floor, no reduction in speed at all,
I ended up swirving and just bumping up a kerb, A damaged undertray is all the damage but... why no brakes??
I then plug in vag com and get one code...

00810 sensor 1/2 for brake preasure
27-10 implausible signal- intermittent

so clearly i have a leak, but where?
no obvious signs so i drive using the hand brake to get home, After jacking the car up i find the rear drivers wheel is all wet , a little more of a look around and it turns out the rear brake hose ( the section to the rear caliper ) which has a solid section and a rubber section had failed.
When i went to pick the new hose up today i was told "ye, they fail there quite alot "
What the hell ! has anybody else had this problem?
I was very lucky to not be ordering a new front bumper as well as the hose !

 

[S3 Rav]

Sounds scary that does. Not happened to me before.

 

[Dani_B19]

**** me paul, glad to hear your ok pal.

Ive heard of problems in the vacuum system etc but never with the rear pipe's or fronts that matter fail.

 

[The Doctor]

Hells bells, I'm getting under the car at the weekend and checking this out! Not heard of this before though. Thankfully you weren't going any faster!

 

[DavidW]

I think I'd have run out and stuck the lottery on if I were you, doesn't bare thinking about how much worse that could've been.

 

[S3 Paul]

Well the cold feeling inside was... what if i had been "having a play "?
Aparently they sell alot , Which is worrying , Scary infact !
Its failed around the area where the shocker bottom bolt is. The new pipe was £32 but concidering im now having to replace £36 worth of brake fluid im thinking... should i just go and buy the other side too?

 

[Lee172]

I had my brakes fail on new years eve because of a leak under the master cylinder. Worse thing was no where was open for near a week !

 

[Dani_B19]

Replace both paul, if the other side is on the way out, fitting a new one on the side thats failed may well cause the other side to fail.

 

[s3dave]

How come you had no braking at all? isnt the system split into 2 for such events happening?? did you try pumping the pedal?
Glad your ok anyway mate, could have been a disaster.....

 

[S3 Paul]

I did try double pressing the pedal as i remember my old golf master cylinder let go and i had to press down twice hard to get it to stop.
There was nothing. maybe first time i got a slight bit of braking right at the bottom but it was very slight and only the once.
I was shocked one hose could completely disable the brakes. dangerous doesnt come closs to how i see it,
Part of me says repair it... and sell up.
I have three kids and if... god forbid it happened when they had been with me...

 

[666markyboy]

How come you had no braking at all? isnt the system split into 2 for such events happening?? did you try pumping the pedal?
Glad your ok anyway mate, could have been a disaster.....

was just gonna say exactly the same thing it's a split system ... not sure if its diagonal or front to rear but either way i dont think you should have totally lost the pedal that said though the evidence is there in the failed hose.... glad your ok and not too much damage

 

[Andy123]

Yeah one side should still operate as the master cylinder should have two pistons, one which operates one side of the car and the other one the other side as a back up for something failing such as this. You sure the other side isn't screwed too?

 

[s3dave]

Yes i thought they were split diagonaly.....the only reason it would fail completley is if the brake fluid was very low when it happened and it just filled both with air, if it has been leaking a while this would make sence

 

[S3 Paul]

There is no sign of fluid leaking anywhere else.
I think the fluid just pumped out of the split. Until there wasnt enough left to move the pistons?
Until the new pipe is fitted and all the bleeding is done including the abs vag com bleeding i will not know.

 

[Dani_B19]

Could it be possible your master cylinders shaged paul?

 

[Nilz]

Im sure someone else posted something like this recently as well.

Glad to hear you are ok and thank God the kids werent in the car mate.

 

[666markyboy]

Yes i thought they were split diagonaly.....the only reason it would fail completley is if the brake fluid was very low when it happened and it just filled both with air, if it has been leaking a while this would make sence

I would go with that idea Dave

 

[Welly]

should i just go and buy the other side too?

IMO - without a doubt!

 

[aragorn]

the reservoirs are usually split near the bottom, with a devider or similar, so to ensure fluid loss from one side doesnt effect the other circuit, other wise the diagonal split would be pointless.

A few years ago my mum returned home from the shops in dads Transit, and reported "the brakes on that thing arent very good" We just assumed she was comparing them to the audi and didnt think much of it, until the next day dads reversing it out the parking bay and noticed the pedal was on the floor.

Turned out one of the front hoses had be refitted incorrectly a few weeks beforehand and had been rubbing on the tyre, and eventaully worn thru. The brakes still worked well enough for her to drive the van to asda and back without realising it was majorly fubar though!