Total Brake Failure !

Ian W

Ian W

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Got a major problem with my S3..

I was driving yesterday, came up to a set of traffic lights, pressed my brakes and had nothing, pedal hit the floor. No warning lights where flagged up, I just had no brakes !

I've has a look today and I can see fluid leaking down and onto the drivers side Inner CV boot from up near the cambelt area.

I've done a bit of research and found this post on the TT forum from Awesome regarding a brake pipe issue..http://www.tt-forum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=98306&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=brake+master+cylinder

Has anyone has a similar issue? I had the cambelt done 12 months ago and I believe that a brake pipe is often moved and if not put back in the correct place it will rub another pipe and fail.

Was quite worrying when it happend, I had to get 20 miles back to my house with no brakes, wasn't a nice drive !
 
Geez - had that happen on the way to work a few years ago in a 205 GTi - fuukin woke me up I can tell you!!

Does sound like a master cylinder has blown a seal.

Least your in one peice dude, could have been a lot worse..

Cheers

Jim
 
can you belive it just come on here today afterdriving my car home and lost all brakes too, pedal straight to floor to, when my pedal was all the way down if i held it the light comes up on the dash and the tc light comes on too, scared me as i had just come off a bend at uhh ummm 100 ish then had to stop at a t junction almost went straight over into the hedge row, had no pedal ever scince and it wasnt brake fade, i had a look in the reserviour when i finally got home and no fliud either so i also have a leak to be interesting to find out where it is, hopefully it wont ruin any paint work or damage my alloy paint with the fluid leak, that would doubley **** me off
 
Looks like it could be a common problem !

Have you had the cambelt done on yours recently Kev?

Check your drivers inner CV Boot for fluid, thats mine was dripping on there, problem is your not gonna be able to see anything unless you start stripping alot of parts of the engine.
 
Ian W said:
Looks like it could be a common problem !

Have you had the cambelt done on yours recently Kev?

Check your drivers inner CV Boot for fluid, thats mine was dripping on there, problem is your not gonna be able to see anything unless you start stripping alot of parts of the engine.
Click to expand...
im a mechanic and have done the cambelt myself but that was back in febuary but i have recently done my clutch and had my gearbox rebuilt however the gearbox was faulty so the specialists who re built the gearbox for me removed and re-fitted the box for me as there warranty so could be due to this i shall have a very good look tomoz when i get to work, luckily i only work at the end of the road prety much so should get there ok, so have you had yours repaired yet??
 
Only happend on mine yesterday afternoon so I had a look today to see what I could see.

Seen a post from Awesome saying that its a problem with a brake pipe being moved and not being put back once the cambelt is done and it rubs with PAS pipes and splits.

Im hoping its just a split pipe so I can get one and replace it, really don't fancy having a take it to a specialist and spank another load of cash. Done less than a 1000 mile since I spend a grand on a clutch and flywheel job :sob:

Let me know what you find on yours mate.
 
blimey what a crap job that is took me 4 1/2 hours to strip out and replace the brake pipe, very tight down there and you can hardly see what your doing, it was the common problem on mine too like i guess it will be with you too looking at it i cant see what audi were thinking of by puting such a crucial thing like a brake pipe in such a tight restrictive area where its very likely to come into contact with other harder metal pipes :mad:, i brought my audi as i wanted a quality car which would be reliable as of yet this year has been very disapointing
 
Im planning on having a look at mine at the weekend, did you access it from the top or bottom?

Is it one of the pipes that runs from the master cylinder along the bulkhead to the ABS unit ?

Got to admit I haven't been overly impressed with the reliability of my S3 so far, all my previous cars have been old vauxhalls and they loved eating up the miles no problem !

How much was the part from Audi Kev?
 
When i had my cambelt done, it came back and i could feel a strange knocking / rubbing through the pedals with engine movement. I took it back and they gave me some strange looks, but after 2 visits they finally felt the knocking/rubbing through the pedals and found a pipe was rubbing.

Never asked which pipe it was, but i will be checking the pipe just incase it did any damage!!

Sounds worrying if it is a bad design....
 
Ian W said:
Im planning on having a look at mine at the weekend, did you access it from the top or bottom?

Is it one of the pipes that runs from the master cylinder along the bulkhead to the ABS unit ?

Got to admit I haven't been overly impressed with the reliability of my S3 so far, all my previous cars have been old vauxhalls and they loved eating up the miles no problem !

How much was the part from Audi Kev?
Click to expand...
you need to aces it throught the top and the bottom the union that goes onto the bottom of the master cylinder is from underneth and the other end is at the abs unit and yes runs along the bak of the bulkhead, i made up a new pipe myself so didnt use an audi part, ecpext it to be fairly dear though and harder to fit as its not so flexible etc
 
probably the same on all the 1.8t's,

my brake pedal is spongey now do i have to bleed the brakes with the abs unit activated my snap on scanner wont let me and i dont have vag.com so might be a trip to the steelers otherwise???
 
Usually Bleed brakes as normal, cycle the abs unit a few times, then rebleed. Remember to bleed the nipple at the master cylinder. Also only use a pressure bleeder and up to 1bar max.

