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I took my car in for an MOT on Tuesday and it needed to have the front brake pads replaced in order to pass. When I took it out for a drive on the Wednesday evening I was careful to be gentle with the new pads, aware that they needed to bed in. However, by the end of a 7 mile journey, the brakes were starting to feel a little spongy, then the pedal travel started to increase and by the time I had parked up the brakes had gone completely. The next day I took it back to the garage (50yd from house) and the brake fluid had gone completely and it seems the brake pipes had corroded and leaked. Is this faillure common or very rare on a car of this age. Could the garage somehow have caused this fault in the MOT? the leak was about half way along the pipes between front and rear.
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During the MOT test, as tester is allowed to use a "Corrosion assessment tool" Basically a hooked scraper.
If this tool was used, and the pipe was week, it may have finished it off. That said, the brakes would have been applied to a much higher pressure that you are describing during the brake performance test, so I would have thought it would have failed then. (Unless the car is 4x4, in which case the rolling road is not used.)
Have a look at the VT32 advise note sheet. Any mention of a corroded pipe?
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Thanks for the reply. No, the VT32 doesn't mention corrosion, only the original faults at the front brake caliper that they did address. I could see that the pipes were a little corroded when the car was up on the ramp this morning. I couldn't see the precise point where they had failed as it was hidden behind the plastic cover.
I recall a friend whose car's brakes failed after a well known Nationwide franchise replaced his brake fluid with engine oil, but I don't think anything like this had happened inthis case.
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Interesting! Where was the leak, near the brake caliper?
I took my brothers car, a 99 Focus, in for a MOT earlier this year and it failed on corroded rear brake pipes. When we replaced them with copper ones we could find nothing other than surface rust on the pipes as the car had been left standing for a few months!
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To clarify - the garage did nothing wrong.
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I couldn't really imagine they did. Is it often the case that when one part of a system is mended it puts additional strain on other parts that are also due for failure before long. I assume the brake tests on the rolling road put the pipes under more strain than normal driving (I'm not a gimmer but neither am I a boy racer anymore).
Anyway, it's now got new brake pipes front to rear so it should be sound for a while. I read on a similar post something about smearing brake pipes in lanolin grease for protection. Anyone know where to get some?
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"I couldn't see the precise point where they had failed as it was hidden behind the plastic cover."
Thats why the tester made no mention of the pipes, he could not see them either. He is not allowed to remove anything to aid his inspection. As long as the parts he can see are in good condition there is no reason to fail or to advise.
With the best respect to the op, the servicing regime was not sufficient, if the car needed brake pads to pass the test and the condition of the pipes had never been reported to you. On hidden pipe cars (most japanese) I would expect the service to include a thorough inspection of the pipe conditions. It only takes seconds to look.
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"Anyone know where to get some?"
Castrol CL waterproof grease - Halfords
Edited by oilrag on 18/12/2008 at 20:13
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Many thanks - I'll get some.
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Replacing with copper pipes will mean they will never corrode.
This gen of Accord has pipes which run down a channel with a plastic cover, but it is not a solid one so you can inspect. Old gen ones had pipes in the sill so affording better protection.
I am really suprised that they have corroded, but greasing them will be a pain in the backside and will have to done quite frequently as the grease will wash away. Why don't you paint them with Rustbullet or POR15 if you really want protection. I wouldn't want to do it in winter and without a ramp though!
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