General Sweaty pipe

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General Sweaty pipe

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Here's one for any gimps out there...

At some time in the past, the rubber pipe from the brake/clutch fluid reservoir to the master cylinder has been replaced. It's in good condition and hasn't deteriorated at all but occasionally (especially in foggy or damp weather) I notice it is covered in condensation.

I have wiped the pipe and cleaned it with rubber/plastic friendly solvent etc. to remove any traces of spilt fluid.. but the sweat keeps coming back so I presume that at a microscopic level, there's some brake fluid vapour seeping through the rubber of the pipe and then that collecting water to it.

So my questione is, do I have the right kind of pipe? It looks like standard fuel line rubber (so will have a plastic liner)... but I guess it's not supposed to sweat.. so what's going on and what do other people's pipes look like?

Ralf S.
 
Occasionally you get sweaty pipes when theres tempwrature diference between inside and outside of the pipe , dont worry if it would leak brake fluid it would leak normaly and not sweat .
Sometines you see this also on a/c pipes in the morning ;)
 
I'm not sure about this but some time ago I had a rear engine Skoda which leaked brake fluid through rubber pipe between the reservoir and master cylinder. The way I stopped it was to buy proper brake fluid rubber pipe for a VW beetle which had the same reservoir/master cylinder arrangement. This cured the problem.
 
I'm not sure about this but some time ago I had a rear engine Skoda which leaked brake fluid through rubber pipe between the reservoir and master cylinder. The way I stopped it was to buy proper brake fluid rubber pipe for a VW beetle which had the same reservoir/master cylinder arrangement. This cured the problem.

Interesting... I'll have a look to see if there is such a thing as brake fluid piping.

I suspect mine has been replaced with normal rubber fuel pipe. There's no "leak" as such but the way the water condensation forms on it makes me think there is some vapour passing through the pipe and attracting water to it. I'm not entirely convinced though.. it sounds implausible if I think about it... but it just looks very unusual to me.

On the other hand, flyingdutch could be right and it's just moisture condensing on a cold pipe. I think the usual Fiat pipe might have had a cloth sheath on it which would have masked this phenomenon. My pipe is regular rubber.


Ralf S.
 
My Skoda pipe had a green sheath but leaked like a sieve when DOT4 fluid was in the reservoir. When new the pipe didn't leak so the original Czech fluid might have been DOT3 or some other spec. The point is that some types of rubber tubing do allow brake fluid to pass through the wall.
 
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