2001 Front Brake issue / leaking

This may be mostly a rant post as I haven't had a chance to remove the front drivers' wheel yet.... had to take the wife to work and borrow her car and get to work. Ugh!!

Went out to head to work, start the '01 XJ, step on brake pedal and noticed a little 'pop' feel and then the normal pedal feel. Back out of the driveway, brakes felt normal...ish. Slowly head out the neighborhood road and come to the stop sight and bamn... brake pedal to the floor, Brake Light comes on, and I barely coast to a stop...ish. FK!! Back up and turn around, drive back home very slowly and pull into my driveway and stop. This time my brakes worked... then the pedal goes to the floor and the Brake Light comes on.

Pop the hood and check the brake fluid in master cylinder (looks good), shine light on my drivers side wheel and notice fluid all over the inner wheel well and on the rim of the tire. Didn't see anything on the passenger side. Looks like I found the side that's bad.

I've tried looking up parts for new soft brake lines but can't find any?? Anyone have a part number or know where I can find a new soft/rubber line? I don't know if that's the problem yet but I'd like to have parts on hand if needed. Could be a brake caliper but I've never had one 'blow' on me like that.

I've also replace the rear Drum's w/ Discs a couple years back and have had zero issues on that front. Had a leaking rear drum cylinder in the past prior to swapping in discs.

Anyone had any similar experiences they could share? Place your bets on what you think it could be.

So found the parts... I searched under "brake line" and should've searched under "brake hose" to get the rubber line if needed. Will update later whenever I figure out what the issue is causing the leak.

Redsnake said:

I've also replace the rear Drum's w/ Discs a couple years back and have had zero issues.

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You mean besides barely working when the front failed :}
Actually, since you had brakes they second try the prop valve probably cut off the front and you had just rear brakes. Pumping the brakes during the initial failure probably would have helped.

Well... yeah... before the fronts failed my brakes worked great!! Ha

Found the issue. The front Drivers brake hose busted above the caliper mount part of the line. A good 1/2" split clean up the line. Bough new replacement hoses for both front brakes. I figured if one split the next could be just around the corner... given the 178K miles on my rig, why not right. Hope to get the lines replaced later today.

You doing the lines yourself? I just replaced all my lines and hoses on my 2000..well except for the rears as the looked good and someone had already did the long one going from front to back. If doing yourself and ordered pre-bents the passenger front was a pain on mine even though it came in two sections. Next time I do one I'm going with the copper/nickel lines.

country2 said:

You doing the lines yourself? I just replaced all my lines and hoses on my 2000..well except for the rears as the looked good and someone had already did the long one going from front to back. If doing yourself and ordered pre-bents the passenger front was a pain on mine even though it came in two sections. Next time I do one I'm going with the copper/nickel lines.

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I replaced both Brake Hoses this afternoon... Driver/Passenger sides. It was just he rubber hose and not the hard lines. Those are in good shape. Went pretty smoothly once I got the bleeder valves loose so I could actually bleed the lines.