I hate it when I have to have a car towed home. My Miata has a badly leaking rear hard brake line. It must have just given up as I was pulling out of this parking lot. No big deal, not hard to fix, I just feel like a failwhale when I can't bring a car home under its own power.
I just knew you, my support group, would understand!
That is all.
Doesn't it have a dual-circuit master cylinder allowing the front brakes to work? Or is it an ABS car? Mechanical parking brake inoperative as well?
Vise grips will pinch off that hard line, but drive vewwry, vewwry carefully.
I think the dual circuits are diagonal rather than front/back. Handbrake in-op due to broken cable. I am sure I could limp home but with a known brake issue why chance it?
Lol my wife discovered our Castro's hard lines had failed one night around 2am as she blew through a red light with no brakes.... thankfully the e-brake pedal worked and she made it the last 1/2 mile home safely... good thing it was her honestly... I couldn't. Get to the ebrake pedal with the door closed...
Lol my wife discovered our Castro's hard lines had failed one night around 2am as she blew through a red light with no brakes.... thankfully the e-brake pedal worked and she made it the last 1/2 mile home safely... good thing it was her honestly... I couldn't. Get to the ebrake pedal with the door closed...
Lugnut wrote: I am sure I could limp home but with a known brake issue why chance it?
Exactly.
i can't be the only person who's ever driven a car over 20 miles with no brakes.. your situational awareness and downshifting prowess goes up in that situation..
novaderrik wrote:i can't be the only person who's ever driven a car over 20 miles with no brakes.. your situational awareness and downshifting prowess goes up in that situation..
I suspect many of us have done it. I know I have. Well it wasn't twenty miles, but it was all stoplights and hills, so it sure felt like at least that far. Doesn't make it smart though.
I drove a car for a couple of days with a broken brake line, on more than one ocassion.
That's what the E brake is for. It sounds like an emergency to me 
Cross-circuit + INOP e-brake = you made the right call.
Aren't diagonal circuits considered safer than front/back circuits? I guess it depends on which end springs a leak...
Regardless, you made the right call. The real world is a complex environment full of kids darting into the road and serial texters wandering into your lane, not worth the risk.
I drove a first gen RX-7 with the rear brakes capped off for a few weeks when I was 19. Yes I thought it was pretty cool having poor mans line locks all the time. 
You made the right (adult!
) call. Engine rattle/overheating/transmission/etc = affects only you. Bad brakes= affects everyone around you.
I've had cars towed home when it was the safest choice.
I do it about 3 times a year
Now I'm buying/building/trading for my own tow truck.
dual diagonal systems can do nasty things when one brake is blown. Happened to me on my old hyundai excel. One of the rear calipers blew a seal and I lost the right rear and left front. I made it home, but everytime I touched the brakes, the car wanted to rotate.
My Father will tell the story of a time he went racing. Friend of his had a corvette (early 70s) and had just completely revamped the car's brakes, but had not yet bled the brakes when they had to leave. He drove to the track and through inspection without brakes.. downshifting and using the ebrake.
he then bled the brakes before getting on the track
My Rover occasionally only uses the right front brake.
Lugnut wrote:I hate it when I have to have a car towed home. My Miata has a badly leaking rear hard brake line. It must have just given up as I was pulling out of this parking lot. No big deal, not hard to fix, I just feel like a failwhale when I can't bring a car home under its own power.
I just knew you, my support group, would understand!
That is all.
Don't feel bad. Been there, done that. Lost the rear brake line on my Dakota several years ago. Blew right after towing a Dart down to a buddy's house. Wound up loading my truck on my own trailer and borrowing another guy's truck to get it home. Now that's a bad feeling.
And hey,your Miata is still moving under its own power. Just not stopping. 
I blew the rear hard line out of my 98 Explorer just recently thankfully it happened in my garage right after I replaced the rear pads and was pushing the new pads against the discs! I had just returned from an all day drive to Toronto and back.
When I did this the pedal went to the floor, as both rears were out. I would not have driven even a mile.
You made the right call.
$75 for the tow is way cheaper than hitting anything.
So I suppose the right fix now is to replace the entire line. Guess I need to start pricing those out.
My hard line - bent by hand was all of $8 from Canadian Tire.
Solid axle Ford rear. Probably harder on a Miata.
I wouldnt do it on the street but I drove the LeMons car for the last half hour of the race with no brakes at all. Lots of point bys and downshifting out of the racing line but we weren't going to end the race in the pits.
Lugnut wrote:I think the dual circuits are diagonal rather than front/back. Handbrake in-op due to broken cable. I am sure I could limp home but with a known brake issue why chance it?
The 95 at least has both rears on the same line considering there is only one that runs to the back :P
There is a little block in the right rear wheel well that splits the line off to the left rear caliper.
Ok, so what is my best option for fixing the line? Cut out the damaged portion, flare the ends of the remaining line, flare both ends of a new piece and connect? Replace the entire thing? What kind of flares are on the factory Miata lines?
