Death Trap?? Read This!!

[tonystvservices]

Last week, i visited a farm, on my way back down (feeling cocky in my 94m reg 4runner) over the rough stuff i had to brake hard, the result no brakes and some amazing evasive action, hand brake on and heart pounding i came to a stop. managed to crawl the rest of the way using the hand brake (not recommended).

not being one to trust garages, i had a look, and brake fluid was dripping ffrom above the rear axle (drivers side). the 2 brakes pipes run along the chassis from the front , they go behind the fuel tank, then bend round to above the rear suspension mounting, at this point (which gathers a fair bit of gunk picked up from driving) the pipes are no longer plastic coated, and mine had corroded so bad they split under the pressure, if your a very big person you will find it quiet hard to see here, stick your arm up and follow the pipes with your fingers.

the best thing you can do (NOW) is go outside and stomp on your brakes a few times really hard. then at least yor at home, and not hurtling towards a queue at the traffic lights, god knows how much destruction would have resulted if i was in that situation.

DONT be fooled by the condition of your undercarriage (sorry missus) mine has almost no rust, dont worry about the cost of fixing, i have just spent £27 for all the bits including tools to do the job so its not a biggy, but please go check and be safe people.

thanks for reading

[da SLUG man]

one off failure down to poor maintenance.

corroded brake pipes should show up on MOT

[BUSHWHACKER]

MKII Mondeos suffer from that too!

[RodLeach]

Is is possible to get braided brake lines??

[Vagrant No2]

That has always been where the brake pipes corroded and fail . My yellow Runner I have for breaking was MOT failure on exactly those brake pipes . Other forums that run 4Runners have said the same .

[Vagrant No2]

Is is possible to get braided brake lines??

I have braided lines but not there . They should be solid pipes .

[RodLeach]

hang on is this exclusive to 4runners ?? or will it happen on a surf aswell?

[logey79]

any decent MOT station will pick up on this well before it becomes dangerous.

i'd rather have a strict MOT tester and fail on stuff that others would let go as that way, when stuff like this comes up, you know they'll catch it.

this is why you should be suspicious if your vehicles pass the MOT year on year without so much as an advisory, especially if they're over 5 years old.

[da SLUG man]

any decent MOT station will pick up on this well before it becomes dangerous.

i'd rather have a strict MOT tester and fail on stuff that others would let go as that way, when stuff like this comes up, you know they'll catch it.

this is why you should be suspicious if your vehicles pass the MOT year on year without so much as an advisory, especially if they're over 5 years old.

always better to have one that passes it, but points out the bad bits!!

[logey79]

always better to have one that passes it, but points out the bad bits!!

been there, had that, it doesn't work! you end up putting things off and then it goes pete tong!

[Vagrant No2]

hang on is this exclusive to 4runners ?? or will it happen on a surf aswell?

I do not know of a Surf having this happen , but you never know .

[tonystvservices]

had the car just under a year, had a new MOT when i bought it, i thought i had crawled all over it, but this bit is very difficult to see. everywhere else is spot on.