Surprise cure for the "bomb"

[hayes myers]

I don't think I have a fuse for my hydraulic pump. It is a mechanical device
(91 audi 200) that turns off a belt...

On Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 8:17 PM, <twfaust at aol.com> wrote:

> I have been sort of lurking here for a few years as the only Audi I have
> left is an '82 Coupe GT. One car in my fleet is a  extremely low mileage
> Supercharged model of the '90 Cougar. That also has the Teves system with
> antilock. I had power brake failure on that and assumed the accumulator had
> failed. Here is my post to the Super Coupe site, not certain of application
> to
> Audis; but Audis were famous for bad ignition switches.
>
> For a while my "antilock" light was on, I figured "get to it when I can".
> Then the red "Brake" light came on and I had the classic stiff pedal no
> power  assist.
>
> Follow me now, I was thrown off by the "red" and "amber" lights being on at
>  the same time, combined with the "stiff pedal". I assumed that the
> "accumulator  ball", or "Bomb" as Audi people call it, had failed.
>
> I took it around a few places and since the pump ran with the ignition "on"
>  no one could help. Assuming a bad accumulator, and 2 weeks for a new one,
> I went  to a pick n pull and grabbed one off a Turbo Coupe and Jaguar. I
> couldn't test  them, so I just installed them, no better, no worse. I
> continued
> to assume a bad  accumulator.
>
> Then, I decided to stop, make a coffee and think about. I was sort of
> tipped off by the directionals and heater blower working when the ignition
> was
> in the "on" position. If I started the car and returned the key to "on/run"
> the  directionals and blower quit. I looked at the fuse box cover and
> noticed the  fuse for the hydraulic pump was between the fuses for the
> directionals and  blower. I tried the few other things that required the
> ignition to be
> on, they  all worked in the "on" position, but quit when I started the car.
>
> The solution became obvious. I put in a $12 ignition switch and now I have
> power brakes again.
>
> The "antilock" light is still on (as it was before the brakes failed) so
> that is a separate problem. I might have arrived at the solution sooner had
> I
>  not read on the Net about both lights being on indicating a bad
> accumulator.
>
> Tom Faust
>
>
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