Hi,

I have a 1998 1.9TDi Octavia Estate and a few months ago my wife complained that the brakes failed on her.

We had it checked at a local garage and all was reported to be ok.!!

3 weeks ago it went for a routine service and a rear brake cylinder was replaced.

Last week we went on hols to Dorset and on a very steel hill I lost brake power assistance, scarry stuff!!

After some trial braking patterns I discovered that when travelling and I pump the brake pedal it goes hard and I loose power assistance.

We managed it safely back home and under normal careful usage it seems ok. But I need to get to the bottom of this problem quite urgently.

Can anyone suggest where I start to look or is it a "take it to the garage issue"

Thanks

Split brake servo vacuum hose perhaps? Would definately take to the garage though as brakes are not something to take chances with.

Edited 23 August, 201015 yr by Jon_VRS

You must have a leak in the vacuum side of the servo or associated piping. The servo is holding enough vacuum to assist normal braking but not enough for high demand situations. The brakes themselves won't fail, but, as you've found out the pedal becomes rock solid and you have to push really hard to get any effect.

Skoda had a recall on Octavias for splitting servo hoses.

Thanks for the replies, I'll get this looked at ASAP.

Was just thinking.... would a split hose make a sound like a distant police siren? As I have notices this noise quite often!

Its a wheesy kind of noise that increases with engine revs!

Edited 24 August, 201015 yr by clinkerman

Skoda had a recall on Octavias for splitting servo hoses.

ok thanks for that, would I have been contacted via DVLA if that was relenant to my vehicle?

I dont know how these things work :S

Thanks

Keith

It only applies if you bought it from new from a Skoda dealer, the dealer should have contacted you at the time to advise of the recall and arrange to have your car back in to get the issue fixed.

If the siren noise is when the turbo is spooling up or down then worst case scenario it could be

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/153104-turbo-noise/page__view__findpost__p__1901544

I'm not sure if the brake hose would have a vacuum that would increase or decrease depending on the revs, so I'm not 100% that is what is making the noise you are referring to. I would have thought the vacuum in the hose should be constant when the ABS system is on, so if you have a split you wouldn't hear any noise, just have brakes that didn't work properly.

Edited 24 August, 201015 yr by chicken_eyebrow

As others have said maybe a split servo hose or maybe the vacum pump is faulty,i have had this on a vauxhall astra 1.7 d estate,the pump broke up internally & the pedal went rock hard & the braking was greatly reduced.

Thanks for the replies everybody.

You guys were right on the money

Servo hose was split in 2 places, did a temporary repair and it fixed the problem

The pipe is quite brittle so have just been and fetched some replacement hose.

Cheers

Keith