2003 Ford F250 Superduty Ext Cab 5.4L 4x4 165,000 miles
Hey Scotty,
Recently someone cut the three rear lines on my truck so I decided to play it safe & replace every hose/line just in case.
Once I got everything all buttoned up & torqued, I began to pour in the DOT 4. When I went to the passenger rear to start bleeding, the lines were already bleeding from EVERY connection including all four calipers, well aside from the three at the ABS module, those were dry.
I tried tightening them down more, no luck. Still trickled at the same rate with no pressure on the pedal or the "power bleeder", engine off.
I purchased the prebent stainless lines from advanced & the hoses from autozone, I'm unsure of the odds that ALL were made out of spec but that's all I've been able to guess.
Any ideas on fixing this? All eight copper crush washers are new (one on each side of the hose to caliper bolt) & I'm a bit nervous that going any tighter might break the bolt or crack the caliper. The hard line connections are all steel aside from the two couplings being brass. I found it very odd that only the ABS isn't leaking.
I don't think the steel is returnable & just swapping the hoses would still leave a number of leaks. This is the first brake job in 26 years where I've had this happen & it's driving me nuts...not to mention the landlord is going to have the tow yard take the truck if it's not roadworthy. Happened once already over a flat tire, that truck never came home.
I'd try a shop but the parts ate up the last of my repair funds & I have a feeling it's going to run triple what it has already cost (about $400).
I appreciate any advice you can give.
-Russ
I use NiCopp (Nickel-Copper alloy) for brake lines. It's more expensive than steel but worth it; very easy to bend and flare and doesn't rust.
Well just sounds like they were made like crap realize if you get stainless lines they weren't made out of stainless steel originally for very good reason stainless steel is often hard to seal because of it's hardness. Regular steel will bend to conform the washers where stainless steel oven won't
Any suggestions on proper line material? The hard lines I replaced had what looked to be black patina & bent (what seemed to be) too easily when pulling them out.
The hoses are definitely out of spec as far as mounting brackets, they're about 2"-3" off but I have to change the location anyways as the original mounting bolts are snapped off inside the rear axle housing.
It sounds like somebody gave you the wrong parts or got the numbers screwed up. I always take my VIN to the parts place to make sure the parts are correct. Maybe they mixed up metric with sae or vice versa.
I gave my vin, double checked all features were present, even went through a few bags of the hoses to find the "best".
The hoses all were identical to what looked to be originals as I inspected them prior to installation. Having to walk to the store I didn't want to get all ready to work then hike back up covered in parking lot sludge 😄
My guess at the calipers is I might need thicker copper washers, saw that as a cause of a leak on another F250 recently.
The hard lines seem to be out of tolerance just enough so the threads engage without slop but don't seal, could also be the wrong flare type too.
I've wanted to get it back on the road after all this time but between looking at the icy parking lot & not having the funds I haven't looked at it since.