I took the dSM out fir a joyride tonight, 8 miles in a year and a half. when i stopped to give it a once-over with the flashlight i found a lot of fluid in the wheel well of unknown origin. all signs point at brake fluid, so my question is thus: Where do brakes or lines usually fail? am i looking at a line, coupler, hose, caliper? I haven't had a chance to check yet and i'm looking for pointers.

Hey man your from TX right, well you shouldn't have the rust problem we experience on our lines in NY. I would say most likely if it's not been driven that you may have some dry rot on your flex hoses. You can check your caliper seals and banjo fittings also, but the flex hoses would be my first check. I replaced mine with goodridge stainless flex lines from Summit. Definately improved pedal feel and brake response. Not to mention they look pretty LOL.

Agrreed, I would be looking to the rubber first, it's a dry enviroment in TX right?

Were the brake lines disconnected from the calipers at any point during the downtime? Possible that a washer is missing on either side of the banjo bolt...perhaps.


http://www.dsmregistry.com/detail.php?carid=1030

Never disconnected...

Guess i'll check the rubber lines first.. Odd, pedal doesn't feel spoungy, it's a fair amount of fluid,reserviour's a little low, and there's not much else down there. Happened out of the blue, too.

Well you know how it goes with those rubber lines, they may be weakened and then with fluid pressure and heat, it causes the weak area to break. It is odd that your pedal does not feel ifferent, perhaps it is a small crack or hole.

Yeah, but this was enough fluid to soak part of the wheel well, and leave a larger-than-beercan-sized spot of fluid on the ground when i stopped and was checking the car over.

Well that's not cool brother, hope it's an easy fix though.

I've seen failures right at the swaged part, P/S lines do the same thing too. are the lines wet at all?



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the first solution that comes to mind for any new problem with my car usually involves a can of gas and a match.....:wallbash

Mine tend to wear out at the point where the hardline meets the rubber line. You could also check the inside of your rim to see if the caliper or bleeder is leaking. Did you check your CV joints or is it definitely brake fluid?

In my experience, I've always seen the caliper piston seals fail before a brake line. This is real obvious when it is too, but you just need to pull the wheel, and swing the caliper up to see if the piston boot is puffy (should not be of course). O'Reilly's carries these for our car in stock.

If the boot checks out, I'd say it failed where the rubber hose connects to the metal hose end, since that is what is fatigued the most.

Also, just make sure and check you don't just have a loose bleeder dino :P

Originally posted by WickedESi
In my experience, I've always seen the caliper piston seals fail before a brake line. This is real obvious when it is too, but you just need to pull the wheel, and swing the caliper up to see if the piston boot is puffy (should not be of course). O'Reilly's carries these for our car in stock. If the boot checks out, I'd say it failed where the rubber hose connects to the metal hose end, since that is what is fatigued the most. Also, just make sure and check you don't just have a loose bleeder dino :P

Originally posted by Star Turbo Talon

Originally posted by WickedESi In my experience, I've always seen the caliper piston seals fail before a brake line. This is real obvious when it is too, but you just need to pull the wheel, and swing the caliper up to see if the piston boot is puffy (should not be of course). O'Reilly's carries these for our car in stock. If the boot checks out, I'd say it failed where the rubber hose connects to the metal hose end, since that is what is fatigued the most. Also, just make sure and check you don't just have a loose bleeder dino :P

I think i'd know if it was a loose bleeder, because then there would be fluid on the vcaliper and there is not. it's on the inner fender well, actually surrounding where the hardline meets the flex line.

Odd thing is, i pumped the brakes for a while and nothing dripped.

sure its brake fluid and not CV grease? you may have a small cut in that sides cv boot

if the pedal feels ok and the fluid level isnt going low, its probably not brake fluid...

just throwin out some ideas

Originally posted by turbo8u
sure its brake fluid and not CV grease? you may have a small cut in that sides cv boot if the pedal feels ok and the fluid level isnt going low, its probably not brake fluid... just throwin out some ideas

It's far too thin to be CV grease. it has a PS fluid / motor oil / brake fluid consistency.

I also haven't spend more than 10 minutes looking at it, sop it could be anything at this point.

Is anything on the inside of the wheel?

Originally posted by WickedESi
Is anything on the inside of the wheel?

no

well if you need it, i have an extra brake line you can have

Time for stainless lines dino? :)

I missread.......I thought the wheel had fluid all over it as well. I doubt powersteering fluid, lines are way to high in the engien bay to get fluid in the wheel well. As for brake line failure the wheel would most likely be wet or soaked if the wheel well is soaked....simple physics. I wonder if you ran through a puddle of fluid from an accident ect. Like said above, check your fluids if your not low then just write it off to something in the road.

If your pumping the brakes and nothing is leaking, your ok. It wont seal itself up, a ruptured line is a ruptured line.

Terry