Lost my brakes...

EJD

EJD

TJ Overlander
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Hey everybody,

So a moment ago I was going to pull out of my driveway to go to the store, when I hit the brakes to take the Jeep out of park and into drive when the brake pedal simply depressed all the way to the floor. I almost think I can hear a sound like losing pressure when I depress the brake pedal. I definitely have no brakes. Also checked my brake fluid and the level is significantly lower than the add line, there is almost none in there.

Kinda scary, if I was in a different situation but has anyone encountered this randomly happening before? Does anyone know what may have happened here just now?

I can't get too involved at the moment because its raining and night time, so i'll have to take a closer look tomorrow. It sounds like the pressure leak is coming from the front driver side wheel area, but I see nothing obvious right now.

Any insight would be helpful, and appreciated.
 
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Look at all four tires which one will probably be soaked on the inside sidewall with brake fluid from a blown brake cylinder.
 
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Ok, so first thing today I went out there and took a look around.

This front passenger tire had some trace spray on it, and every other tire was dry. I was expecting to see something leaking from the hose that connects to the caliper, but thats not where the leak was. As I was googling images of blown brake cylinders to get an idea of what to look for in the morning.
IMG_5094.jpg

I then had my wife hop in and hit the brakes one time and fluid gushed out from inside of wherever that line goes. It seems to be in a tricky place to get to, I haven't gotten much further into whats involved in peeling off layers and following the line inside there.
IMG_5096.jpg



Also, while trying to remove my passenger tire, i realized that the shop that put my new tires on recently, gave me half of my lug nuts back and the other half were some random piece of shit lug nuts that don't match and are a different size socket to remove...they are all bending out of shape when I try to undo them they are on so F'ing tight. I cannot for the life of me get these lug nuts off, and I can't drive to the shop because I have no brakes at the moment.
 
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Chris said:
If you have an impact gun it will get those lug nuts off.
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No impact gun or any power tools for that matter. I swear i'm bending the cheap metal these lugs are made of. I have broke my wheel lock key into 3 pieces trying to get 1 off with the stock tire iron.
 
The good news is that brake problem won't be expensive to fix. Have the brake shop that fixes it flush the brake system when they bleed the brake lines too, your brake fluid is dirty and contaminated by now. No doubt they'll use the correct DOT 3/4 brake fluid, just don't let anyone add any DOT 5 brake fluid which is incompatible.
 
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Damn, without an impact gun the only other thing I couldn't suggest is a huge breaker bar if you have one.
 
Ok, so I peeled away the splash guards there and here we go. Its a rotted out brake line!
I cleaned up the area, slid this shop cloth under the line and pumped the brakes one more time, and this is where the leak is.

So now I have more questions.

How involved is fixing this issue here?
Is there a patch or plug available that may be easier at the moment? (as a temporary fix).
Is this something I have to remove my wheels to get to or can this whole fix be done without removing wheels? (having an issue removing my lug nuts).

IMG_5097.jpg
 
Jerry Bransford said:
The good news is that brake problem won't be expensive to fix. Have the brake shop that fixes it flush the brake system when they bleed the brake lines too, your brake fluid is dirty and contaminated by now. No doubt they'll use the correct DOT 3/4 brake fluid, just don't let anyone add any DOT 5 brake fluid which is incompatible.
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Ok, your suggesting I take it to a brake shop. Have any idea of a ballpark price am I looking at here to fix this? Is it nothing I can fix here? How should I go about getting the Jeep to the shop? Just curious as to what my next steps should be...and thanks guys!
 
No plug or temporary fix! If you can't get the lug nuts off, and you have no brakes, tow it to a brake shop.

Sorry but here is no cheap fix if you can't replaced the line and flush the system then bleed the brakes yourself.
 
EJD said:
Ok, your suggesting I take it to a brake shop. Have any idea of a ballpark price am I looking at here to fix this? Is it nothing I can fix here? How should I go about getting the Jeep to the shop? Just curious as to what my next steps should be...and thanks guys!
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I didn't get the impression from your first post that you were yet ready to tackle a brake system repair. I can't see exactly what is causing the leak in the photo but that kind of repair is not expensive to make. Flushing the old brake fluid out and bleeding air trapped in the lines isn't expensive either. I have no idea what a brake shop would charge but go to a small independent brake shop with a good rating from Angie's List, the BBB, etc.. The older and longer it has been there, the likely more I'd trust them. I would avoid the big chain stores like Meineke, Midas, Pep Boys, Goodyear, though. All of those nationwide organizations have sales quotas to achieve so they're not going to try to hold the cost down.
 
Sounds good folks.

I appreciate the insight!

I would totally attempt this job myself, I just for the life of me cannot remove the lug nuts. Which i'm sure i'll have to in order to bleed the brakes. So i'm going to have to shop it up here shortly.
 
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Ok, so I went to Firestone because they were the ones who F'd up my lug nuts, and had an assessment of my brake situation while I was there.

They tell me my entire brake system needs to be re-plumbed from master to wheels. All lines are corroded and looking at a 10-12 hour job. They then proceed to tell me that is too big of a job for them to take on and I need to go elsewhere. They refused to replace just the front passenger line alone (which is the one that burst), they also refused to replace both front lines.

The only thing they actually were able to do was crack all my lug nuts loose for me. They told me that my lug nuts were "swollen" and that why they were so hard to get off.

So I think I may have to take this project on myself in order to save some money. Is this job within the realm of doing myself?
 
What the f is a "swollen" lug nut?

I got the impression you not wanting to replace the stuff yourself. It's not hard, nor is it terribly expensive. I'll bet there are many u-tube videos on the subject.
Good luck and let us know how you fare.
 
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Stinger said:
What the f is a "swollen" lug nut?

I got the impression you not wanting to replace the stuff yourself. It's not hard, nor is it terribly expensive. I'll bet there are many u-tube videos on the subject.
Good luck and let us know how you fare.
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I'm thinking that the lug nuts have chrome caps over them instead of being solid. They can be a pain if the chrome cap comes off,and the factory lug wrench doesn't fit.
 
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