OT: Bill, Winfred...you guys seen anything funny with Ford brake hoses?

[billb]

A friend of mine had a "situation" with his '97 Expedition today...he was coming to a stop and suddenly the brake pedal went to the floor, but he still had a little braking capability. He arrived at a location I happed to be at, and we smelled what I thought was just hot brakes. I did not see anything dripping under the car, but a fine mist would not have been noticeable.

I think now it was a mist of brake fluid that got on the calipers and smelled hot. Car cooled down and he drove 1 mile home. I came over later and we pulled the front wheels...plenty of pad, rotors and calipers in great shape, but when I touched the brake hose, it completely came apart in my hand at the swaged fitting near the wheel. It was completely corroded in the area hidden by the rubber protection added around the 4wd halfshaft. Advance had new ones for $22.00, of which we bought new left and right, replaced them both (both corroded), did a thorough bleed, and sent him on his way. Some "panic stops" from highway speeds did not cause an issue,and everything was snug and dry afterwards.

This failure mode was downright scary, and he had just had it checked out at the local "mechanic" 2 weeks ago, where they gave the car a clean bill of health. It could have happened a week ago when we were all on the triathlon trip in Wrightsville, on I-40, at 70mph...It's a used Expedition from the DC area with 85k on it...

Anyone seen anything like this? This is why we do PM on our cars...

[winfred]

i've not herd anything, but then i don't work on fords