Note the threaded portion that would normally be attached to the brake caliper.
Not really sure what the heck happened here. My intention is NOT to call out the company who branded the brake lines.
Christmas of 2015 I got a complete set of SS brake lines from ECS Tuning, installed all six lines on Jan 25, 2015. Drove the car with these brake lines for well over a year and hadn't experienced a single problem with them (as one would hope).
Fast forward to now, I just finished up M60 swapping my e30 and I've been working out the kinks for the last couple weeks. Finally got it to the point of driving that it could go on long trips today and drove with my girlfriend with our destination 2 hours north of Boise with a curvy mountain drive to get us there. 10 minutes from our destination, I come up to a cattle grate and slow down as to not bottom anything out. I press on the brakes, hear a clunk clunk and then the pedal goes to the floor. I used the parking brake to bring us to a stop and pull over to the side of the road.
My first thought was that my brake linkage was the problem (because remote booster). I checked there first and see no signs of breaks or leaks coming from the engine bay. I look under the car and see a puddle of brake fluid on the ground. WTH? Turn the steering wheel all the way right and I can see the stainless brake line clearly disconnected from caliper with some screwed up threads.
Local guy stopped to see if we needed anything, and ended up following us the rest of the way home to make sure we made it safe. (Yes I drove without brakes, engine braking and a slow speed were sufficient enough to limp home)
Last Friday I heard a similar ‘clunk clunk’ in the brakes. I heard it couple more times in between Friday and today and inspected all the brakes to make sure they still worked like they should and just figured it was something internal on the brake booster.
Knowing what’s broken now, I’m still trying to wrap my head around what exactly happened. I think that clunk was brake pressure slightly twisting the brake line and it twisted enough to snap the threads? But it doesn’t make sense to me that the brake lines would twist like that. Especially with enough force to snap a fitting like that. The threads do look like they were forced out of the caliper
So we’re all on the same page
1. The threads were not cross threaded into the caliper
2. All brakes were bled thoroughly so there wasn’t any air in the system.
3. There were no obstacles in the road that would’ve been able to hit the line with enough force to knock it loose.
4. There was nothing obstructing or hitting the brake line during its full movement.
I’m going to give ECS a call in the morning to see if they’ve had any other problems like this…
Now I have to figure out how to fix the line or tow the car home. Updates to come, just thought I’d share an odd story!!
Not really sure what the heck happened here. My intention is NOT to call out the company who branded the brake lines.
Christmas of 2015 I got a complete set of SS brake lines from ECS Tuning, installed all six lines on Jan 25, 2015. Drove the car with these brake lines for well over a year and hadn't experienced a single problem with them (as one would hope).
Fast forward to now, I just finished up M60 swapping my e30 and I've been working out the kinks for the last couple weeks. Finally got it to the point of driving that it could go on long trips today and drove with my girlfriend with our destination 2 hours north of Boise with a curvy mountain drive to get us there. 10 minutes from our destination, I come up to a cattle grate and slow down as to not bottom anything out. I press on the brakes, hear a clunk clunk and then the pedal goes to the floor. I used the parking brake to bring us to a stop and pull over to the side of the road.
My first thought was that my brake linkage was the problem (because remote booster). I checked there first and see no signs of breaks or leaks coming from the engine bay. I look under the car and see a puddle of brake fluid on the ground. WTH? Turn the steering wheel all the way right and I can see the stainless brake line clearly disconnected from caliper with some screwed up threads.
Local guy stopped to see if we needed anything, and ended up following us the rest of the way home to make sure we made it safe. (Yes I drove without brakes, engine braking and a slow speed were sufficient enough to limp home)
Last Friday I heard a similar ‘clunk clunk’ in the brakes. I heard it couple more times in between Friday and today and inspected all the brakes to make sure they still worked like they should and just figured it was something internal on the brake booster.
Knowing what’s broken now, I’m still trying to wrap my head around what exactly happened. I think that clunk was brake pressure slightly twisting the brake line and it twisted enough to snap the threads? But it doesn’t make sense to me that the brake lines would twist like that. Especially with enough force to snap a fitting like that. The threads do look like they were forced out of the caliper
So we’re all on the same page
1. The threads were not cross threaded into the caliper
2. All brakes were bled thoroughly so there wasn’t any air in the system.
3. There were no obstacles in the road that would’ve been able to hit the line with enough force to knock it loose.
4. There was nothing obstructing or hitting the brake line during its full movement.
I’m going to give ECS a call in the morning to see if they’ve had any other problems like this…
Now I have to figure out how to fix the line or tow the car home. Updates to come, just thought I’d share an odd story!!
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