2008 A4 B7 Cabriolet - burst roof ram hydraulic hose. Can anyone advise?

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Marklar

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My roof motor started to make strange noises recently and I was lucky to get the roof to close and latch. When I checked the hydraulic reservoir, the fluid level was below minimum so I topped it up and operated the roof through four complete cycles and all seemed well. Then I noticed a pool of hydraulic fluid behind the rear offside wheel.

On closer inspection I find that hose 14 has burst about one inch or so from the valve body.

Roof Motors in Ilkley can supply a replacement hose but I wondered what sort of a job it would be to replace it? Does anyone know which ram this hose serves, where it is located and how to access it?

Also, it has been suggested that an agricultural or hydraulic engineer might be able to repair the pipe in-situ. What do you think, is this likely?

I'd appreciate any advice on how to get the roof working again.
Audi hose
 
Mate you can get a straight coupler to repair that... no need to pull the complete pipe. But best to go to an Hydraulics specialist and ask for a straight coupler to fix this. If you go with the car and can show them the pipe in question, they'll get you the right straight coupler and whatever else might be needed to secure it. I usually go to www.pirtek.com when i need to repair hydraulic pipes and the dealer has decided to discontinue the needed part ( or asks way to much for it)
 
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northpole said:
Mate you can get a straight coupler to repair that... no need to pull the complete pipe. But best to go to an Hydraulics specialist and ask for a straight coupler to fix this. If you go with the car and can show them the pipe in question, they'll get you the right straight coupler and whatever else might be needed to secure it. I usually go to www.pirtek.com when i need to repair hydraulic pipes and the dealer has decided to discontinue the needed part ( or asks way to much for it)
Click to expand...
I shall certainly look into that option, Northpole. We have a Pirtek near us so I'll contact them before doing anything else. Thanks for the suggestion.

I've had a quote from a specialist today of £876 to replace the hose' This would involve two two hundred mile round trips and a load of hanging about and while I'll have to cough it up if necessary, I'd much rather find a simpler and cheaper alternative if at all possible.

Thanks for giving me hope.
 
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You'd be looking at max 20 pounds by the way if that is the only place it leaks, and that includes enough oil to top up the reservior.
 
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Well, I think I've fixed my roof. (I'm never fully confident that it's going to go down and then up again).

In the end I used a hose coupler made by an American company in Sarasota, Florida that's guaranteed to 10,000psi. When I emailed them to place an order, they sent me a link to a Dutch company Cabriotech who have been extremely efficient in getting the part to me. It wasn't cheap at £63 plus £13 postage but it's a DIY installation requiring only a Stanley knife and two 10mm spanners to install. I could have bought a complete new pipe for that sort of money but then I'd have had to do a lot of dismantling to get at the other end of the burst pipe.

Anyway, my main concern was that I might not have the required minimum of 19mm hose available at the fixed end but I had 24mm so that wasn't a problem. Installing the coupler was simplicity itself although getting everything back into place was a bit of a struggle.

Audi hose01

Here's the coupler installed prior to refitting the pump and motor assembly.

I operated the roof for about 10 full cycles and everything worked perfectly with a complete absence of the previous tired groaning noises as the roof folded and unfolded. There was no obvious leakage and the fluid reservoir level which I'd topped up to full with the roof folded, remained constant - so I think it's a fix.

If anyone is interested here's a link to Cabriotech: shop.cabriotech.nl/en
 
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that was one hell of an expensive coupler... Did you check pirtek's catalogue on these parts before committing to purchasing these? I never ever paid more than 20 pounds for a similar straight coupler... than again prices have gone up massively in certain sectors without a proper reason, so i might be wrong about the cost. But however you toss or turn it that connector will not leak unless someone messes with it so you can rest assured that is sorted ;)
 
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