pete_griff

the best thing you can do when you get to that stage (in my opinion) is just cut your losses and cut the brake line. make sure you cut it as close to the end as possible and keep the original shape so you can copy it. then either make some new ones yourself, or get someone to make them for you - lots of motor factors will make them up for you if you take in your old lines for them to copy. also if you can get hold of it use copper nickel line rather than just copper as it's stronger and lasts longer. i know it's a ball-ache, but at the end of the day if you're removing the old lines anyway and they are corroded to the point where they are bastards to undo,then it's really worth replacing them anyway, so they don't cause corrosion issues when it comes to MOT time. also, when you are removing the old lines be aware that where the flexible hose pushes up through the mounting point on the inside of the wheelarch - it is splined on the end - i.e the hose end of the connection itself will not turn at all - the only thing you can turn to undo it is the bolt on the end of the solid line which the line passes through. (if that makes sense...)

i agree with supercharged - i would say about every 60k miles ish (depending on how hard you drive it) i can also recommend castrol syntrax which is a high quality universal fluid that people with imprezas etc are big fans of. you should be able to pick that up from most high street outlets as well if mail order is a pain in the arse

before you go sheeling out on new calipers - you could just try giving yours a good clean, in particular the sliders on the carriers that the pads sit on - they often get rusty and full of crap. cleam 'em up and give the sliding area and the back of the pads a good dose of copper grease and see how you get on...

You can't use silicon based fluids at all with VW's - particuarly the ABS system I believe... Halfords Dot 5.1 is the stuff to use - £3 a ltr with a trade card! Inky - as above, spongy brakes usually means air in the system - when was the fluid last changed? how come you can't use silicone fluid - i'm using it with my my new calipers and i have abs and it's been working very well... do you know something i don't?! :? also the silicone stuff will mix with normal fluid as far as i'm aware (i know for a fact my automec stuff will as it says so on the destructions) - only thing is that you don't want it to mix as the normal stuff will affect the performance

thats unlucky - don't know how old your fluid is, but if it's boiling from the rear calipers alone (even if they are seized) then you could have too high a water content in the fluid; lowering the boiling point. guess you've having all new fluid when you get new/recon calipers anyway...

that connector possibly sounds like the vacuum/air pressure sensor thingy in the side of the upper part of the inlet manifold to the right of it as you look at the engine from the front of the car - pick up your upper inlet and have a look...

good call - but water on the brakes wouldn't affect pedal travel, even if it would take more pressure to make them work as normal....

if the reservoir above the master cylinder (by the servo) is full, then the only things it could be are: master cylinder any one of the slaves on the actual calipers themselves - maybe a seal gone any of the flexible hoses (6 on a corrado) how many miles has the car done - wouldn't like to say which of those is the most likely in all honesty - but you should check them all at the earliest opportunity look for residual leakage around the calipers, hoses and master cylinder... the only other thing that is far less likely is that one of the connections in the solid lines or one of the bleed nipples has somehow started working itself loose and you've some how got air in the system... on that note, was the reservoir really low when you last topped it up?.... i don't know enough about the internals of the abs pump to comment, but i guess it's also possible that a seal in there could have gone as well (which is probably the worst case scenario) - you'd have to ask someone more knowledgable than i veeeeeeeeeeeeeerrry strange anyway - good luck with that one

glad to see you're getting stuck in my friend :) - really not difficult once you take the first initial plunge is it?! (i remember i was really nervous when i took my first engine to bits!) hope you manage to get all the parts etc that you need - that's the worst bit - i hate all the waiting :( good luck with it all anyway, make sure you keep us posted on your progress...

