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Found a rusted brake line on a 2002 F-150 last Tuesday during a routine oil change
I was doing a simple oil change for a regular customer down at my shop in Austin when I spotted a clump of bubbling rust near the rear passenger wheel well. Turned out the brake line was almost completely rotted through, which would have failed on the highway within a week. Anyone else double-checking brake lines on older trucks more often now?
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young.thomas10h ago
Man, I used to blow off brake lines as something you'd only see on cars from the 80s, but that one changed my mind completely. Now I'm crawling under every F-150 from that era to check for rust scale.
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young.ryan10h ago
Honestly I was in the same boat, @young.thomas. I figured rusted out brake lines were just something that happened to old junkers from up north, not something I'd ever have to worry about. Then I saw a buddy's 2012 F-150 lose all pressure pulling into my driveway, and the line literally just crumbled when we touched it. Now I'm the guy with a flashlight crawling under every truck at the local car meet. It's wild how fast that salt and moisture just eats them from the inside out.
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robinp897h ago
I get the concern, but "crawling under every truck at a car meet" sounds like a lot of work for something that's probably fine. I've been driving a 2011 F-150 for the last five years, and I've never touched the brake lines once. My buddy's 2008 Silverado has 200k on it and still stops on a dime. I think people online love to freak out about stuff that's rare in real life. Unless you're in the salt belt or live by the ocean, I'd say just check them when you do your oil changes and call it good.
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