[WOT Bimmer]

I've attached a picture of the blown rear brake line (line on the right). The picture was taken under the driver side of the car with my head under the muffler facing forward.

My pedal started getting mushy on the drive home and sure enough, I had a puddle under the car by the time I got to the driveway. Turns out that the line was crimped and cracked because the emergency brake line was laying on top of it stressing it.

The car has 130,000 miles on it. Wouldn't this be a safety feature that BMW should check into for R&D? I hate paying for something to be repaired that is so blatantly a manufacturing defect, but I know that's not my call.

Has anyone replaced this line before? It appears to run across the tranny to the opposite rear wheel. I'm pretty sure it's pipe #9 in this diagram: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=34_1808 Can anyone confirm that?

Thanks guys.

[feuer]

Your car probably had some work done at some point and it was not put together correctly. This is how the roll form the factory:

[PrematureApex]

I spy with my little eye...

A zip-tie!

[Volasko]

Originally Posted by feuer

Your car probably had some work done at some point and it was not put together correctly.

No way this is how the parking brake wire is ran from the factory. Someone did this incorrectly during a previous service job. The good news is the hard line that is damaged is part of the rear sub-frame. You can buy this pre-bent and is easy to swap. You might have to drop the sub frame to get access, so you might as well do the other hard line to the drives side rear caliper while you are at it as that could be damaged too. Naturally you're going to need to re-bleed everything.

[HP Autosport]

Was the subframe dropped for bushing or sway bar work at some point?

[WOT Bimmer]

Originally Posted by HP Autosport

Was the subframe dropped for bushing or sway bar work at some point?

Could have before I bought it, but I have no record of it (bought it CPO from the dealer with low miles).

Originally Posted by Volasko

No way this is how the parking brake wire is ran from the factory. Someone did this incorrectly during a previous service job. The good news is the hard line that is damaged is part of the rear sub-frame. You can buy this pre-bent and is easy to swap. You might have to drop the sub frame to get access, so you might as well do the other hard line to the drives side rear caliper while you are at it as that could be damaged too. Naturally you're going to need to re-bleed everything.

The small, 90 degree pipe in the left of my picture was replaced about a year ago by me for the same reason, so the ebrake line actually rested on both at one time.

You are correct it was easy to replace. I bought the part and fluid for $37 and replaced in 2 hours (included bleeding all of the brakes). Actually got an entire flush out of it because all of my fluid drained. The ebrake line is now positioned appropriately and everything is working good.

I did call the dealer more or less to complain about the issue and see if there was anything they could do with the car being out of warranty. I didn't expect anything and obviously didn't get anything. They wanted me to bring the car in which I explained was impossible as 100% of my brake fluid was resting nicely in a puddle under the rear of the car. They said they would contact their BMW rep if they found it to truly be a manufacturing defect. Regardless, I am concerned why it came that way, especially since I am unaware of any previous brake work.

Thanks all for the help. Hit me up with any questions if you will be replacing that rear brake line that spans the tranny!