Ladies and Gentlemen, Check your Brake Lines!

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Nov 15, 2019
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MA
This Public Safety Announcement is brought to you by GM...My 05 Buick LeSabre suffered a rear brake line failure this evening during moderately hard braking. Fortunately this happened close to home. Sort of embarrassed about this since I normally check my vehicles over pretty well when doing an oil change and when doing other basic maintenance, but with the virus thing and much less driving among the fleet of cars, they are sitting quite a bit more than usual and not needing that much in the way of maintenance. Also got complacent thinking about brake lines since most of my car fleet are Volvos (which are built with rust-proof brake lines, like all cars SHOULD have).

I was quite surprised at how crusty those brake lines were as shown in the pics. Have the domestic makes upped the quality of brake lines they install in the last 10 years or so? I would hope that by 2020, mild steel brake lines have been outlawed. Are they? Or is the federal DOT or whichever agency that regulates safety standards still dragging their feet by not mandating safe brake lines? Rest of the car Is pretty rust free. Those darn brake lines are toast! Shouldn’t the more critical safety pieces be more rust resistant? Anyway, enjoy the pics and please check your brake lines!
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Thx Trav. Got a huge roll of Nicopp from Napa about 15 years ago for a Chrysler T&C that needed lots of rust repairs. I was wondering if I’d ever use it all up. The answer is “Yes” after looking at the rest of the lines!
 
I've had brakes fail twice from corroded brake lines. A handful of other times I caught it early and replaced lines before failure.

Brake lines used to be terne coated, but in recent decades they've been coated with epoxy in an effort to get all lead out of vehicle production. I recommend using an anticorrosion compound that covers the lines all the way around. I had one fuel line that gave me fits because it corroded and leaked at three places on the shaded side of rustproofing.
 
My truck still has the original brake lines from 1989 actually 1988 when it was made never had one break yet and they are in good shape. I did order replacement hoses a few days ago though since they are cracking and I replaced the calipers together when one stuck. I’ve never had a brake line fail on me fortunately. The reason I know they are original is because all services have been documented since new and I went to the dealership to verify they had all of it in their records too. That’s got to be a record for a brake line lol.
 
Your steel lines lasted 15 years, what more do you want? I wouldn't hestate putting premade steel lines back on as they will outlast the remaining life of your Buick. I have changed lines on a Lesabre, it is easy, change both front and back lines and you won't have to deal with them again..
 
OE steel lines lasted 15 years but aftermarket usually last less than half that (sometimes much less) where he is. I have seen old Porsche, Volvo and Saab and other Euro cars over 40 years old with pristine brake lines, NiCopp is OE.
The other thing is it is much easier to flair, bend and fit than steel, the only negative is it will crush easier making stainless a better alternative for true off road use.
 
I just ordered a new boat trailer and they have an option for SS brake lines which I selected since I will be using it in salt water. Why don't cars come with SS from the factory?
 
It's unfortunate but it is common. Here is a thread I started a little while ago when I replaced all the brake and fuel lines on my old Accord. I did essentially the same thing on my BMW, on that car the fuel vent line had rusted completely through and there was about a 6" section completely missing.

I'd check over all your fuel lines as well, especially those that might be above the fuel tank.

 
Thx Trav. Got a huge roll of Nicopp from Napa about 15 years ago for a Chrysler T&C that needed lots of rust repairs. I was wondering if I’d ever use it all up. The answer is “Yes” after looking at the rest of the lines!
Do you have a good flaring tool? I just did the rear lines on the civic and used this tool. Worked perfectly and flares looked like preformed lines you buy at the parts stores.

 
Part of the problem with Honda's was that silly plastic cage that traps Salt and crud in those lines and makes for lots of headaches.
That was part of it but on my Accord the problem progressed from front to back regardless of that cage. Like I mentioned I always looked at the front half of the lines when I had the vehicle up on ramps to change the oil and stuff, and that part looked very good even the parts I could see in the cage. But the real issue started about halfway back and got worse the farther you went back. The lines aft of the cage that went towards and over the fuel tank were much, much worse than anything else. On my old Accord the line that ultimately failed was the furthest aft behind the fuel tank.
 
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Thanks for all your comments. This was honestly a wake up call for me. Have read many of the archived “brake line” posts on this site yesterday and will continue to read more tonight. Good info above and in those posts! I’ll check the other lines including fuel and other brake lines for sure. Have had brake lines fail before (long time ago) and have known many people that that has happened to. Many people dodge a very serious accident by sheer luck when this happens. A couple instances could have been catastrophic. I borrowed a nice flaring kit from work which is rarely used. The biggest issue is that i am over 50 y.o. and I’ll probably forget to put the fittings on before flaring the ends (hahaha). About half way up the car, the brake lines actually look good...so will replace everything aft of the middle.

IMO...It is not OK for junk material to be used on a life/safety critical component that should last as long or longer than the rest of the car. These days, a well maintained 15 year old car is not “old”. This is not the 1970s, when a car could barely make 3 years before all sorts of failures occurred. Thanks again.
 
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To answer your question directly, GM uses junk metal. They like to have a pre-made "spider" of LR, RR brake lines, fuel send, return, and EVAP all under one clip. So they use mild steel to save a buck or two.

For every brake line I've had to replace, I've also done fuel-- usually with nylon.

Stainless is harder to work.
 
I've gotten rid of vehicles with better looking lines for precisely this reason. I didn't want to mess with a blown line.

I can't believe they got away with using such junk, but every maker has some part under the hood that seems sub-par.
 
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