Basically...Brakes are gone and now there is DW at 60-75 mph and alignment is pulling to left but when braking, goes to the right.

Scenario of what happened: I was driving from south FL to Gainesville, but on the way up there was massive traffic so I was constantly on the brake pedal. Alignment and brakes were all working up until 240 miles of the 300 mile trip. All of a sudden I started smelling like a burning plastic kind of smell and there was a little bit of clear/white smoke coming from front left wheel well.( NOT WHITE OIL SMOKE but like the color of smoke from a ciggarette...clear but a little white). So I stopped and checked, popped engine, engine wasnt overheating, nothing was extremly hot or abnormal. So I was like ok maybe i splashed a puddle and smoke from it hitting hot brakes or something. I continue driving, I smell it again and then all of a suden my brakes go all the way down. I pull over stop and investigate. My brake cylinder is now halfway empty and brake fluid is leaking out left rear brake drum.

HELP PLEASE!!!!

 

best bet is to put her on jack stands and pull the drums off and look into the front end

 

oh and the jeep was prolly pissed that you were taking her back to that dump gainesville :P

 

Pshhh I love this town lol..... Well I think the brake line in the rear probably just blew up but what about front with weird smell and smoke from front left brake??

 

Gatorbait..your brake lines are shot. get new ones.

flush the system, rebuild the back cylinder (maybe both)

but def the front hoses are shot.....it happened to me I-95 fredericksburg va during rush hour goin south.

good luck sir!

cpnwrench

 

Thanks! So that smell is "normal" for brake lines going out? And I figured I was just going to buy a new master cylinder....will that do it or what? My knowledge of brakes dont go past master cylinder and brake pads lol so if its possible and not trying to be a pain but can you explain a little more please Do the brake lines just swap out and in ? and would this be a good time to just buy steel braided extended? What could of been the reason for this? Just old? I got 240k

 

dont wanna get into the physics of viscosity and heat and cold (i.e. thermal degradation), but.....the material in the rubber hoses for brakes take such a beating over time that they eventually cannot maintain the hydro-dynamic rigidity required when the fluid such as brake fluid (sometimes silicon based) is compressed as it is in extreme braking and over normal life of braking.

the hoses just deteriorate over time.

easy to swap out. I just used OEM replacements,,,,rockauto.com

But I also replaced my brake booster (P.I.T.A by the way) and the master cylinder. as well as re-building my calipers.......

But the culprit WAS the brake hoses.

cheers!

cpnwrench

 

how can you say the front hoses are "def" shot when you arent there to look at them?

 

Because I had the SAME IDENTICAL symptoms he had in the same type of driving situation. especially with the smoke outta the front left.

cpnwrench

 

Also, gatorbait,,,,,might wanna get a new set of rotors too.

either one of the rotors is glazing/glazed or caliper action is weak causin the pull to the right.

just my thoughts.

cpnwrench

 

no pedal = no fluid = leak. a way to try to track a brake fluid leak is look for missing paint because brake fluid strips paint. the pulling to the right is probably a stuck caliper. that could be as simple as greasing the slides on the caliper. if you were doing continuous braking, you could have melted a brake hose or something. if that's the case, all that heat could have warped your rotors aswell. a lot of possibilities...get back to us if you find your answer.

 

Hey cpnwrench....I dont doubt you but since i know nothing about brakes....While shopping on RC site for brake lines, why does it say 2-3 hours install time?!? My brake lines did melt, Im guessing due to hot florida weather and excessive braking due to all the car crashes on the road that day. Anyone please let me know does this really take 2-3 hours to swap out brake lines? Front and rear btw...Thanks!

 

Honestly, as with most things, it just depends on the skill level you possess

 

Well Im fairly good with mechanical issues but never really had to come across brake work besides changing pads lol i guess i also never had an almost 20yr old jeep i shall search forums for a write up im sure ill find it somewhre

 

Just take your time