Thread: brake problem
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Old Oct 15, 2006 | 10:25 AM
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Originally Posted by gta4life
alright thats cool, thanks for the helpp, now im wondering how to change the brake line? is it a hard job? i have never done this before so detalied instructions would be a huge help thankss
It might help if you could confirm that it is the rubber hose (flexible brake line) which is leaking, and not the metal pipe (hard line) in front of it. The directions would be quite a bit different. Whether your car has ABS also makes a difference.

You really can't guess at a brake fluid leak, because the fluid travels, you have to clean the area, stick you head and a flashlight under the car, and find the leak. (Btw, use rubber gloves and safetly glasses, brake fluid is not a good substitute for eye drops... )

If you can do the pads and rotors, brake hoses are no more difficult. There are good directions in the manual for the brakes and hoses, but not for the hard lines (pipes). Replacing either one is fairly simple mechanically, but the hard lines are more involved, and you might consider letting a shop do that.

I downloaded a copy of the manual in pdf format before I started working on mine. Brake hose replacement is covered very briefly in section 19 page 27: Excerpt

Replacing the rubber hose is fairly routine. Aside from normal tools (sockets etc), you need a 10-mm flare nut wrench for the union nut between the hose and the hard line (from any part store or Sears), the hose itself, and a new brake line clip (not sure if a part store would carry those), and of course the brake hose.

The union nut torque at the junction between the hose and line is 11 lb-ft. The torque at the banjo bolt which connects the hose to the caliper is 25 lb-ft. If the connections are rusted, you will need a couple applications of PB-blaster (or Liquid Wrench) a few hours apart to break the rust. If the banjo bolt does not come out without destroying the head of the bolt, you will need a new banjo bolt. On an older car (like my '90 LS), you would also need new bleeder screws.

Last edited by PMI; Oct 15, 2006 at 11:19 AM.
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