so I went to start my car yesterday, I pressed the break and it went to the floor. Upon closer inspection I found a blown steel brake line under the hood. 43$ for it but has anyone had this happen. It kinda makes me nervous especially after making 130+ mph passes !

 

This is the first instance that I have heard...kind of scary to hear about it. Good thing that you weren't driving it when it happened.

 

I know , I just had my daughter in there . I wonder if the electronic park brake would stop you if you could get slowed down enough? It's blown under the hood I think where it goes from the master cylinder to abs unit . It's spraying about 18 inches from the cylinder!

 

And this is a stock brake line that blew or an aftermarket brake line? According to Cleetus, the parking brake will slow you down:

 

It was a factory line, the car has 4,000 miles on it 2015 z-51.

 

OEM brake line.
This is a serious issue.

Take to dealer (on warranty, yes?) and make sure they notify GM.

Else DIY and notify the Fed Safety division.

(FWIW...Over the decades, I have had bad luck with steel brake lines, on motorcycles and automobiles, leaking...all name brands. I prefer the OEM hose for safety.)

Glad your safe and good luck.

 

I have always put on a good 5 layer aftermaker name brand on ever vette that I have had NEVER a problem with one of them. Robert

 

Cleetus has a horribly loud car.

 

I am glad this didn't result in an accident and of course GM would have to cover transport and repair under the new vehicle warranty.

This is an unfortunate example that some parts have flaws that occur at the time of manufacture and unless there was an assembly issue causing brake line flex and fatigue the failure likely resulted from flawed material or an issue in the tubing forming process; probably a single weak spot in the material that expanded/contracted with each brake application until it let go.

Something that ought to be but probably isn't taught in most driver's ed classes is how to handle an emergency like sudden loss of brakes. Knowing ahead of time that shifting down to the lowest gear possible and engaging the parking/emergency brake can be a life saver. With most cars going to electric power steering the perfect driver's ed car would have a switch for the instructor to shut off steering assist so the student knows what it will feel like to steer without assist in an emergency. A friend asked me why the transmission selector in my pickup has a position for 1st gear in addition to the manual mode selection position and at least one good reason is if normal braking is lost/reduced dropping the selector in 1 will cause the Allison auto to downshift into lower gears as quickly as possible without engine over speed in order to slow the truck.

 

The OP says the brake line was a metal line under the hood and not a rubber line going to the wheel. It was one of the lines that go between the master and the ABS unit.

Bill

 

Still a serious issue...master to ABS unit.
Dealer/ GM needs to know.

FWIW... 1987 had a aftermarket front steel line pop on a Honda Hurricane motorbike.
Still stand by my dislike of any brake line mod.

 

Which line, specifically??? Separate front and rear "circuits" were created back in the mid-60s to eliminate exactly this rare possibility. You should have still had one circuit working!

 

Have been in a couple of cars that had brake line failures. From what I have noticed the pedal goes to the floor on the first stroke and the driver may not realize there may be some braking capability still available. After instructing in a BMW that had a brake line failure going into T1 at the Glen at 135 mph I tried to understand why the student didn't have at least half the brakes. The stainless steel brake line pulled out of its fitting on the driver's side front caliper.

I don't know whether BMWs have dual diagonal braking like the Corvette or have dual front/rear braking but he should have had at least two brake calipers still functioning. After some thought I think when pressure is lost in one of the two loops the pedal drops quite a bit and the driver may feel like it dropped to the floor. The first thing the driver needs to do when this happens is to pump the pedal quickly. That should bring the pedal level up and let the driver get sufficient pressure to the two functioning brake calipers for effective brake action. However, if pumping doesn't work then it is time for PLAN C. Plan B and C need to be thought about before driving the car Vs waiting for the Oh **** moment.

Bill

 

If there is a blown line, wouldn't the car pull HARD to one side?

 

I believe the system is paired so a blown line will take out the front pair or the rear pair, not left side or right side.

Elmer