Oh my (Audi) God(s)!

["Frank Amoroso" <famoroso@sprintmail.com>]

To recap. I've been having brake problems since last Saturday. Brake light
was on, pedal pulsated while engine was running, no brake boost. Failure was
abrupt and not gradual. Normal braking was a fairly high force operation.
Throughout the last 6 days, I never lost power assist to the steering.


Start the car this morning, put handbrake down, brake light stays on, pedal
still pulsating. Drive somewhere for lunch, same deal as last 6 days.

Start the car after work, brake light is no longer on, pedal no longer
pulsates, I have power assist back. Drive home, shut off car. 27 brake pumps
before I lose assist. Recovery was abrupt not gradual.

45 minutes later start the car, drive to Denver for Rockies' game. 60 mile
round-trip. Brakes work perfectly.


WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!!!
"Are we as flies to wanton boys?"
"By the Gods."
"Keep your sales literature close, but keep your Bentleys closer."

It may resist fade better and post shorter stopping distances, but I bet the
M3 does not have the self diagnostic / self healing brake system that the S4
comes with. Cool.

Thanks for all the responses. Any thoughts given the new info? So much for a
bad bomb, eh?unless you can get 27 pumps out of my bad bomb, I have to
conclude that my hydraulic pump has gone bad in 8 months and 6,000 miles.

Aleksander Mierzwa offered the following...

This symptom rather points towards a faulty servo. Disconnect the line that
goes from the servo to the reservoir and start the engine. If the servo is
OK, you shouldn't get more that a few drops from the line.

Thoughts??


Frank "Where is the nearest Audi God temple?" '93 S4



-----Original Message-----
Subject: Re: How about the (my) Audi question?


>At 10:45 PM 4/9/98 -0600, you wrote:
>>I get less than 2. In fact I get 0. As soon as the engine is turned off,
the
>>brake pedal firms up. I know this is indicative of a bad bomb, but part of
>>my original question is "if the pump that charges the bomb up goes bad
than
>>I should get the same results, i.e.. 0 pumps to hard pedal. Correct?"
>
>Hmmmm.  I suppose so if the pump is *totally* dead.  Is the belt still in
>place and does it turn the PS pump when the car idles?  It's kinda hard to
>visualize a total failure.  No definite knowledge here, but I would expect
>a gradual failure mod rather than an abrupt one.
>
>I suppose that if the bomb never gets charged then it would take no pedal
>presses at all for the brakes to get hard.  That would, however, also have
>the effect of making normal braking a very high force operation.  It would
>also eliminate any power assistance for steering (they both use the same
>bomb).  How is your steering?  Very stiff?  Are you starting to develop
>bulging muscles in your forearms?  :-)
>
>
>___
>   Bob
>*****************************************************************
>*  Robert L. Myers