brakes broke...

[ranger_dood]

um, yeah... not so fun afternoon here yesterday. Was traveling along a road in front of a school, and forgot that they had just put in a stop sign were there didn't used to be one. Saw it late, hit the brakes and was treated to a *bang* and the pedal went to the floor. Rolled through the stop sign (luckily no one was around) and got myself over into a parking lot. Towed to a local garage and they assessed the damage. both brake lines ruptured, and the brake cylinders in the rear were original and the bleeders were not going to open.

So, $211 and 2 1/2 hours later, I drive out with 2 of each of the following- brake cylinders, brake lines, and brake unions (what'r they?). On the way home, I noticed immediately that the brakes don't feel the same. The pedal has to go halfway down before I get any braking action whatsoever. From there out, it seems like there just isn't as much braking as before. What's a guy to do? I'm obviously taking it back to them, but is there a reason why this would be? I checked the fluid and it is full... No leaks that I can see. Maybe they didn't bleed it well enough?

Your advice would be appreciated...

[ranger_dood]

BTW- i do have an appointment at the garage for this afternoon and I think they're going to bleed the system again. I'm wondering if somethings off with my proportioning valve. I shouldn't have lost all brakes when the rear lines burst, right?

[bone]

everything broke on the same time?

google brake union:


so sth to split the fuellines

the fact that it has to go halfway before it grips isn't good though, i would take it back as well

[ranger_dood]

I'm not sure why it needed new unions, unless they used a different tubing than what was on there.

The wheel cylinders had to be replaced because the bleeder valves would've broke if they had tried to open them (stuck solid), but that's not uncommon, and they were original. The lines had to be replaced because they're what failed

I'm guessing that perhaps the proportioning valve got stuck and didn't do it's job, though it did prevent the front loop from losing all its fluid. ANyway, I guess I"ll find out later today.

[Z Draci]

What car do you drive?
I've never heard of brake lines rupturing like that before!
You could have been killed if it happened at higher speeds.
Sell the car or permanently fix the problem with better brake components.

It sounds like they did a very lazy bleed job. There is air still in the system.

I'd be pretty serious about this problem.
Make sure they fix everything that is needed.

[ranger_dood]

They rebled the lines and the brakes work better than they did before I broke the line.

Z Draci- it's a 1994 Ford Ranger. I've heard of it before, as it happened on my dad's chevy truck too. After 11 years, they tend to get rust spots or just weak spots here or there. I'm not going to sell this thing just because a brake line broke...