Busted brake line! - FIXED!!!

[dangrus4060]

Well, earlier this afternoon, I drive my daughter's 97 SE down the driveway so I can do the obligatory oil change and just as I'm getting to the bottom of the driveway at the garage door, I feel the brake pedal give away...WTF???

I do manage to stop the car ok, so I get out, look under, and see a nice puddle forming on the garage floor. Brake fluid!

I jack the car up and see that the front driver's side metal line is leaking fluid like mad on the inside of the frame rail between the ABS pump and the rubber hose going to the front caliper. It sprayed all over the tranny side pan and down on the framerail.

Well great!! Gotta fix something else now when I have almost no money.
Now I'm thanking God that it went out while I was driving and not when she was getting off the interstate (doing 70) onto the ramp that goes down a hill to a traffic light on a very busy road near where she works.

I did notice that the lines were a little rusty when I changed out the ABS pump back last spring but I never thought it would rupture...I've never had this happen on any car I've ever had. So, I do an online search for a replacement, and it looks like no one carries a prebent direct replacement. Seems all you can get is coil tubes and you bent it up yourself.

Is this the norm? Anyone have the same problem when replacing metal brake lines? Who has the better quality products? How easy is it really to bend these lines into shape? I do have a small pipe bender but I'll have to get a flaring tool.

I'll appreciate any and all input. I do need to order materials quickly cause I need to get her car back on the road quickly. She's gonna be driving my white X-11 until I get hers fixed. ( It has a couple of issues that I'm not spending money on to fix since I'm gonna be tearing it all apart for the L67 swap... mainly a troublesome fuel pump relay that IT decides when it wants to work right. It will eventually kick in on about the 3rd start attempt and a tranny that is starting to slip bad when shifting into 3rd.)

Thanks!
Terry

[00Beast]

Dealer?

[GoldenBullet]

I know others have had difficulty locating brake lines from parts dealers, it seems that getting them made or finding replacements at the JY is the best bet.

I'm not sure if the dealer carries them or not.

[wjcollier07]

I've checked a few times when I needed lines, because BOTH my 89 LE and my 93 SE have both blown metal brake lines (thanks Wisconsin)...and I've been told by the dealer and several other places that the only lines that come pre-made in the aftermarket are P/S lines, transmission cooler lines, oil cooler lines, and SOME fuel lines. Not too sure what the deal is on that, but anyways, I had it done by a small shop when I knew even less about hydraulic fittings than I do now (and that's saying something), and a friend of my mother's did them on the 93 (a much better job than the small shop on the 89), but both times, they simply used raw line, re-flared the ends of the old lines, and made a patch line.

I've recently noticed, even my 98 which was bought in Florida, about 50 miles north of here, and probably has never seen snow/ice/salt, STILL has a solid about of surface rust on the brake lines...they're simply of an inferior quality. (Thanks GM)

If you've got a front line that's busted, that's not a massive deal. Just get some tube, flare tool, some fittings (o-rings as well), and you've got the tube bender...and just study it for a bit, practice with it, and with a short run like that, you might figure it out quick.

[LeSabre in Buffalo]

I had a shop do the line that was leaking on my car. Now I have a set of pristine rear lines from the junkyard, so I'm doing those at some point in the future.

[Mechanical Mike]

Your car needs lines with ISO (AKA bubble) flares. Your local auto parts store should have 3/16 brake line with double flares and the brass fittings to use it with bubble flares.

[dangrus4060]

I called my local j/y last friday, told them I needed the metal brake pipelines for both front brakes. He gave me a quote of $48 including them taking the lines off. Seeing the weather forecast Saturday, (rain, high 40 decreasing during the day and possibly chaning to snow), I said 'DEAL!' Gave him my credit card#s and called my daughter to go pick them up in my bonnie. (I drove my white X-11 that day so she could run some errands ). She got there and they told her that they had to put a stop on pulling parts and that they had not pulled them.
So, they tell her that they will have them pulled by 11 am Saturday. I said OK.
I get there Saturday and the guy had pulled all 6 lines! (in great shape including the pipes from the MC to the ABS pump...no rust) still hooked together with the factory clips. Well I'm getting a deal for all 6 lines for $48 , but I'm thinking 'how am I gonna put these in the trunk of my bonnie? it was already 11:30 and they closed at 12 noon so no time to go back to the house to get my hatchback X-11.


