zippy320
Well-known member
Well This is an Update on my current situation following on from this Thread , where I had been experiencing a braking issue with my E46 , N42 Engine .
http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=73573
I replaced the Vacuum Pump with my old ( Original ) ( came with the car) vacuum pump that was leaking oil, Before this , I replaced all rubber inner and outer seals so hopefully it wont leak again.
Drove the car yesterday and Today , and the Braking issue seems to have been solved. Car Feels much better , And there are no braking problems at startup or at any engine speed . Brakes feel normal and no longer hard , Brake effort has returned to normal .
All is well so far . I will keep monitoring the situation and give feedback if anything else changes .
But from what I have seen , The Vacuum pump has a valve on the connecting pipe which can fail , It seems to be a one way valve , which holds pressure in the Pipe , The system seems to rely on this one way valve that's on the vacuum pump as well as the black inline valve that's attached to the black pipes which attach to the brake booster and when the one is faulty it would cause our no , intermittent or very hard braking issue , It seems as one valve holds pressure while the other holds it as well . When one fails , the other holds its pressure but cant hold enough and would need the engine turning to regain some of its pressure .
Which makes me wonder , how many costly Brake boosters , Abs units , Pipes etc have been changed on cars with similar issues .
I have read that if BOTH valves go , One must check the pipes for engine oil as this could travel down the pipes and into the brake booster , contaminating it and damaging the booster . Thankfully this does not seem to have happened to my system .
http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=73573
I replaced the Vacuum Pump with my old ( Original ) ( came with the car) vacuum pump that was leaking oil, Before this , I replaced all rubber inner and outer seals so hopefully it wont leak again.
Drove the car yesterday and Today , and the Braking issue seems to have been solved. Car Feels much better , And there are no braking problems at startup or at any engine speed . Brakes feel normal and no longer hard , Brake effort has returned to normal .
All is well so far . I will keep monitoring the situation and give feedback if anything else changes .
But from what I have seen , The Vacuum pump has a valve on the connecting pipe which can fail , It seems to be a one way valve , which holds pressure in the Pipe , The system seems to rely on this one way valve that's on the vacuum pump as well as the black inline valve that's attached to the black pipes which attach to the brake booster and when the one is faulty it would cause our no , intermittent or very hard braking issue , It seems as one valve holds pressure while the other holds it as well . When one fails , the other holds its pressure but cant hold enough and would need the engine turning to regain some of its pressure .
Which makes me wonder , how many costly Brake boosters , Abs units , Pipes etc have been changed on cars with similar issues .
I have read that if BOTH valves go , One must check the pipes for engine oil as this could travel down the pipes and into the brake booster , contaminating it and damaging the booster . Thankfully this does not seem to have happened to my system .