hey there my friend if you check out the picture in the link below of the refurb i did on my car you can clearly see the slave cylinder (the shiny silver thing!) on top of the gearbox right next to the gear change mechanism thingy where the cables attach onto the box... download/file.php?id=49042&mode=view hope that helps

owing to the price difference and the fact that i have pliers which will hopefully easily remove the dubpower leads, i think i'm going to go for the dubpowers

fair enough, cheers again for the reply - have you considered buying some valve stem seal pliers - not sure if you'll ever need them for their intended purpose... - but i'm sure they'll be excellent for removing your leads! - follow the link to a cheap pair of the above: http://www.trueshopping.co.uk/product.p ... 6_24_Valve

here is a link by the way to the pictures of the two different plugs - the first from AVS - beru leads (unsure who makes the plug ends of them - but they are now all metal, so no more ripped rubber boots) which are also a fair bit more £££ - £58 inc. vat delivered http://www.vwspares.co.uk/product_info. ... cts_id=646 and the dubpower ones which have the weird rubber ends on are £34 inc vat + delivery http://www.vwspares.co.uk/product_info. ... cts_id=646 any suggestions?....

are they really that much of a pain in the arse to remove, because in all honesty i find the plug lead removal tool a pain in the arse - i know it's simple and easy - just annoying... do you recon someone with small hands would fair better with the extended rubber end thingys?

my car isn't totally standard - it has a magnex cat-back, K&N panel filter (replaced horrific sounding induction kit) and a remap - running 203bhp, so not heavily modified, but not standard all the same hmmm - descisions, descisions..... i shouldn't need to be removing the leads much now i've got new iridium plugs and new coilpack, but still - that does sounds pretty gay about them being more difficult to install/take off, but then i have heard nothing but good things about dubpower leads - i also have small, girly hands, which helps lots when fiddling around with cars!.... still not sure - what is the price of the leads from AVS do you know - haven't rung them yet and the price isn't listed on their site for a coilpack variant.....

i've just looked on the site now and i can see - they haven't got the cut out in them for the lead tool to slip around and turn - that's pretty crap and annoying - how much of a performance benefit do you recon that you will get over the standard leads from those - i'm guessing bugger all, in which case i will order the ones from AVS...

cheers for that - that's strange they don't work with the lead removal tool - looks like they should in the picture on the dubsport website???

cheers for the reply - chazrad recommended the dubpower leads to me, so i recon i will go with them - when are you getting yours? - would be good to hear back from you before i splash out on my own...

what kip says is all well and good - and right, but if you can get hold of the right tool, then definitely do that - you risk stressing the bush when you put it in if you don't use the proper kit as it could put undue strain on the rubber etc and shorten the life of the bushes - it's normally pretty obvious if you are doing/going to do something that will bugger it up, but if you can use the proper kit, it will not only be easier to do, but you can be sure of doing a proper job...

haha :D - with my corrado club discount it was £125 inc VAT...

cool - very helpful, cheers - like i say, chazrad uses the dubsport leads on his charged VR, and after talking to various other people, he's heard nothing bad whatsoever about them. The coilpack i just bought from GSF had beru stamped all over it - which is nice! cheers again

cheers for the replies gents - don't really want to spend anymore cash on the car at the moment, but i think i'll go for some new ones, as i'm unsure of the age of my leads, but i think they're pretty old now - chazrad recommended some dubsport leads to me and they are apparently cheap too, so i'll give them a ring and see what they quote me...

hooray - my car works again and is on all four wheels for a change! - only snag now is that now i've also put a new coilpack on it and had the head steamcleaned the leads are arking onto the head - have wrapped the metal parts of the leads in a V thin layer of insulation tape and got the leads securely on the plugs and as central in the holes as possible, but they are still very faintly doing it (you can only see it in darkness) - i'm guessing that means new leads being as now i've got a new coilpack and plugs as well... (either that or i could rub some soil on the sides of the bores in the head to stop it from earthing!)

hey buddy the way i sort stuff like that is with white insulation tape, then write on that in black marker what the wires/connectors are for. Also pics are good - not only to show people what you've done, but proof that it's been done if ever you want to sell the car, but most importantly - if you get stuck on something you can refer back to them to refresh your memory. hope all is going well for you anyway bud :)

hooray - my car works again and is on all four wheels! - only snag now is that now i've also put a new coilpack on it and had the head steamcleaned the leads are arking onto the head - have wrapped the metal in a V thin layer of insulation tape and got the leads securely on the plugs and as central as possible, but they are still very faintly doing it (you can see it in darkness) - i'm guessing that means new leads now i've got a new coilpack and plugs as well...