Corroded brake pipes

[jackcramerr]

Is250 2008

Got mot advisory brake pipes being corroded. Anyone has experience of fixing this? What did it entail? And how much did it cost?

 

Also have you guys noticed lexus service menu does not allow date past 2024?

[mk_lon]

I've had it twice, front and rear. I left it for around a year (local indy I use told me not to worry as they have seen alot worst), got them changed when my discs and pads needed replacing too. Parts cost me around £45 a pair. 

 

[jackcramerr]

How much was the labour for it? Interested in the total lost. It is 2nd year advisory for me. Thanks.

[HPS13]

jack

You would need to specify which brake pipes require replacement as this will determine the cost. 

The cost of the pipe and tube nuts is relatively low. Brake fluid is also not expensive. The labour cost will be very variable depending on how many pipes need replaced. 

Regards

[Boomer54]

After Lexus quoted £560 to a corroded brake pipe I went to a recommended Indy. Typical local lass with decades of experience looked at the healthcheck paperwork and smirked. |She asked "do you what brake pipe costs?". Not a clue I replied. "£1.50 per foot", she informed me. Labour is the issue, but the Indy is generally going to be a lot less expensive than the dealership.

[Malc1]

Brake pipe often comes off a roll and a competent Indy will assess, replace as necessary and invoice you for hopefully sensible labour costs and often small parts costs …….. to last the next life of your car 😄

Have you built a rapport with a local Indy over the years maybe ? 
Lexus Main Dealer is often eye wateringly expensive for servicing sadly 

Good luck 

Malc

[H3XME]

Just now, Malc1 said:

Lexus Main Dealer is often eye wateringly expensive for servicing sadly 

It's probably by design. Indy's will actually try to fix stuff. Lexus will not be fixing anything, they just replace stuff. Perfect example is when i had a health check done and they wanted to charge £400 per caliper because they didn't move as they were supposed to. All it needed was £25 replacement slider pins and a bit of elbow grease. Did it myself in the end.

[Malc1]

I always ask my Indy service guy to check the calipers at each service …… I’m prior reading over the years on here that calipers never feature in the Service Schedules ….. at Lexus and possibly all others too 

Calipers are really very expensive to replace when simple annual check and servicing of them adds very little to your annual maintenance bill ……. done by someone competent and knows what they’re doing of course 😄

Ive never had calipers actually replaced in decades of motoring and many 00’s of 000s of smiles miles in my Ls400s 🤩

Malc

[H3XME]

1 minute ago, Malc1 said:

Ive never had calipers actually replaced in decades of motoring and many 00’s of 000s of smiles miles in my Ls400s 

Consider yourself lucky Malc. I didn't have issues with slider pins on my 1991 V8 Soarer, but the piston within the caliper itself was seized. I believe early LS400 shares the same brakes. It was a major PITA to remove the seized piston. Dust washer ruptured and the piston was seized solid. I had to weld a bar to it to get a better leverage to hammer it out. Never again🤣

[Howplum]

Get them repaired by a mechanic,  rather than a "technician". Have them use Kunifer copper alloy pipe, or similar, for longevity and to make the job a little easier. Generally the original steel pipes (used for cost reasons?) will corrode where they meet the flexible hose to each wheel. It is perfectly legal to use joints for the repair sections, as long they of the flange fitting type. It would probably be necessary to replace the associated flexible hose as well because the connection to the pipe will be damaged trying to get it apart.

[Barry14UK]

It should be a requirement for long lasting material to be used in brake lines.

Flexible hoses have a particularly hard life and apart from noting obvious external cracking and stiffness can suffer internally.  Had this happen on a car where the rubber had swollen so much that it had completely stopped the passage of brake fluid to calliper.  Found this as I cut the  pipe apart.

[Malc1]

46 minutes ago, Barry14UK said:

It should be a requirement for long lasting material to be used in brake lines.

Flexible hoses have a particularly hard life and apart from noting obvious external cracking and stiffness can suffer internally.  Had this happen on a car where the rubber had swollen so much that it had completely stopped the passage of brake fluid to calliper.  Found this as I cut the  pipe apart.

In my simplicity I was thinking that todays brake pipe comes off a specific copper tube 🤔

Malc

[jackcramerr]

4 hours ago, Howplum said:

Get them repaired by a mechanic,  rather than a "technician". Have them use Kunifer copper alloy pipe, or similar, for longevity and to make the job a little easier. Generally the original steel pipes (used for cost reasons?) will corrode where they meet the flexible hose to each wheel. It is perfectly legal to use joints for the repair sections, as long they of the flange fitting type. It would probably be necessary to replace the associated flexible hose as well because the connection to the pipe will be damaged trying to get it apart.

How can I know who is a mechanic and who a tech?

 

 

[Malc1]

On 4/4/2024 at 9:07 AM, Malc1 said:

Brake pipe often comes off a roll and a competent Indy will assess, replace as necessary and invoice you for hopefully sensible labour costs and often small parts costs …….. to last the next life of your car 😄

Have you built a rapport with a local Indy over the years maybe ? 
Lexus Main Dealer is often eye wateringly expensive for servicing sadly 

Good luck 

Malc

Just reiterating this really ……. Ask your normal regular servicing guy but NOT Lexus 

Malc 

 

 

[Howplum]

Broadly speaking a technician, as found in a main dealer, will replace rather than repair. Also, a main dealer will presumably replace like with like, i.e. steel. Hopefully an independent mechanic would suggest a repair for longer pipes, although it is often easier to replace shorter lengths, such as those at the rear. I have inserted short lengths of copper alloy pipe on several cars over the years and have never had any comments during the MoT test.