Brake line faiure

So I have a 2006 Tundra 4.7 with 164,000 mi. Just had the brake lines burst 3 different times. My garage fixed it each time and sent me down the road saying I was good to go. Needless to say I'm looking for a new mechanic because I can't trust these idiots anymore. By some miracle, I managed to avoid getting in an accident with another vehicle each time. Unfortunately, the last time it happened, I went off the end of my driveway that has a steep 4 foot drop into the woods. Jacked up my bumper pretty badly. My question is, if these idiots were aware that I was having problems with my brake lines failing, shouldn't they have pressure tested each side to make sure it was safe after the 1st time it happened? I'm thinking I should contact the Better Business Bruea and file a complaint.

 

How close together were these failures? I would think you would have legal recourse against them. Have you asked them to pay for the bumper and maybe refund some of the work? Also, was it the same spot or different every time? How much rust is under the truck?

 

This all happened within a 2 month span. I would have to get a lawyer because the shop owner said it had nothing to do with any negligence on their part. The truck was originally in for the following work, new front struts, new drivers side front axle, new upper ball joint drivers side. I think they stressed one of the lines on that side while doing those repairs. That is the same side where the 1st line blew. What upsets me the most is that after replacing that line, they said I was good to go, no worries of another failure. I didn't even make it home before the next line failed. The truck is definitely rusty. If I needed all lines replaced, then they should have told me that and I would have made a decision at that point to get it fixed or move on to another truck.

 

Do you live in a rust prone area, i.e. rust degradation on the lines was potentially a factor?

 

Can you get a pic of the lines?

 

Emergency brake still functional? Gotta practice that emergency pedal stomp

 

Was it the hard lines or the soft lines?

 

Another example why I always do the work myself.

They make a stainless steel brake line kit to replace all the brake lines. It's not very expensive either.

 

The hard lines blew out. At the junctions where the lines come together or feed into the booster/MC. Like I said, I would just have appreciated them being honest and telling me all the lines should be done. I live in the rust belt. The truck is rusted and isn't long for this world. I don't care if the frame breaks or the engine blows. I've had that happen before on two 4-runners i owned. I just don't want to kill someone or myself.

 

Still, nobody has replied to my question. Can the brake system be pressure checked and why don't mechanics do that on an older rusted truck like this?

 

I've never had a mechanic do such a test on my brakes. But I've always lived in the south for 98% of my life, so my input is pretty much worthless on that topic.

 

I know they sell a kit online that plugs into the bleeder valve. That way u can test for bleed down and overall pressure. Supposedly you should have around 500 psi under medium braking and 1500 psi under emergency braking.

 

I don't know of a tester for that.

Probably have to take it to a empty lot and give it emergency brake like stab of the brakes and see if anything leaks or breaks. This can be done while parked.

 

The pressure test is mash the brakes. If it don't leak, you're good dude. If you see rust on the lines, replace them.
They sell a complete stainless steel brake line kit for this truck

 

Probably because is opens up and enormous can of liability worms. So let’s say a mechanic shop pressure tested your brakes and it passed their test with flying colors...then a few hours/days/weeks/months later a brake line ruptured. The vehicle owner could say that the auto shop over pressurized the brake system and weakened it. As a vehicle owner, we must take the responsibility to perform maintenance. If living in a rust belt causes rust, then we must maintain a rusty vehicle. Whether that’s doing it our own self, or hire out a mechanic to look for specific problems and issues.

Now if this particular shop is performing an improper brake line fix, which is leading to brake line failure that’s one thing. If you’re having multiple brake line failures in different areas, well that’s on the owner.

There is a tool that will measure the pressure your brake put out, but it doesn’t pressurize the system.

 

I have been battling the rust on this truck for years. I coated the entire frame with Por15 last year and I paid $1200 to have the frame reinforced with steel plates (welded on) last year as well. I asked the shop to replace any brake lines that looked suspect and possibly fail due to rust. They sent me down the road and it failed twice following that $1000 worth of work. I don't know how u can say it's on "me", th owner. It's on me because I trusted these half ass mechanics .

 

You need to inspect the lines. Have your ebrake in working order. Not that big of a deal. Or again, replace them with stainless steel brake lines and you'll never have to worrie again

 

I agree bmk. I should have just told them to do a complete brake line swap.

 

A mechanic told me that these trucks are known to have master cylinder issues. I have always felt that the brake petal was too soft. I have had the lines bled several times and replaced rotors and pads, shoes as well.

 

I think your mechanic is full of shit or overly-generalizing. What they're saying is not entirely true across the entirety of 1GTs from '00-06/07.

