Brake pipes corroded MOT fail twice in two years

BeenThroughItAll

Robisere wrote: »

I should not have use "work-hardening", but "Fretting" instead. That is the action of pipes contacting and rubbing against retaining clips and other areas of the floorpan/bodywork. Cupro-Nickel has a much higher resistance to wear in that instance. Reading this is worthwhile:
http://copperalliance.org.uk/docs/librariesprovider5/resources/is49-copper-nickel-brake-tubing.pdf

Extract:
" Volvo, Lotus, Aston Martin, Porsche and Audi all now fit copper-nickel brake tubing as standard equipment. "

These manufacturers have also discovered that the easier fitting of cupro-nickel, saves assembly time and therfore money per unit build.

If you weren't referring to work-hardening, then you also shouldn't have said the pipes 'crack'. Pipes that rub don't crack, they wear.

I suspect you *did* mean to say 'work-hardening', but you were just incorrect about it.

And whatever they said in 1990 as per that document, it's patently !!!!!!!! because the brake pipes in the Audis, Volvos, and Porsche that I've owned or maintained in the last decade or so have all quite definitely had steel pipes.

seatbeltnoob

could be the replacement part used was a cheap one and not truly OEM or OEM standard which is why it rusted again so quickly.

Retrogamer

Sounds fishy to me.
Most garages will replace a corroded steel pipe with a copper one which won't corrode anywhere near as quickly.

I suspect they probably cleaned your original pipe rather than replace it and this year it looks rusty again.

I always make a point of checking stuff before and after garages replace it

Joe_Horner

It's far more likely to be a different pipe. OSF, NSF and so on are only meant as pointers to the general area on an MOT. The parts list for the new Mini shows a lot of brake pipes in that area, all of which would be "OSF" as far as a fail sheet's concerned.

NeverEnough

Had a similar issue with my old BMW a few years back -it was at the main dealer for a warranty repair and MOT was due in the next month so asked them to do it for convenience (I thought).

Only to get a message that it FAILED due to "excessively corroded brake pipes OSR and NSR". They demanded £1100 for repairs so I declined the lovely offer and took it to my local garage instead - family run, third generation, do lots of MOTs and general mechanical work. They quoted far less (around £300) to replace the brake lines if needed, but called me to say they had inspected the brake lines and there was absolutely no cause to replace them, the few rust spots were very superficial and brushed away easily. BMW brazened it out and insisted they were right when I confronted them about it later. 4 years later the same car still flies through MOTs every year -not at the main dealer however!

Just wondering as this is a Mini if OP took it to a main dealer for MOT. Sounds like a similar scenario to the one I had!

markhod

Thanks all!

I solved the mystery. Since I keep all paperwork I went back and checked what the repair bill 2 years ago said - it mentions replacing 2 main shafts, and greasing a front pipe. So probably what happened, as a few said, 2 years the fix was to grease it to keep it working and then this year it is so bad it has to be replaced instead? The MOT this year was a different garage.

markhod

NeverEnough wrote: »

Had a similar issue with my old BMW a few years back -it was at the main dealer for a warranty repair and MOT was due in the next month so asked them to do it for convenience (I thought).

Only to get a message that it FAILED due to "excessively corroded brake pipes OSR and NSR". They demanded £1100 for repairs so I declined the lovely offer and took it to my local garage instead - family run, third generation, do lots of MOTs and general mechanical work. They quoted far less (around £300) to replace the brake lines if needed, but called me to say they had inspected the brake lines and there was absolutely no cause to replace them, the few rust spots were very superficial and brushed away easily. BMW brazened it out and insisted they were right when I confronted them about it later. 4 years later the same car still flies through MOTs every year -not at the main dealer however!

Just wondering as this is a Mini if OP took it to a main dealer for MOT. Sounds like a similar scenario to the one I had!

No, I use independent garages.