Car 2013 4.4 autobiography
Driving my car yesterday I went to brake and the brakes failed , brake pedal traveled to floor luckily I wasn’t going fast and got car stopped when I got out there was a puddle of engine oil under car
Smoke coming from bonnet
Car recovered and waiting on it to be inspected and repaired under extended warranty does anyone know what could be the cause
I thought the oil was brake fluid but the AA and recovery men said it was definitely engine oil
Thanks in advance

Bloody hell you were lucky! Unbelievable let us know the cause please. overfinch modified

reckon brake master cylinder gone or leaky/corroded pipes?

Last edited by Dolphinboy on 10th May 2023 9:58pm. Edited 1 time in total

but why viewed as engine oil ? or was the aa guy just wrong ?

I cant see how an engine failure of oil coming out the engine would stop the brakes working in some way. The system should still have resistance regardless, even with the engine off.

Pedal to the floor implies that the master cylinder is pushing against no resistence ... ie, failed brake lines or cylinders ... irrespective of engine state, V8 or else ...

Did the engine stop? If the engine stops, you'll lose servo assistance and the brake pedal will take a mighty push to be anything near effective so can feel as if you haven brakes (but you will have a modest amount and need a lot of pedal pressure to produce it). Otherwise I cant see how loss of engine fluids would affect the(closed) braking system

ETA just reread your post OP and if the pedal went the floor, that wont be servo loss due to engine stopping. it suggests loss of brake fluid from the system First time FFRR owner

Rather doubt that the pic shows engine oil, brake fluid has quite a different viscosity, it looks like the brake fluid has made the grey tarmac wet, ( and soaked in, as there is no puddle ) thus making it look black, maybe that is why the guy thought it was engine oil. A big leak somewhere in the brake system must be the cause.

To be fair, that looks like engine oil at first glance. Even dirty brake fluid shouldn't really be that black in colour ... dark tea maybe, but rarely black. did you touch or smell it? easy to tell then. V8 or else ...

Yes the AA man touched it and said it was engine oil 👍

Lucky boy! Glad you are OK.

As above, symptoms suggest a pipe or union gave out suddenly dumping brake fluid, so no brakes.
The brake system should have a double circuit so if one pipe fails, there is some residual braking.
If it’s oil, where’s the rest? You’d be in trouble with that little oil in the engine.
Interesting to get the final verdict on this one, and to know the exact cause & location of the issue, to further whet our FFRR paranoia  “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” -where’s the fun in that?

Last edited by Gremlin500 on 11th May 2023 7:45am. Edited 1 time in total

Many years ago my wife thought that our RRC had no brakes after a rear hose was broken by a caught stick. She was on a down-hill run to the front gate on our farm driveway on the side of a hill so had no option but to drive through the closed gate. Fortunately the bull-bar prevented damage to the car. In fact the 2nd circuit was still operative but very close to the floor giving the impression of no brakes at all with the pedal moving so far without resistance. I don't know if the RRC's brake system components are similar to the L405's but probably not as the RRC didn't have ABS.

One needs to try to remember to pull and hold the park brake lever if the foot-brake fails as the ABS system will endeavour to bring the vehicle to a quick, controlled stop if the pump can get enough fluid, otherwise the park brake itself will be used.

Surely with dual circuit brakes, the pedal shouldnt have gone to the floor with a single fractured brake line, the likelyhood of both circuits fracturing at the same time unlikely? BMW i3 Electric Car
2012 Full Fat RR 4.4 TDV8 (now gone)
2006 VW Touareg 3.0 TDi V6

Simple check of the brake fluid reservoir level will confirm the state of play.