Other than a corner case with one of the specific brake configs, the brakes on these don't brake well if you (a) don't keep the rears adjusted properly, (b) the LSPV isn't set correctly and (c) you don't bleed properly, which includes bleeding the LSPV. The first of those is so important, there's an entire sticky thread at this forum dedicated to nothing but properly adjusting the rears.

For the corner case, there is at least one configuration you'll find on some double cabs that was shit. It's this setup.

Earlier owners (2000-2002? maybe to '03) who have the 13WE calipers instead of the 13WL which are on your '06 also sometimes complain about braking, but after updating to 13WL, I haven't seen any of those same people necessarily complain.

There's also a weird 2pc booster setup used on some models (possibly DC-only again) that's nearly impossible to find and expensive as hell that some complain about, but it's not BAD or PROBLEMATIC necessarily.

 

If you're in the rust belt anything steel is just temporary. If you want to keep the truck a bit longer, invest in replacing all steel hard lines with copper-nickel lines, usually comes in a coil and a good shop has to bend them up for you. When you get a new truck (or get a used truck from the south) just replace all the steel lines immediately then you wont have to worry about that hard lines rusting out.

 

Thanks to all for responding. I read the sticky , lots of awesome info in there. My parking brake hasn't been used in years and that seems to be the only way to insure that the rear brakes are getting adjusted properly. I'm going to have any lines replaced that haven't already been done. I'll also have the E brake fixed so I have that as a backup. This has been an issue with this truck since I bought it over 5 years ago. I have 165000 mi on it and I was hoping to make it to 200000 but am doubtful with the rust issues. Ive never really heard anyone really explain why these trucks seem to rust worse than other brands. The shop that I took it to that did the frame repairs for me said they have done tons of toyota trucks and 4runners. They said it's just a crappy design by toyota.

 

It's not a crappy design, per se, but rather a poor choice of supplier. When Toyota decided to build these trucks in Indiana they chose Dana Corporation to supply the frames. Dana was already supplying frames for Jeep, so it must have seemed like a good choice. They didn't realize, however, that Jeeps are the rustiest vehicles on the planet!

 

I work for the company that bought out Dana's light duty frame manufacturing. They still make the new first gen frames a couple hours from the plant I'm at. I assume they've changed their E-Coat recipe a smidge after all the Toyota issues, though I tend to stay away from that area of the building.

Don't hear about F-150's or Navigators/ Expeditions rotting away really bad in the last 20 years, which seems odd because Dana was making the frames for those vehicles at the same time as other Toyota products.

 

Fords frames have been rotting pretty badly up here in New England. But I do think there are a couple of design weak spots in the Toyota frames.
1) The double layer support midway down the frame. In theory it's a good idea: more support, stronger frame. But in practice salt, water, debris get between the layers and rust from the inside out. You have no idea it's happening until it's too late.

2) Spare tire crossmember. It's concave and open at the top, so salt, water, debris collect in it and cause it to rot away. In order to clean it you have to first drop the spare, then crawl under the truck with some kind of special wand with a bend in the end of it because there's only a couple inches between the crossmember and the floor of the box. On Gen-2 and later, they flipped that so it's still concave, but open at the bottom.

I'm sure Ford, GM, and Dodge have their weak spots in their frames as well. Maybe it just doesn't get noticed because by the time the frame is compromised, there's already so much rust at the cab corners, rocker panels, and rear wheel wells that the owner is already resigned to the idea that he needs a new truck.

 

They do…

 

Yep, that's mine 4 sure.

 

I know this thread is about 45 days old, but I'd like to say that my shop does brake work all of the time. We replace lines, calipers, pads, rotors, MCs, you name it. We do about 10 brake flushes a day. In the 8 years of doing service work (dealership), we have never pressure tested the lines. We will test at slow speeds for concern replication purposes and will do full on road tests and stopping tests to verify repairs, but never a pressure test.

 

My brother was a mechanic for almost 17 years at a dealership. He went back to school for engineering over 15 years ago and is now retired after working for husqvarna. He told me he would pressure test brakes all the time at the shop. He said the machine hooked up to the brake reservoir and he would leave it pressurized for an hour to check the whole system for leaks.

 

I had the master cylinder replaced on my truck and it was a waste of $. The brakes are still like mashed potatoes. There's no way I'm replacing all the E brake components. The truck is just too rusted to do that. Could I possibly manually pull the cables at the rear drums to try to simulate pushing and releasing the Ebrake? Otherwise my only other option is to try and manually click the adjusters at the hole in the backing plates?