I was wondering if anyone can offer any suggestions before I go looking myself.

Once or twice when I've been driving my parters fabia, the brakes have failed to the point where there is no brake assistance.

She says that it has happened to her a few times and that the pedal felt 'normal', but there was basicly no brake effort and her car 'just rolled to a stop'.

Obviously this is a serious problem and I want to get to the root of it ASAP so any advice is welcome.

When I was driving it and it happened, the pedal did actually seem to feel relatively normal but basicly nothing was happening at the wheels.

As far as I can guess, its probably something to do with the brake assistance servo. If it somehow loses its pressure then there will be no assistance, however the throttle was closed (coming up to a junction) it should have vacuum regardless. When I released the brake and pressed it again it suddenly seemed to get the assistance back and was normal again.

Thanks, Dave.

Apart from the servo going south, have a look at the brake discs and see if oil or grease is dripping onto them. A common problem on front wheel drive cars is oil/grease leaking from the CV joints as they are usually just above the front discs.

I was wondering if anyone can offer any suggestions before I go looking myself.

Once or twice when I've been driving my parters fabia, the brakes have failed to the point where there is no brake assistance.

She says that it has happened to her a few times and that the pedal felt 'normal', but there was basicly no brake effort and her car 'just rolled to a stop'.

Obviously this is a serious problem and I want to get to the root of it ASAP so any advice is welcome.

When I was driving it and it happened, the pedal did actually seem to feel relatively normal but basicly nothing was happening at the wheels.

As far as I can guess, its probably something to do with the brake assistance servo. If it somehow loses its pressure then there will be no assistance, however the throttle was closed (coming up to a junction) it should have vacuum regardless. When I released the brake and pressed it again it suddenly seemed to get the assistance back and was normal again.

Thanks, Dave.

This has come up before - Have a very close inspection of the vac hose between the servo and whatever generates the vacuum ( inlet manifold on petrol or vac generator on diesel )

A small split in the pipe or a knackered seal on the fittings can give intermittent good and bad brakes.

Pull the lever just behind the gear stick

Definitely likely to be the servo vacuum hose. It's a solid plastic pipe with rubber ends, and it splits at the 90 degree bend usually.

Cheers for all the replies.

I've been and had a look, the servo vacuum hose looks to be fine, the 90 degree bend next to the intake manifold (its a 1.4 8-Valve BTW) is a little perished but nothing to cause a leak, the rest of it is in good condition too (solid plastic pipe with nothing rubbing on it).

Could the 1-way valve that connects to the manifold be faulty?

How easy are the brake servo's on these to change?

Thanks, Dave.

The vacuum pipe split on mine a couple of weeks back where it meets the round circle bit and branches off next to the airbox.

I was doing the stutter fix and noticed it so think it had been split for a while, brakes felt normal though.

Since having a new pipe put on the brakes feel like 4 pots

The vacuum pipe split on mine a couple of weeks back where it meets the round circle bit and branches off next to the airbox.

I was doing the stutter fix and noticed it so think it had been split for a while, brakes felt normal though.

Since having a new pipe put on the brakes feel like 4 pots

Stutter mod? Is that for the diesel or the petrol?

I only ask as the engine is still stuttering and shaking after I bothered my 4rse to change the wibbly-wobbly timing chain

I really dont think theres anything wrong with the pipe but I could be wrong. Do you happen to have a part number or a price for the pipe?

Thanks, Dave.

Hello everyone

I originally came to lurk and find out iif anyone else had had problems with the brake servo pipes cracking . . .

I had no problems yesterday, went to drive it today and brake pedal hardly moved - thought I had left the handbrake on! As modern engines all look like grey boxes to me I called the AA and their engineer found the fault - spitting on two parts of the pipes, one where it went into the valve from the servo and the other where it went into the air intake from the valve (hope this is clear!). He's done a temporary fix with some tape so I can get the car to a garage next week for a permanent repair.

He said he'd never seen this problem before on any vehicle (he even checked his database and couldn't find anything on there) and couldn't suggest any reason why the plastic pipes would split. I'ts a bit of a worry to see the same problem described here: my Fabia is only 5 years old and done less than 25,000 miles - I would have thought brake pipes should last longer than this.

Stutter mod? Is that for the diesel or the petrol?

I only ask as the engine is still stuttering and shaking after I bothered my 4rse to change the wibbly-wobbly timing chain

I really dont think theres anything wrong with the pipe but I could be wrong. Do you happen to have a part number or a price for the pipe?

Thanks, Dave.

As far as I'm aware it's just on the vrs's with the later BLT engine code

The vacuum pipe is £15 iirc, got the receipt somewhere, part number is printed all over the pipe

As far as I'm aware it's just on the vrs's with the later BLT engine code

The vacuum pipe is £15 iirc, got the receipt somewhere, part number is printed all over the pipe

Ah right, thats quite far removed from the old dinosaur 8v monstrosity.

I looked at the pipe and could see the VW logo but no specific part numbers, will have to have a closer look I think. If its only £15 then its worth eliminating.

when I come to think about it, the time the brakes went out on me, i'd just done a pretty much full throttle half mile, so if the non-return valve or the pipe itself was faulty its likely to cause fade.

Dave

Definitely likely to be the servo vacuum hose. It's a solid plastic pipe with rubber ends, and it splits at the 90 degree bend usually.

Digging up an old thread, does anyone know the part number to this part? Thanks!

2005 1.4 16v Fabia
 

Noticed brakes needed a bit more of a prod on the recently at times but normal for 95% of the time.
Looking round to see why EPC and engine lights on and noticed both plastic vacuum pipes either side of one way valve had splits in.
I don't know how the servo was still working as you could see into the pipe thru the cracks.

I have put the numbers off the pipes into Google and get nothing up.
Have taped the pipes up and pushed back on and am confident that will be safe and last for a week or two until I can get new pipes.

If they were fairly straight I would use generic hose but one is only about 5” long with a sharp 90 degree bend.