360 Blew the EV1 line - 80 mile tow - this could have been prevented!

About 5 seconds after having to politely tell my date that are plans are about to change because of that pesky light on the dashboard, my car got stuck in gear and we coasted into a 24-hour bakery parking lot Saturday night. Actually 4:30am on Sunday.

Fortunately for me, the weather was oddly clear (it has been raining for weeks down here) and I had leftover stripper money to give the cranky tow truck driver - a great investment when his opening line was "I was sleeping when I got this call..."

Anyway, we did get the car back to my house 80 miles away, and I tore it down quickly to find the obvious issue. The EV1 line that connects to the actuator was rubbing against the EV4 line, which eventually rubbed a hole in the line. Normally, these lines come with a plastic spiral protector that extends the length of the hydraulic line - there's a reason for this - it protects against this exact scenario. The plastic is flexible and prevents metal to metal contact of the weave. The problem comes with when you're like me and daily drive a car equipped with Capristo exhaust, the pure vibration over time not only vibrates screws, bolts, nuts loose all over the engine bay, the garage door, the neighbor's dentures, etc., but also the plastic spiral on the lines slowly vibrate their way back and into the main sheath, exposing the metal.

I disconnected and removed the line and it was apparent that the plastic spiral could easily be re-stretched to its original length but it was definitely bunched up once I pulled it out of the main sheath.

The lesson is this - if you inspect the actuator and see that the EV lines are starting to expose the metal weave, reach up and stretch the plastic spiral down to the banjo. You won't hurt it or break it, it's flexible plastic. It's there for protection. If I would have done this small amount of preventative maintenance, I would have saved myself some hassle.