My brakes are coming on by themselves! HELP!!

[RaverA4]

Having a bit of a nightmare with the A4 at the moment, ill explain...

came home form work in the car, parked up then about an hour later went back out in it, about 1 mile into this journey the car just lost power and the brakes came on by themselves an slowed the car down to about 5mph, all of a sudden im able to accelerate again but 2-3 second later the brakes come on again, I had to turn around and drive the car home like this at varying speeds between 5-20 mph with the brakes going on and off really repeatedly! car was making some horrible noises at this point everytime it was applying the brake by itself, possibly just the wheels locking up on the road I don't know?...

got home and felt the brake discs, front drivers side was red hot..

the orange triangle with the exclamation mark on the dash was flashing but this has always been a problem on this audi for years, its either always on or its off, it doesn't usually flash when you put the brakes on.

anyway, I tested the car this morning an its working fine again, (orange triangle light is still on as per usual) but im gunna have to get it in the garage to be looked at as I don't want that happening when im doing 70mph!!

has anyone heard of this happening before? google search didn't find anyone with the exact problem, any advice from anyone on what it might be before I take it to the garage?

Thanks

 

[stu_m]

first thing you need to do is plug it in and do a full scan on it

 

[S4_dan]

Having a bit of a nightmare with the A4 at the moment, ill explain...

came home form work in the car, parked up then about an hour later went back out in it, about 1 mile into this journey the car just lost power and the brakes came on by themselves an slowed the car down to about 5mph, all of a sudden im able to accelerate again but 2-3 second later the brakes come on again, I had to turn around and drive the car home like this at varying speeds between 5-20 mph with the brakes going on and off really repeatedly! car was making some horrible noises at this point everytime it was applying the brake by itself, possibly just the wheels locking up on the road I don't know?...

got home and felt the brake discs, front drivers side was red hot..

the orange triangle with the exclamation mark on the dash was flashing but this has always been a problem on this audi for years, its either always on or its off, it doesn't usually flash when you put the brakes on.

anyway, I tested the car this morning an its working fine again, (orange triangle light is still on as per usual) but im gunna have to get it in the garage to be looked at as I don't want that happening when im doing 70mph!!

has anyone heard of this happening before? google search didn't find anyone with the exact problem, any advice from anyone on what it might be before I take it to the garage?

Thanks

That orange triangle light is your Traction Control/ESP light. The 'horrible' noise is the ABS pump working. You might has a sticky caliper on drivers side and on greasy surface it may have impaired the speed difference slightly so the abs picks up one wheel is faster then the other and applies the brakes to even things out.

My car put the brakes on by itself one day last week, the N/S/F brake.

Scan the car to see what faults show up, if any.

Check the ABS sensors and rings for dirt, corrosion etc.

What condition was the road in? Wet? Greasy? What condition are your tyres in?

I haven't got round to checking my front ABS yet but it hasn't happened since last week either. But I will get round to checking it.

 

[crazyjay91]

Hey mate, sounds like it could be a faulty ABS sensor and it keeps telling the EPS system that it's locking up.. I'd also check for sticky callipers whilst your at it, I had one once and it boiled my brake fluid and I had nothing to slow me apart from gears! haha