Help! I think I got the 2 rear brake lines mixed up

[hungt1999]

Could somebody check for me please, there are 5 lines under your car, the outermost line towards the passenger side is one of the rear brake line. Could you please check whether this line goes to the passenger rear brake or to the driver's side rear brake.

I screwed up when I removed my lines are they broke due to rust, now I don't know which one is which between these two.

could someone please take 5 minutes of your time and go look under your car for me and tell me please

thanks alot

[ganda1f]

Your location says Canada, so I am assuming left hand drive, with regard to passenger side location The lines are crossed, meaning that the line you mention goes to the driver's side brake. The line to the passenger side brake turns away somewhere around the rear end of the fuel tank.
Checked on a '95 Hatchback non-abs model, but I don't think it would be different on other body styles.

In any case, since you are replacing the whole lines you just need to make sure that each brake circuit operates the diagonally opposite wheels. You don't want one circuit handling the left side and the other one the right side.

[hungt1999]

Originally Posted by ganda1f

Your location says Canada, so I am assuming left hand drive, with regard to passenger side location The lines are crossed, meaning that the line you mention goes to the driver's side brake. The line to the passenger side brake turns away somewhere around the rear end of the fuel tank.
Checked on a '95 Hatchback non-abs model, but I don't think it would be different on other body styles.

In any case, since you are replacing the whole lines you just need to make sure that each brake circuit operates the diagonally opposite wheels. You don't want one circuit handling the left side and the other one the right side.

Thank you so much for helping me out! That is what I thought, the lines are the rear are crossed but I was not absolutely sure and wanted someone to confirm.

I connected the lines, did the bleeding. Then test drove the car. If I slammed the brakes hard, the car stops good distance wise. However, sometime it stops straight, sometime it pulls to the left.

At times when it pulls left, I noticed that the rear right wheel is skidding by hearing the tire screech.

- Is that normal that only the rear right wheel is skidding?
- If the rear right wheel is skidding, is that normal that the car pulls to the left?

how do I check if the brake circuit is diagonal? I see that the Master cylinder has 2 output. Those output then each go to a what I think is a proportioning valve but from there, it gets complicated. The rear 2 brake lines are connected to a proportioning valve with multiple outputs, no way I can tell which output is the left or right wheel.

[ganda1f]

As soon as a wheel starts skidding it will have less traction (and thus less braking force) than when it was not skidding. Which means that as soon as a wheel starts to skid on one side, the car will pull slightly to the opposite side. It is quite noticeable with the front wheels, but not so much with the rear ones.

That being said, it is a bit weird that you can actually lock up the rear wheel(s) on asphalt, unless of course you slam the brakes real hard. Normally both front wheels should lock up quite a bit before any of the rear ones do. This is to reduce the likelihood of inducing a spin.

If there are that many lines going in and out, then I am afraid I can't help you on how to check if the circuit is diagonal.
Hopefuly someone else can?

[hungt1999]

Originally Posted by ganda1f

If there are that many lines going in and out, then I am afraid I can't help you on how to check if the circuit is diagonal.
Hopefuly someone else can?

Ganda1f: thanks for helping me out. Very nice of you.

Please look at the following picture. If you stand up in front of the engine bay and looking at the firewall, you will see the proportioning valve. The outermost brake line towards the passenger side that I was referring to connects to the left port as indicated by the blue arrow?

the yellow arrow is for the rear right brake line

could you please do one last check for me and confirm

thanks a million times

[ganda1f]

It is very difficult to see without raising the vehicle (which I can't do right now), but as far as I can see, the line with blue arrow would be the outermost line on the passenger side. So your connection appears to be correct. Problem is, that the lines disappear under the steering rack before I can see the final bend where they go under the vehicle. I am going away for a couple of weeks and I can't check it properly right now, but I would imagine that if you ask a mechanic at a Toyota dealership, they should be nice enough to tell you which port should go to which wheel.

Having the brake circuits connected diagonally is a safety precaution for the situation when one of the circuits fails (leak, burst etc). Braking with one front wheel and the diagonally opposite rear wheel will cause the vehicle to pull less to one side than if the front and rear wheels where both braking on the same side.

[hungt1999]

OK thanks Ganda1f, that is good enough, the line stays on one side and does not cross going down making the turn behind the firewall. Therefore the left line stays left all the way to the rear where it crossed once near the tank

so I am very confident that I connected things correctly

thanks again

[ganda1f]

No problem, glad to help