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Mystery rusty pipe centre front - top of front subframe, nearside


PaulS

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Whilst sorting out my fog lights, I noticed a quite rusty pipe along the top front of the front subframe .  This looks the thickness of a brake pipe and seems to end at the lower part of the central front engine mounting  in a thinish rubber tube and run to the nearside under the battery where I could not see where it went.  Any ideas what it is? 

Nothing was picked up on the last MOT (but it was a bit tricky to spot), but the rot is worrying.  Most so if it is indeed a brake pipe (suspect not)

 

It can be seen with my head inside the engine area, on the nearside front. Look down to the edge of the front undertray and then look towards the front of the car along the top of the front subframe.

What is it?  Where does the other end go, and is there a recommended way to fix / repair it?  It looks ready to expire...

Thanks

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2 hours ago, PaulS said:

Whilst sorting out my fog lights, I noticed a quite rusty pipe along the top front of the front subframe .  This looks the thickness of a brake pipe and seems to end at the lower part of the central front engine mounting  in a thinish rubber tube and run to the nearside under the battery where I could not see where it went.  Any ideas what it is? 

Nothing was picked up on the last MOT (but it was a bit tricky to spot), but the rot is worrying.  Most so if it is indeed a brake pipe (suspect not)

 

It can be seen with my head inside the engine area, on the nearside front. Look down to the edge of the front undertray and then look towards the front of the car along the top of the front subframe.

What is it?  Where does the other end go, and is there a recommended way to fix / repair it?  It looks ready to expire...

Thanks

It sounds like the pipe running from the top right rear of the engine bay on the back one of the two control modules,  both similar, sitting virtually on the suspension tower.

That is a rubber pipe down to the chassis, into a metal pipe and around to the middle front of the subframe,  short length rubber there too.

Not sure what it does but could be just a breather pipe, need to check what the module does....the front module, also with pipes on has an electrical connection plug on the top that,  in my case, the one attacked by "mice" last year...never found out what it was either!!!

We need our head guru on the case !!!

 

This is the plug on the first module,  mouse attack, behind it is the second one,  not in pic, with your pipe on it ...

mouse-attack-6.jpg

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Thanks Stu,  Guess it is a vacuum pipe them - I can feel no wires....

Does it have to be replaced in metal or will a plastic pneumatic pipe work fine (got lots of that around.. but no metal pipe that small...

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1 hour ago, PaulS said:

Thanks Stu,  Guess it is a vacuum pipe them - I can feel no wires....

Does it have to be replaced in metal or will a plastic pneumatic pipe work fine (got lots of that around.. but no metal pipe that small...

On mine, it is just metal on top of the subframe but the connection upto the module is "rubber" and the other end into the front centre of the subframe,  couple of inches is rubber too. My pipes look like the original setup and are not compromised anywhere ...unlike some of my other pipes were !!🤪

Some motorcycles fuel pipe will do the job, or similar,  small enough and thin-walled enough not to look out of place, also relatively heat resistant although not that near to any heat source in the engine compartment,  I would guess the metal part was to afford some protection from road detritus or perhaps to stop the rubber pipe flapping around in such a length?

 

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On 7/30/2021 at 7:08 AM, PaulS said:

will a plastic pneumatic pipe work fine

The hard nylon pneumatic pipe would be a nice upgrade - it's designed for quite high pressures (150psi normal) so i don't see it would have a problem coping with anything the engine mounts could throw at it. ;):D

Won't rot either! 😛

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