If you don't have access to ABS pump, then try the old skool ABS bleed trick. (disclaimer, you break your legs, don't come running to me).
Drive at about 30 mph on a clear private road and then slam the brakes on. You need to get the ABS working. Brakes should feel a little firmer afterwards.
 
lol i have just drove home from work doing your abs old skool trick the pedal felt a little better i might do it again on way to work then re-bleed them tomoz, is there a special bleed nipple at the matser cylinde too didnt see that, i shall have a look tomoz to, cheers for the info
 
Found the problem pipe today, front of the master cylinder jammed up against a PAS pipe, as soon as I moved the PAS pipe out the way my brake fluid started ******* out :mad:

Going to get a price on getting it done and see weather is cost effective to just get it done by a garage as i'll need the brakes bleeding after it anyway.
 
I thought there was a recall for an issue similar to this a couple of years ago.

I'm sure I had a brake pipe replaced FOC at Audi.
 
That would of been the servo vacuum pipe as the plastic was of a low quality and could crack leaving no assistance.

This would appear to be a different fault. There is a website out there somewhere that documents all recalls.
 
No pics im afraid mate, bit hard to see.

Its the pipe that attachs to the front (nearest the engine) underneath the master cylinder, it will be running pretty close to another pipe (PAS I think).

Mine where touching which what caused the problem.

Easy to see if you jack the car up and look underneath.
 
ok will have to have another look, I looked when I refiitted stuff after doing the cam belt but didn`t see anything. Is this on all engines or just bam etc???
 
Old thread bump :notme:

After letting my S3 sit on the drive since I lost my brakes back in November I decided to have a go at removing the problem pipe today.

Managed to clear away all the obstacles so I had a pretty clear view of the full run of the pipe, sadly I couldn't shift the nut holding the pipe onto the master cylinder :wtf:, very tight space (and I have small hands!), pretty much had no space to move the spanner once I got it on.

Gonna try and book it into the local VAG place in the next few weeks, get it back on the road ! Problem is going to be getting there with no brakes !
 
cant belive your only just sorting this issue, you would have to have the car taken on a flat bed or similar
 
DO NOT drive it to the repair shop. If you have an accident, your MOT and hence insurance will be invalid. And if plod stops you, you will be in the most serious s**t with them.

Seriously, it's not worth the risk. Call the AA or RAC, or find someone you know with a trailer. Or maybe the garage will be able to trailer it for a reasonable fee.

Cheers,
 
s3_kev said:
cant belive your only just sorting this issue, you would have to have the car taken on a flat bed or similar
Click to expand...

Got another car to drive and i'd had my fill of S3 problems when this happend, hence I decided to dump it in the corner of the drive !

Im hoping the garage has a recovery truck.
 
alijames said:
DO NOT drive it to the repair shop. If you have an accident, your MOT and hence insurance will be invalid. And if plod stops you, you will be in the most serious s**t with them.

Seriously, it's not worth the risk. Call the AA or RAC, or find someone you know with a trailer. Or maybe the garage will be able to trailer it for a reasonable fee.

Cheers,
Click to expand...
an MOT cannot be invalid at any point once issued unless your are stopped by vosa and they give you a prohabition. an MOT is carried out at tme of test only and is not a garentee for a year,
however your insurance would not cover you if they could prove that you drove the car with this problem, but if you was to say it happened at time of acident then you might be ok with fully comp,
However i dont think he or anyone else would consider driving with no brakes, hence the qusetion how will he get the car to the repaier
 
s3_kev said:
However i dont think he or anyone else would consider driving with no brakes, hence the qusetion how will he get the car to the repaier
Click to expand...

OP says he drove it 20 miles with no brakes originally!
 
As I said, the problem is getting it to the garage, I don't plan on driving it with no brakes :lmfao:

I did drive it back when it first happend but that was simply to get it home.
 
audi upgrades
Ian W said:
As I said, the problem is getting it to the garage, I don't plan on driving it with no brakes :lmfao:

I did drive it back when it first happend but that was simply to get it home.
Click to expand...

Are you with the AA or RAC with homestart? I had the clutch pedal snap prob 2-3 months ago (luckily as i was pulling into my road!). Called the AA next morning and low loader took me the 30 miles or so to my 'local' garage.

Can't you do that (or was the need to drive it back originally because you're not covered?)?
 
Im with the RAC through my bank, i'm pretty sure its just recovery but i'll check on that tonight, if its homestart then i'll do that.

Last time I called them I had to wait four hours for recovery, thats why I didn't phone them when it happend originally.
 
Hi Guys
I am sorry that you are experiencing this
Yes we had noticed this quite a while back and posted in regards this issue
All I can say is guys , it could be so worse!
Thankfully , you guys are here to tell of the tale
So just a little note to the rest of you guys to check the pipe too ;)
Sarah
 
The cars going in tomorrow to be fixed :salute:

Being collected by a recovery truck at 9:30 and taken to the local VAG specialist.

If the cost isn't to high and going to get my window regulator replaced as well :hubbahubba:
 
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