Master Cylinder

[cnorto20]

My Q45 is sitting with 219,000 on the clock. I just had the pads and rotors replaced. The car itself drives great, no noises other than a strange BUMP I hear around what seems like the right front pillar area of the car. It only happens when I drive over bumps and holes. Any idea what that sound could mean?

This car was dealer maintained, and as I recently learned, maintained and serviced at T3 for its entire life up until my ownership. I'm trying to make it reach the 300k club while I'm in college. I maintain the normal maintenance schedule of changing the oil every 3,000, I'm just wondering if there's anything else I should be doing to keep it going to 300...

The main topic though is the brakes are leaking at the main cylinder and booster. I have to fill the Q up with brake fluid every 100 miles or so. That's going to be A LOT of bottles of fluid between now and 300k. But that will be fine with me if it's the only problem I face. But with this sort of a leak, does anyone see a future problem I need to look out for, before something goes really wrong? Thanks.

[maxnix]

Yeah, once your master cylinder seals fail and you lose all braking, you will be bummed. Especially if you are moving.

Without a maintenance history nor knowing the previous owner's aggressiveness on that issue, hard to guess what it coming up (why he sold it). Upper links? Trivial but common. Under plenum hoses? Expensive, but can be done by most with time and patience. Hopefully you can get the records and determine when the next fluid exchanges, spark plug replacements, and filter changes should occur to reach your goal without serious deterioration of performance.

[cnorto20]

The brakes have already gone out completely, but they always go out gradually and I have the warning lights letting me know. As long as no one sees a problem with continuing to just fill up the fluid, I'll stick with the leak. I got the car for almost free, so fixing that would probably cost more than the value of the car.

The guy sold me the car because I asked him to. It was his mom's old ride and she bought a new one. It was just collecting dust while his Audi was getting fixed. Great deal for me, and all those things you mentioned have been maintained. I have all the service records and everything is up to date. I just wanna learn any specifics to help her make it to 300k.

[maxnix]

Don't mistake past history as an indicator of future performance.

What makes you think you have arrested the deterioration of the master cylinder of which the leak is a certain indicator of impending failure? Think catastrophic failure when you are braking from high speed or attempting to stop for a pedestrian in a cross walk. Not a good outcome, and certainly not as inexpensive as a functioning master cylinder.

All you need to do is to continue the T-3 maintenance schedule.
Modified by maxnix at 8:01 PM 2/7/2007

[Q451990]

The brakes have already gone out completely...

I have a good friend with a permanatly relocated nose from that kind of thinking. He said that windshields aren't exactly soft when you hit one... he was in a VW bug with a new one on the way... needed it a day earlier than the morning he hit a drainage culvert after swerving off of the road to keep from plowing into the car in front of him.

If nothing else, get an Advanced Auto cheapie or something... anything is better than what you're describing! I don't think $85 for the A1 Cardone Reman there is too much to pay to keep from potentially killing someone! If that's not cheap enough maybe you could get a used one that doesn't leak? Damn!

Heath
Modified by Q451990 at 10:58 PM 2/7/2007

[ScottJackson]

agreed. Getting a Q is the cheap part, keeping it running isn't. Get a rebuilt master cylinder and follow the exact instructions for bench bleeding it and then bleeding the system on the car. It's recommended that you address all the bushings and such but the sad truth is that most people who have an old Q now got it because they couldn't afford a newer lux car. But that said, you must get a new master cylinder ASAP. And that doesn't mean after you take your girlfriend to a movie and buy whatever other toy you've been wanting while you drive the Q around with the leaky one. If you must, park the Q until you get it fixed (meaning, drive it only if you absolutely need to do so and if that does come about, top off that fluid long before you get the warning light even if it means pulling over ever 20 miles). Good luck!