i recently purchased a 96 F150 EB 5.0L 2WD. bought it from local dealer and it was certified preowned vehicle. got if for a fair price. now comes the problem. my wife and i decided to take boat to water and do some fishing. when i got in and decided to bring boat to front for easier loading of gear i had no brakes when i went to stop. parked vehicle and brake fluid all over ground in no time. dealer towed it in and found rusted thru brake line along frame next to fuel filter and also on right front where line attches to rubber hose. i thought wow thats great they found problem and repaired it. 2 days later we packed up to go on vacation. had boat hooked up and ready to go. was so excited. got 15 miles down the road and at about 55 truck started shaking violently. slowly the speed at which it was shaking was down to 35. i decided to stop and check it out and when i got out front left wheel had smoke coming out of it. i jacked it up and took the tire off and the rotor was very disclored and very hot. had it towed to dealership and they replaced front pads and rotors and called it fixed. i asked if they replaced the caliper and they said no. i asked why not calipers dont lock up for no reason. i felt there was debri in system causing it to lock. i took vehicle and drove it for a day and sometimes it would pull to left under braking. i said no good. took it back to dealer and they changed the caliper and called it fixed. when i got in to leave i had to wait for traffic, thats when i noticed the brake pedal going down ever so slowly. turned around and its still at dealership. i feel that when i put foot on brake pedal to stop that the pedal should stay put under moderate pressure. is it just me or is it normal for pedal to go down some while at a stop? this problem is driving me crazy. otherwise a very sweet truck for 56000 miles. anyone had any experiences like this? this has all taken place in 1 week.

 

sounds like you got some blockage in youre brake line causing some restriction, or you got air, best thing I would do is buy a lot of break fluid and pull the bleeders all the way out and totally flush the system and then be sure there isn't any air whatsoever in the lines. Theres gonna be a lot of pumping the pedal involved.

 

Not normal for brake pedal to go down slowly like that. The only time that should happen is if you have power brakes, engine is off, you press on the brake pedal, start the engine, the pedal will go down just a little. Brake systems are a closed system. What fluid is in the system stays there. Over time and use, you will have a lower pedal height due to the wearing/worn brake linings. I am most curious about the rotted out brake lines. I believe you're referring to the steel lines and not the rubber hoses. Never seen that happen especially on a newer truck. Do they salt the roads where you live? I think the dealer is just trying to get over cheap and only replace things if it is pointed out. I don't need to tell you how important brakes are. I just can't believe that the dealer didn't catch the problem the after the caliper change.

 

Certified preowned vehicle? I would be steaming mad...i would think the break system would be one of the items they check on there list! I would ask to see the check list for that vehical. What else didnt they check? Anyway...a 96 shouldnt have lines rusting out...i would visualy check all componets including lines. Then flush...look at the fluid leaving the bleeders...if the fluid is contaminated u may have more future problems

 

well i finaly got it back today all seems well. they did rebleed the brake system at all 4 wheels. so i got front pads and rotors and left caliper for free so i am not going to complain too much. yes they do salt the roads here in ohio. i already had the checklist for the vehicle since it came with it and it stated brake system fine and 80% pads left. that was my leverage to make sure it got fixed.