Been to my brothers to collect my trailer, all hitched up and ready to depart, jumped in and fired it up only to be greeted by a ding from the cluster and CHECK BRAKE FLUID, I just dismissed it at first pulled the trailer out and parked up on the street while I locked up. When I got back in I got the same message so decided to check it out having just had a brake recall done I thought it could be something to do with that but instead its out from the cill around the B post area.


Left it at my brothers for the night, looks like it's having a ride with the RAC tomorrow but can't get it fixed until friday  Current
2013 Range Rover Autobiography SDV8
2001 Porsche 911 Turbo
_____________________________________
Previous
2007 Range Rover Vogue SE TDV8
2002 Range Rover HSE TD6
+ Many other non LR products

I sympathise,

My MY2002 Vogue went into my local main dealer for an oil leak to be rectified and while they were at it they found a couple of repairs to the suspension that needed to be carried out as well. £1063 later, car returned with various error messages including Low Brake fluid.

They topped up the reservoir and I drove off to find No brakes! Back to the MD, vehicle had lost all its brake fluid! Cause investigated and said to be severe corrosion to all the brake lines. Last MOT carried out less than a year ago gave slight corrosion only.

Car has been off the road now for over a month as LR can't supply the parts. Expecting a bill of over £1200 although MD said they will offer a consideration as the vehicle should not have been returned to a customer in a dangerous condition.

I'm wondering if a brake pipe was disconnected to carry out the repairs to the suspension and not reconnected afterwards but no way of course of proving this. I've asked to inspect the brake pipes that they remove from my vehicle. Peter Kemp
Chelmsford
UNITED KINGDOM

Range Rover Vogue MY2002 4.4l V8
Java Black
Charcoal Trim / Oxford Seats
Colour Coded: Door Handles, All Badging Front and Rear, Bonnet Vent, Foam A-Bar / Nudge Bar
Range Rover Style 11 20'' Wheels
US Spec Front Sidelight / Indicator Light Units / Rear Light Units (MY2005 Style)
Retro Fit Sony / Alpine RES
Various LED Light upgraded Interior / Exterior
Lower Rear Tailgate Gas Strut modification

A bill of £1200 for brake pipes seems excessive even if they do contribute some towards it and the price comes down! With a couple of tools and some cupronikel pipe, which buying all new should be less than £100 new and the new lines will outlive the car as it wont corrode and give up like the steel oem ones! Should be about 3 hours labour at a decent indie at £50 an hour and as they will already have the tools about £200 should see the job done! Alterntively have a read of joe90's superb guide im the wiki and you can do them yourself! Current 2007 TDV8 Vogue Buckingham Blue

I've replaced full length brake lines in the past (although on a freelander), easy to get copper pipe, fittings and a flaring tool, well worth having a go if you're a DIY'er.

Bleeding would probably be the hardest part on a FF.

Had one pipe leaking a few months ago , 25 euro from indie, took about 45 mins 2015 4.4 AB
GSXR 1000 K5
R1 1998

Many thanks kbald and hamlet for the benefit of your experience.

I have had a look at the excellent joe90 write up in the wiki and if I was a younger man instead of knocking on for71 with a bad back and bad knees I might have had a go although I am daunted by to me the complexity of the work involved.

If I could have got my vehicle to the independent LR garage I often use near Maldon in Essex I might have gone down that route but with it immobile at the MD's I would need to get it transported and would still I expect be presented with a bill from the MD for whatever work they may have already carried out in removing the defective brake pipes, etc. What are they charging now £150 - 170 an hour labour?

The MD of course is very reluctant to fit pattern parts otherwise I might have had the vehicle back on the road by now.

Of course I forget that although my RR has only done just over 60,000 miles and I've owned it for 13 years, at the end of the day it is a 15 year old vehicle and things wear out despite the very low mileage.

Just have to hope the new government don't rob me of my triple lock pension and winter fuel allowance! Peter Kemp
Chelmsford
UNITED KINGDOM

Range Rover Vogue MY2002 4.4l V8
Java Black
Charcoal Trim / Oxford Seats
Colour Coded: Door Handles, All Badging Front and Rear, Bonnet Vent, Foam A-Bar / Nudge Bar
Range Rover Style 11 20'' Wheels
US Spec Front Sidelight / Indicator Light Units / Rear Light Units (MY2005 Style)
Retro Fit Sony / Alpine RES
Various LED Light upgraded Interior / Exterior
Lower Rear Tailgate Gas Strut modification

Good luck with it hopefully they see sense and offer a good contribution to the bill as letting it leave unsafe is very poor form especially when it comes to brakes! I seem to remember when i looked at doing mine there was mention of the dealers having to drop the fuel tank to carry out the work but it isnt necessary! Keep us posted on the outcome. Current 2007 TDV8 Vogue Buckingham Blue

PSGK It may be that the 2002 parts are hard to get hold of, but from memory when I had a couple of steel pipes changed on my 2007MY they were cheap as chips for the bits from Dan. IIRC they were less than £10 per section for gen LR ones.

OK there is a bit of work getting them off and on but £1200 seems excessive, then again if they have one tech on it all day at the rates they charge its probably about right!!

