Today I went to take my Fleetwood to a fancy party when all of a sudden I shifted to Drive and the brake pedal went soft on me along with the BRAKE light on the dashboard coming on. When my dad pressed the brake for me I could hear air escaping from the rear wheels, but not the front. The car still stops but with a little more distance. I'm losing brake pressure in the rear, I don't believe it's the master cylinder since it's only in the back. Any ideas what it could be? Would it be easy to fix myself? I've got Monday off.....
Sounds like a line to me also. I just had mine done last year. I'll tell you what, it wasn't cheap. I'm not sure why but everyone wanted some outrageous amount to do the job. I think to do the 2 rear lines it was something like $500. Totally insane.
I should also mention that no fluid spilled, it's just air leaking out. Is this something I can fix myself, or do I need to bring this in? I really hope this doesn't cost me $500 I really don't have.....
You CAN do it yourself. I recently replaced my own rear brake lines. It requires a little bit of wherewithal, but it's not impossible.
If it is indeed the rear brake line, you'll need to lift the car's left side. The brake lines run along the body, just under the side of the car. You will have to disconnect the line at the cylinder, and again above the gearbox in the back, if it's leaking between those two places. I'm not sure about leaking air. There shouldn't be any air in those lines. You can go to an auto parts store and find replacement line in the proper diameter, but the tricky part is the lengths. The lines come in pre-cut lengths that can be fastened together. You'll have to estimate how many of what sizes you need to get from the front to the back of the car. Once you tighten them in place and secure them to the frame with zip-ties or what have you, you'll need someone to help you bleed the brakes, and that's that.
Doing it yourself only cost me about 20 bucks for the lines and a few bucks more for fluid.
I'm not sure. I know I hear air hissing around both rear wheels (sound might be coming directly from the drums) whenever someone steps on the brakes. I don't see any puddles of brake fluid on the ground and the fluid under the hood is still there. The BRAKE light is on like the parking brake is on and the pedal is soft. The front brakes seem to be working fine since the car isn't that hard to stop, I could drive it if I had to and stop ok. I guess tomorrow I'll try to lift the car and take a look underneath to see if anything looks a-miss. Any reccomendation on visuals of what to look for? I also have the Factory Shop Manual so any reccomended pages, tell me.
It would be very odd for both sides to go at once, but since you are hearing hissing on both sides, that may very well be...
The hissing could also be coming from the center where the lines split, and it's just echoing under the car to seem like it's coming from both tires.
I'm still confused about the hissing. If anything is leaking, it should be fluid. My service manual mentions nothing about air hissing, so I'm stumped.
Don'cha just love that shit? It's good to have a shop you can trust. I took the day to celebrate and completely wash the car from top to bottom.....
:thumbsup:
I wish I could get $100 to replace a brake line. We would be friends for life. Peace.
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