I still had some rags in the trunk so I figured I will pass the rear lines thru the backseat passthru door. Well they ended up sticking all the way past the front seat almost to the dash. Glad I had the rags cause they were still dripping a little brake fliud. I would not have been happy with brake fluid drips on my pristine leather interior!.

Sunday is freezing cold outside 27 deg. So, waited until about 11am when it got up to 37 to get started...it was supposed to get to 50 but the clouds came in and it never got above 40...so I only got the front driver side line replaced (the one that ruptured) and all the lines bled. I will have to wait for a warmer weekend to do the others...due to having to drop the exhaust and the heat shield to get the front passenger brakeline installed and the rear shield at the tank for the rear crossover pipe.

So, at least her bonnie is back on the road for now... I did inspect the rest of the lines...although they have a tad bit of surface rust, none of them are nearly as bad as that one line was so she should be good to go for a few weeks or so. (My garage is full with other project stuff, so there's no chance to get it in there now.) Hopefully there will be a bit of warm weather during Christmas break if not, then the first warm Saturday or Sunday, but soon!

[LeSabre in Buffalo]

Like you, I'm going to be replacing many of the lines with pristine junkyard lines sometime in the near future.

Yeah, that right front line is a bear. I'd see if you can't replace it by taking off the strut tower brace and dropping it in from the top. There are 2 10mm bolts on the heatshield above the exhaust to undo it.

Or draping it over the exhaust, then moving it up and over the heatshield. The heatshields are really thin, you can bend them very easily by hand if need be.

Also, when I got my full set of brake lines from the junkyard, I had to take out the ABS pump when removing the lines. Did you run into a similar situation?

[dangrus4060]

Ha!! I was just reading your post and thought 'whats with all the brake line problems all of a sudden?!?' and was gonna post a reply. Ya beat me to it!
I did not know about removing the ABS pump as the guy at the j/y did the removing.
I hope that I do not have to do anything like that when I replace the rest of the lines. I will install each line seperately so that I can keep the alignment order straight. That is one of the reasons why I said that I needed a better weekend so I could have time to get it all done with plenty of time to spare...incase I ran across something like that.

[LeSabre in Buffalo]

I hear you on needing a better weekend. My options for installing mine are either sometime this week when I'm not free for a significant chunk of time, taking them to NY with me for Christmas where I'll have time and cold garages to work in, or waiting for a better weekend (ha!) down here.

It took me ~2.5 hours to get all the lines off. That was with fighting fittings, and having to take out the ABS pump to get the lines free. My car's lines curl underneath the ABS pump instead of going to the side like previous models. Except the master cylinder lines which go over the top, underneath the mounting bracket.

Did you destroy the plastic line holders in getting the lines off? I know I destroyed a few, and managed to save one of the three on the donor car's lines.

[dangrus4060]

All 6 lines on her car (97 and mine's 99) go under the ABS pump. They told me that the lines they sold me actually came off an Olds and match up perfect. I see yours is a Buick, so I'm not sure why it sounds like yours is a different setup. Most of the plastic clips looked intact. I didnt pay much attention to them to see if they were 100% intact.

[onesweetride]

dangrus,
That wouldn't be a Citation X-11 would it? I haven't seen one in a loooooooong
time. Pics?

[dangrus4060]

http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... 01&start=0

Here is the post I put here last year on them.

BTW...I am putting the Phoenix SJ up for sale.
I will post it on the Citation Club's site first.

[LeSabre in Buffalo]

I think your lines are identical to mine. If they have vinyl on the lines near where they go to the ABS pump, they're identical.

[dangrus4060]

Yes, they all have a black vinyl covering on the ends at the pump.

[LeSabre in Buffalo]

Okay, they're identical to the lines on my car.

The rear lines were the hard ones to wiggle free from the engine bay. Too much length, and a bit ungainly. It helps with 2 people for those lines.