No brakes!

[gary_lucas]

Was leaving a parking lot this afternoon and the pedal went straight to the floor!, It felt like I got a tiny amount of brake at the end... Luckily I was only moving at a crawl and we were able to stop somewhere safe.


I couldn't find any obvious leaks at the caliper lines or at the master cylinder. I had to pump it a couple times while I was coming to a stop.

I ended up having it towed to the local BCAA service centre. Not safe to move so hard to service at home.

My money is in a blown brake line

Had my 4yr old daughter with me too :-(

[DmaxMaverick]

If you don't see a leak (should be obvious), and they worked when you "pumped" them, then it's the master cylinder. Leaks don't "pump up". A leak would only affect one circuit of the system and you'd have minimal brakes, or the leak would affect all of the circuits, and you'd have no brakes. It isn't likely you'd suddenly have a leak that affected all wheels, that suddenly worked when you pump them.

[a5150nut]

I thought the idea of the duel brake system was just that. If you blow a single brake line all is no lost. You still have the other half of the system.

I had a 56 Chevy and where the brake line crossed under the cross member going to the rear axel the tail pipe banging on the brake line wore it thin and on a test run after installing new brakes it blew out. It felt like someone was pushing me faster when the peddle hit the floor. Good thing I was out in the country and no traffic to deal with.

[gary_lucas]

They didn't really work. I pushed the pedal all the way to the floor and felt a tiny bit of braking. I turned right down into a culdisac, dropped it immediately into 1st and used some E-brake to prevent building up any speed. It was a short trip down to the end and then a giant turn around and back uphill. That's where I stopped.

I saw no impact or loss on power steering, but I did push the brake pedal to the absolute bottom 3x in the process. It felt exactly the same each time.

Don't see a leak and I think the master cylinder was low when I checked. However has been raining out and it was dark so I couldn't see much of anything. I assume I pushed out a fair bit of fluid onto the ground but hard to see when it's raining.

Luckily in-laws came to the rescue and got me and the kid home safely.

a5150nut, that's my understanding as well. I thought that a brake leak would only kill half my brakes. However I did get SOME braking at the very end of the pedal. About 5% in the last 1/2" (or at least that's what it felt like).

[gary_lucas]

Followup, the brake line that runs behind the fuel tank failed entirely.

3hrs of labour for the shop to fix + parts. Quite a bit of cash to be honest.

I guess I was right when I started thinking about the lines back in this post: http://www.thedieselpageforums.com/tdpforum/showthread.php?t=45551

Should have just started swapping them out. The problem is you can't see the lines up behind the gas tank... Why did they route them so crazily?

[MaxJacob]

Followup, the brake line that runs behind the fuel tank failed entirely.

3hrs of labour for the shop to fix + parts. Quite a bit of cash to be honest.

I guess I was right when I started thinking about the lines back in this post: http://www.thedieselpageforums.com/tdpforum/showthread.php?t=45551

Should have just started swapping them out. The problem is you can't see the lines up behind the gas tank... Why did they route them so crazily?

Glad that they were able to fix it. It would have been very dangerous.

[More Power]

Take a look at the several brake lines in the vicinity of the ABS controller - located inside the frame rail sorta beneath where the driver sits. All of those brake lines can rust. A squirt/spray of diluted motor oil on an annual basis can help to prevent rust-through.

[gary_lucas]

Take a look at the several brake lines in the vicinity of the ABS controller - located inside the frame rail sorta beneath where the driver sits. All of those brake lines can rust. A squirt/spray of diluted motor oil on an annual basis can help to prevent rust-through.

Yah, I did that before the winter set in. I'll be checking again once it warms up a tad... As well as washing everything off from all the damned salt.

The only good news is that the truck doesn't move that much in the winter and we didn't have nearly as much salt as last year.