[Shop-talk] Ford Explorer Brake Line Repair

[David Scheidt]

On Aug 6, 2012, at 4:15 PM, Wayne <wmc_st at xxiii.com> wrote:

> On 8/6/2012 8:42 AM, Paul Parkanzky [and others] wrote:
>> It wasn't long ago that we expected an eight or nine year old vehicle to
>> be held together by hope and zip ties.  Now, a piece fails and you're
>> ready to call the lawyers?  Cars have come a long way in the last 25
>> years or so.  I don't know if I can say the same about society.
>
> Sorry if I hit a nerve with some of you. I despise litigious jerks and
ambulance chasing lawyers as much as anyone. I know a lot of you are into
1950s-ish LBCs and such. If that's your choice, fine. But all bets and
expectations are off on reliability in that case.
>
> Major failure of a safety critical part on a sub-ten year old mainstream
21st century vehicle is unacceptable. Unless it somehow has crazy high miles,
or has been abused. I consider a brake line to wear with age, rather than
mileage, but maybe I'm wrong on that.
>

Age is the big factor but salt can kill these right quick. So if it's parked
at a salt beach I'm not shocked at the failure. The other thing that kills
these is mechanical damage.  A bit of off roading, or changes to the
suspension, can easily be at fault.

I can't speculate w/o knowing the history and seeing the hose.