Brake problem what happened??

[dcZ71]

I was driving up I-81 today and things got bottled up in front of me so me and a couple other cars had to veer off over the rumble strips and out into the grass to avoid rear ending people. Well when I get back into the road my parking brake light is now on and my when I hit my brake pedal it goes to the floor. And I also had some smoke coming from the rear but that went away later. Did something just get knocked out of adjustment here. Im gunna look at it tommorrow what should I check?

 

[bizzo15]

Very possible you blew a brake line or maybe your rear brakes seized up. I'm assuming you slammed on your brakes as you were veering off the road. Best way to find out is to inspect the lines and pull the rear tires off and check the brakes.

 

[lance]

Sounds to me like a brake line broke. I would check the brake lines for cracks/broke in half.

 

[Butch]

Were you able to pump to get enough pressure? How did your brake feel before, my brake pedal has always had some "slack" in it but always decently firm? Check your fluid in the morning to see if it leaked down, it sounds like you sprung a pinhole leak somewhere, most likely in the rear with parking brake light coming on. Remember to pull your drums off to check your cylinders in the rear.

 

[Aloicious]

I was driving up I-81 today and things got bottled up in front of me so me and a couple other cars had to veer off over the rumble strips and out into the grass to avoid rear ending people. Well as I gather myself and get back into the road my parking brake light is now on and my when I hit my brake pedal it goes to the floor. And I also had some smoke coming from the rear but that went away later. Did something just get knocked out of adjustment here. Im gunna look at it tommorrow what should I check?

it sounds to me like you might have ruptured the rear rubber brake line. the smoke may have been from some of the brake fluid getting on the exhaust pipes. are you leaking fluid, especially when you depress the brake pedal? does it still have some braking power when you push the pedal, or is it like nothing happens?

I'd crawl up under there and take a look at things, the rear brake line is mostly hard steel line that runs up over the rear end and has a short rubber line section right before where it T's off with hard line to each wheel cylinder. the rubber line can deteriorate with age and let go in hard braking moments like the one you had. if you did damage the line, I'd recommend upgrading to some braided stainless line, they're pretty cheap and more reliable.

 

[dcZ71]

Ok I just put a flashlight under the rear of the truck, brake fluid everywhere so yea guessing a line broke, didnt see where ill check in the daylight tomorrow. And yea butch I was like woa wtf do i have brakes when it went to the floor, definately lost a lot of pressure. Let me tell ya the bmw behind me was none too happy and there was no where he could go because it was bumper to bumper crawling.

Hope this aint too expensive, I can still stop the truck decent right now so at least its still driveable. Kinda sucky though I just veer off the road and blow a rear brake line

 

[Aloicious]

Ok I just put a flashlight under the rear of the truck, brake fluid everywhere so yea guessing a line broke, didnt see where ill check in the daylight tomorrow. And yea butch I was like woa wtf do i have brakes when it went to the floor, definately lost a lot of pressure. Let me tell ya the bmw behind me was none too happy and there was no where he could go because it was bumper to bumper crawling.

Hope this aint too expensive, I can still stop the truck decent right now so at least its still driveable. Kinda sucky though I just veer off the road and blow a rear brake line

yeah, I almost guarantee that its the rubber line that broke, which if thats the case then its an easy and pretty cheap fix, just replace the line, and bleed the brakes. but I would HIGHLY recommend not driving it until you fix it, every time you push the brake pedal, you'll lose fluid and once it gets low enough you won't have any brakes at all.

 

[dcZ71]

Yea i was thinking that too but I drove it three more hours and made out ok, do think there is like a valve that keeps the front fluid in?

 

[Aloicious]

Yea i was thinking that too but I drove it three more hours and made out ok, do think there is like a valve that keeps the front fluid in?

there is the proportioning valve which diverts fluid from the master cylinder to the front and rear, but it doesn't keep a specific amount on either side IIRC, once you run out of fluid you'll lose the brakes all together. the leak may be small now, but you'll still be losing fluid, and the pressure will eventually open up the leak and make it worse. I'd still keep it off the roads. the fix really isn't hard and shouldn't take too long if you have someone to help you bleed the brakes (make sure you bleed all 4 brakes even though its the rear that broke. you don't want air in the lines at all).

 

[dcZ71]

ahh dammit just how i wanna spend my thanksgiving break


also i think i should mention I have one of the rear rubber brake lines coming off that t point ziptied to a metal line/bracket because when i got my exhaust done they had it resting on the exhaust pipe ( i have duals out the corners) could that effect anything or should i just take that off