I would be calling your local indy and asking for a quote to swap them all out then using that as leverage for LR. At the end of the day you wouldn't be having it done by them given a choice, they left it in a dangerous condition and If they don't Capitulate then get them to transport it to your indy at their cost and have it done there. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

It cost me £175 at my local indy. They replaced the other pipe while they were at it aswell and inspected the rest which were all ok. Current
2013 Range Rover Autobiography SDV8
2001 Porsche 911 Turbo
_____________________________________
Previous
2007 Range Rover Vogue SE TDV8
2002 Range Rover HSE TD6
+ Many other non LR products

^thars a pretty decent result! There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

I was happy with it, they quoted around the £150 mark over the phone. For that price I wasn't crawling about on the garage floor doing it myself, tools can carry on gathering dust. Current
2013 Range Rover Autobiography SDV8
2001 Porsche 911 Turbo
_____________________________________
Previous
2007 Range Rover Vogue SE TDV8
2002 Range Rover HSE TD6
+ Many other non LR products

Thank you fellow FFRR Forum Members for your helpful advice and for giving me the benefit of your experiences. Much appreciated.

An update: My local body shop/ servicing garage said if the MD had not started the work they would arrange to get my vehicle transported to them and carry out the repairs. Danny, the boss is a FFRR owner himself and they work on quite a few. They thought the problem with obtaining spares from LR was a delaying tactic as they had never had any problems getting parts from LR within two days or so.

Armed this this offer and prepared to remove my vehicle I visited the MD yesterday to discover that the parts were in and the car was being worked on, so it was a bit difficult to tell them to stop. They are initially throwing in a free MOT as this expired on the 8th June. They are also fitting the L322 Driving Lamp Kit for me which I have had knocking about for a couple of years as it is a fairly complex install.

Still expecting a large bill even taking into account what ever consideration / discount they may or may not give me. Just have to hope the car doesn't fail the MOT on something else!

I reminded them that I wish to see the brake pipes that are removed from my vehicle to check exactly how corroded they are.

Thanks again to everybody who responded to my post Peter Kemp
Chelmsford
UNITED KINGDOM

Range Rover Vogue MY2002 4.4l V8
Java Black
Charcoal Trim / Oxford Seats
Colour Coded: Door Handles, All Badging Front and Rear, Bonnet Vent, Foam A-Bar / Nudge Bar
Range Rover Style 11 20'' Wheels
US Spec Front Sidelight / Indicator Light Units / Rear Light Units (MY2005 Style)
Retro Fit Sony / Alpine RES
Various LED Light upgraded Interior / Exterior
Lower Rear Tailgate Gas Strut modification

I know this is an old thread but I've seen on here people complaining when their RR fails an MOT or gets an advisory for corroded brake lines. I've just driven back from Skye (450 miles), 4 up, 4 bikes and luggage for a fortnight. Needless to say I wasn't hanging around. The morning after I got home I noticed a large pool of fluid on the ground - brake fluid. Its with the indy now and they confirmed that the brake pipes had indeed "let go" and they are replacing them all (about 400 quid). I topped the fluid up and in the short 8 mile journey it "used" all 500ml. I went and dropped it off in the dead of night because I didn't want to use the brakes (which would have been the case in traffic during the day). I now also know that using the parking brake just locks the back wheels.
So if an advisory says corroded brake pipes get them done. Check 'em anyway advisory or not. I dread to think what the consequences could have been on my high speed journey from Skye.

Although I am soon to be £400 or so lighter, I feel very lucky. Geoff

The recent post from Geoff (super shuttle) has prompted me to update my last entry about my experiences in having my corroded brake pipes replaced by my local LR Main Dealer.

To continue, when I went to pick up my vehicle, the MD had had it for 1 day over 3 months. They had forgotten to carry out the MOT which had expired whilst they had the vehicle despite promising to do so. So that was another one and a half hours while they tested the vehicle, failed it on wrongly adjusted headlights and then carried out this work.

The original brake pipes which I had asked to be retained so I could inspect them were not available. I was informed that they had been "disposed" of. It use to be best practice that when any parts were replaced or renewed on a vehicle, the old parts were retained and returned to the owner to prove that new parts had been fitted as charged for.

My final bill came to just over £1400. They did discount the cost of some of the work in particular the fitting of the LR Driving Lamp Kit which I was told is charged out as a six hour job. I paid for two hours labour for installation which I agree was a considerable saving.

My main problem was that the brakes did not feel any better after all this work was done and the car went straight back to the MD. It was suggested that debris from the corroded brake pipes may have contaminated the master brake cylinder and that this should be replaced.

I had this replaced at my local independent at an additional cost of nearly £500 but the brakes still do feel as effective as they were before the car went into the MD originally for an oil leak to be investigated. To me the peddle travel is still excessive but I've learnt to live with this now.

The whole experience, original oil leak, anti-roll bar suspension links replaced both sides, renew all the brake pipes, new master cylinder, and install the LR Driving Lamp Kit cost me just over £3000. Peter Kemp
Chelmsford
UNITED KINGDOM

Range Rover Vogue MY2002 4.4l V8
Java Black
Charcoal Trim / Oxford Seats
Colour Coded: Door Handles, All Badging Front and Rear, Bonnet Vent, Foam A-Bar / Nudge Bar
Range Rover Style 11 20'' Wheels
US Spec Front Sidelight / Indicator Light Units / Rear Light Units (MY2005 Style)
Retro Fit Sony / Alpine RES
Various LED Light upgraded Interior / Exterior
Lower Rear Tailgate Gas Strut modification