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Tried the old penny trick on a bad brake line and it backfired hard
I shoved a penny into a leaking brake line near Dallas last Tuesday to get home, and the thing shot out like a bullet when I hit the pedal, nearly taking my toe off. Learned that penny trick is for fuel lines only, not brakes. Anyone else have a field fix that turned into a total mess?
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tara6421mo ago
Wait is that actually true about the pressure though? I keep hearing people say brake lines run over 1000 PSI but I looked it up once and most passenger cars only run like 800-900 PSI max with a hard stomp. Not that it matters much, a penny is gonna fail at way less than that either way. Still scary as hell it shot out like that, glad you're okay. My uncle used to swear by using a section of rubber hose and hose clamps for a temporary brake line fix, but I always thought that sounded sketchy too.
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ellioth371mo ago
Damn, nearly took your toe off? That's insane. I've heard of people using pennies on fuel lines but never brakes, that's a whole different pressure situation. Glad you still got all ten toes man. That could have been a lot worse than just a bad brake line.
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dakota4151mo ago
Yeah I've seen that trick on fuel lines too, totally different animal. Brake lines run way higher pressure, sometimes over a thousand PSI when you really stomp on the pedal. A penny will just blow out and spray fluid everywhere, you'd be lucky if you even got a block before you lost all stopping power. Had a buddy try to patch a rusted line on his old F150 with a similar hack, it didn't end well. Replacing the whole damn line isn't fun but it's way cheaper than a trip to the hospital or worse.
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