Hi,

My '96 has developed a leak on one of the rear brake lines (not the rubber hoses but the steel lines from rear wheel to front of car to the pressure distributer block). I cut out the rusted section which leaked, but am having issues with continous leaks with the replaced (spliced in) section. I'm double flaring the remaining good sections while lying under the car, but after several attempts, I'm still getting leaks at the patched section.
Anyone try to replace the whole length of brake line from the rear wheel to the distributer block. The rear wheel access is accessed easily, but the distibuter block is at the fire wall behind the engine. Even accessing the distribution block from under the car is a tough, I can barely put a couple of fingers on it from underneath. I was thinking of bypassing the distribution block but I would still have to find a way of plugging the two rear wheel ports, which means accessing the block...

Any thoughts/suggestion would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris...

PS. even considered the local dealer, but they want to spend a day on it charging by the hour. Hence likely a bill of $1K!

 

Have you tried cutting out a longer section, and splicing in?

It's a tight fit, but you should be able to get to the brake lines up front. Just have to contort yourself in there, really.

 

i'm not quite understanding what you mean by still having leaks at the patched section. Are you having leaks where you flared them?? as in, you can see fluid dripping down where the u-joint is??? Or is it leaking from somewhere else??

Are you sure you are flaring and using the tube cutter tool correctly??? You can buy oem brake lines from the dealership and run it from the back to the front, OR, you can buy your own brake line and flare them and bend them yourself. I would recommend bending them yourself if you don't have access to a lift since it can be tricky with having enough room underneath the car so you can find a way the pre-bent lines will fit.

I would just use a 5 ft brake line and use a tube cutter to cut your existing brake line and flare it.

 

Is it safe to assume that you tried tightening the joints further when you noticed a leak?

If you're using the right fittings for the proper flare then it should seal pretty easily. The joints should be arranged like this whenever possible: FRONT >> REAR. If that sems cryptic I apologize, let me know if it's not clear.

 

Thanks all for your input. Yes I used a tube cutter and a double flare SAE type. (I used to work for a company that actually made brake and fuel tubing for the OEMs.) But yes, the leaks were from my flared sections. I recut the lines and reflared the ends only to have leaks again. (Very frustrating working under the car with brake fluid dripping on you, as you can imagine.) While I was reflaring the tubing, another section of the tube broke off due to rust. At that point I'm thinking that the whole brake line should be replaced. Hence my question about accessing the front of the brake distributer on the firewall in the engine bay. I tried to get my hand in there and its tight, I don't think that I can get a wrench in there to remove the existing brake line, let alone to hand start the nut on a new brake line. I wander how the dealer/garage would go about getting access to that area??

 

well i just did all of mine aside for the front driverside one. That one had no rust. Bought 25' of brake line, a few fittings and away we went. We by-passed that block as we could NOT get to it. Apparently it makes an even amount of fluid(or pressure..not to sure) go to the rear brakes as well as the front. So, when we had them all ran and connected, they tested out fine. I kept checking the pads and had no uneven wear. It was much easier than taking parts off the engine to get at that block. Hope this help my friend.

 

Exellent Bassbreaker. I was thinking of the same thing, just from the master cylinder to the three wheels. I could flare the tubing on the bench and assure better quality of flares!

 

I will now need to purchase more brake line to do all three wheels...

 

no problem man. Well i did 3 wheels and only had about 14" left at the end. So you will need that full coil of it.