Do brake hoses really fail internally?

Honestly it hard to notice in my opinion...if your rear braking is that bad then you've definitely got something else going on lol. After new brake lines and fluid, full system bleed, etc let us know how it feels

 

Brake lines do fail, my 2003 Tacoma with stainless breaded lines. they were 7 years old. I just finish replacing a bent axle, and bled the brakes and it popped.

 

That's disconcerting...thats the 2nd case of exploding steel braided brake lines that I've read about one here recently. One was a guy that slammed on his brakes and the brake line popped and nearly caused him to get in a huge wreck.

His where Wheelers SS lines...which ones were yours?

 

Brake hoses can swell up on the inside and cause restriction of fluid. I tried rebuilding a set of rear brake calipers on a Nissan 300zx and they didn't work for shit. I ended up buying some rebuilt calipers and never looked back. I'd pull the calipers off and slowly and gently push the brake pedal. Dont hammer down and push the piston out completely though. If you dont see the gap between the pads close you have a caliper problem.

 

As others have said they can swell up and squish, they can also get old and bulge when you hit the brakes and cause a soft pedal. If you have a dragging brake it means the line could be clogged or restricted. Have also seen them with bad crimps and they bubble and bulge.

 

I had some cracked up brake lines that I replaced as part of my brake refresh. The brake pedal was soft. Braking was weak.



So I was in a hurry to replace the lines with something better on the weekend when I was doing the work. I bought some lines from O'Reilly because they were handy and had them in stock. I planned to use the O'Reilly lines as a temporary solution until I could get some SS replacements.

Well it turned out the O lines have a slightly larger bore than the originals. I don't know how long they will last, but they look better than the ones I was running.



Then I bought some stainless lines and I didn't like the fitting as well as the temporary lines from O.



Then I bought more stainless lines trying to find a better fitting comparable bore to the temporary O lines.

But I'm not really happy with the fittings and bore size on those. So I don't plan to install these. So I spent a bunch of money on Front SS lines that I may never use.



Then the rebuilt calipers I bought because I was in too big of a hurry to try to rebuild my own came with these big bore banjo bolts compared to OEM. That was a nice surprise.



After I installed what I thought was a less than optimal solution, it turns out that I accidentally stumbled into some exceptional brakes.



Then I thought my "parts store" Wagner TQ pads were inferior, so I started checking into the "Edge Code" friction coefficient to find something better. It turned out the pads I bought are rated FG. FF is the OEM standard rating. The GG rating came from European car makers for autobahn driving speed demands. I don't plan to be driving the Taco over 100 MPH -- but ok.

Specialty pads like EBC green and some Bosch have the GG ratings.

After it was all said and done, I think I just need to relax and be happy with some well performing brakes that I accidentally configured and try to not get caught up into throwing more money at it.

The thing that made the most difference after I installed the new brakes was to completely flush and bleed out all of the old fluid. Bleed the BPV valve last. And adjust the rear brakes.



The rear brakes had not been properly adjusted since the truck was new. So there was little wear on the original shoes after 229,000 miles.



My conclusion is to keep an open mind, look around, do research, and enjoy success when you find it in an unlikely place.

 

Yes, they can fail internally, however typically fail/crack externally first.

 

So mine failed due to rubbing on the metal hose bracket. The braided didnt have the correct mount bracket and over time that area on the hose just gave

 

@CS_AR what kind of reman calipers did you go with when you replaced?

for the stainless lines, i wonder if they have varying qualities of interior hose on the inside of the steel? i have a kitchen sink hose that is braided and it started gushing water. turns out the hose on the inside that the water actually travels through was some cheap clear bs hose. might be a similar situation with the brake lines

 

They can fail internally. the inner part of them collapse and you end up with a seized up wheel. Only had one vehicle come into the dealer in 5 years with that failure though

 

Honestly, if you're getting your lines at the dealer, I'm betting steel braided lines are cheaper or at least similarly priced, lol.

~$90 for a set of 3, 2 front and a longer rear one (for lifted applications).

You might consider a power bleeder, like this:

$62 Motive Products - 0100 European Power Brake Bleeder Kit

https://www.amazon.com/Motive-Produ...579890503&sprefix=power+brake+,aps,211&sr=8-6

Never used one myself, but it's on my list as my brake fluid is excessively old and needs to be replaced.

 

The calipers were the premium models from O'Reilly. The Front SS lines were Wheeler's and LCE's best. I paid a decent amount of money for them. I may donate them to charity.

 

what does the stainless lines in is shit getting behind the braid and chafing the inner line. The wheelers lines i had on my tacoma lasted 13 years before it sprung a leak (at the fitting). not a bad run if i had to say.

stop techs on my corolla? 2 years. then pop it went. no coating on them

 

I made one of these power bleeders a few years ago to use on my (4) Nissans. They all use the same type of "screw on" reservoir cap.

The idea is you pump up pressure, then just release the bleeder valve and the fluid starts flowing the water from a faucet. Using it was too easy. I could get through fleet maintenance and bleed brakes during oil change weekends as a solo operation.

Since the Toyota cap is not the screw on type, I had difficulty getting my modified cap to hold pressure. Basically, I failed miserably at trying to the pressure bleeder to work without using some type of special cap. Even though I used a big hose clamp, the cap blew off and me and the Tacoma engine bay got a brake fluid shower. Ha! I did see where there is a special attachment for this bleeder that may be for a Toyota reservoir. If you can get a special cap that will hold pressure on a Toyota reservoir, these are a great tool. Just make sure you have that extra component for Toyota.

At the end of the day, following the recommended Tacoma bleeding order, along with using an old fashioned bottle method per ChrixFix video, I found bleeding my non-ABS Tacoma brakes to be an easy task.

Before I started using the power bleeder, changing brake fluid was a required family event. I started getting my two sons and daughter to help bleed brakes about the time they got their drivers learning permit at 14 yo.

I believe that part of learning to operate a vehicle is also learning how to maintain one.

 

Nothing but trouble. I have a picture where the banjo bolt part started leaking. Also, the plastic retainer broke off. This is the reason for the LX470 being totaled. The extended-length stainless line for the rear axle is ok. But the fronts are dangerous.