Sudden brake line corrosion on older cars?

ahal

Hi all.

As some will know my car failed the NCT a year ago on severely corroded brake lines. When my mechanic drove the car over his pit many colourful phrases were employed (he had said before doing so that "it's probably just a bit of surface rust", but discovered otherwise!)

He invited me down to have a look. I couldn't believe it: in several places the lines had swollen to twice the size they should be. The corrosion was covering a substantial surface, and was incredibly severe ... so much so that I drove like a nervous wreck until I could take the car off the road (which I did at the earliest opportunity)

I was talking to the lad in the local shop the other day; his '97 failed on the same thing. Then the same week my friend brings his '98 fiesta for the test and guess what? - it failed on sills and brake line corrosion! I had a look under this fiesta. What I saw amazed me. The brake lines looked as though, if I hooked my small finger around them and gave the slightest tug, they'd crumble to dust.

None of these cars are British imports. Now I'm no expert but I've seen how metal / car parts react to being out in the open long term: you get surface rust. Given that we're talking a maximum of 2 years between NCT tests it doesn't tally at all: I don't believe that something can rust that badly 'naturally' in that timeframe. Not for a minute. They would have to have been chronically bad when passing the last test (ie: a fail item), or ...

I wonder if the crap that was spread on the roads during the snow of '09 and '10 might have something to do with this? Given that the numptys couldn't get salt, I wonder if they mixed a particularly lethal dose of de-icer with it or something? It wouldn't surprisAe me, given that they use farmyard sh1t-spreaders (which of course cover entire cars) to spread it, rather than proper gritters.

Anyone got any views on this?

Regards,

Tony.

corktina

no doubt now that salt is used on our roads now brake lines will rust quicker, but surely a 15 yaar old car with duff pipes shouldnt surprise you?

ta2kevin

Rusted pipes are to be expected at that age, but as said above, the salt doesn't help. Re: the Fiesta, almost every one up to '02 rusts at the bottom of the B-pillar.

hi5

The pipes are made of steel and fitted after the body has been galvanised,so they wouldn't have the same level of protection.
As Corktina said the roads in Ireland have been salted for years now, how many people do you know wash the underside of their car after driving in the salt?

ahal

It doesn't surprise me at all that brake lines would corrode - and corrode badly - on cars 10, 15, 20 years old or whatever. What does surprise me is that a car which is deemed fit to pass the NCT then fails 2 years or less later with brake lines falling off / fit to burst. In my experience widespread rust doesn't take hold to that extent, in that time, naturally.

We're not talking about hidden rust that's just waiting to break through ... which would explain it not being caught sooner. We're talking brake lines that resemble something off the deck of the Titanic!

ianobrien

hi5 wrote: »

The pipes are made of steel and fitted after the body has been galvanised,so they wouldn't have the same level of protection.
As Corktina said the roads in Ireland have been salted for years now, how many people do you know wash the underside of their car after driving in the salt?

No wonder the neighbours were looking at me funny when I was washing underneath the car every second day (without washing the rest of it) last winter....

macplaxton

Currently looking under a 2000 plate car and the brake lines look fine to me. Appeared to be black powder or plastic coating on the things. As long as this skin has no nicks in it, they'll stay looking good.

Not bad at all when you consider it's French

Big Nasty

Schultz

corktina

MCMLXXV wrote: »

Schultz

yer don't pay peanuts for that....:D

ahal

corktina wrote: »

yer don't pay peanuts for that....:D

Yer don't pay peanuts for anything to do with motoring in Ireland, but yer get a kick in the balls for it all the same.

wildefalcon

Waxoil, diluted up to 30% with new engine oil, applied to all non-plastic/rubber surfaces, injected into sills/door frames/pillars/around wheelarches and onto the wheels under the plastic trims.

It works.

G.

ahal

Thanks for the replies folks.

Inbetween the commenting about the poster rather than the post, and "I'm so great because I make sure it doesn't happen to me" nonsense, there are some interesting perspectives / remedies given.

Regarding talk about the UK situation, I believe that they had to tone down what they put on the roads in bad weather over there due to the fact that it was dissolving cars ... and for those who like to use the "new is better" arguement at the drop of a hat (odd that, in a classics forum :rolleyes:) what they found over there was that relatively new cars were rotting.

corktina

ahal wrote: »

Yer don't pay peanuts for anything to do with motoring in Ireland, but yer get a kick in the balls for it all the same.

you missed the snoopy connection I think:)

hi5

ahal wrote: »

Inbetween the commenting about the poster rather than the post, and "I'm so great because I make sure it doesn't happen to me" nonsense, there are some interesting perspectives / remedies given.

QUOTE]

Where did you read that?

Merrion

So - copper would eb a good choice when replacing break (and fuel) pipes - additional cost notwithstanding?

macplaxton

Steel (zinc plated) - Easy and cheap, rusts when the coating is done.

Steel (plastic coated) - As above, but less likely for the coating to go. Pretty much standard on new stuff.

Copper (thin wall and thick wall)

If using for brake pipes make sure it is properly supported. If using for fuel line make sure it has anti-vibration coils put at the appropriate ends. Copper work hardens and if it pipe is about to move too much back and forth it will break.

Cupro-nickel (Copper 90% / Nickel 10% alloy (maybe a bit of iron too))

Quite expensive, but won't work harden the same way as pure copper.

End fittings

These might be plated steel, or brass or something else.