2001 Suburban - Brake lines leaking

To the OP....at 15 or 16 years of age it is time for all the lines and hoses to be replace along with a total system flush and refill...I would also do the master cyl. Brake fluid is the least stable fluid in a vehicle. Over time it absorbs water from the air and as such become less effective. Its far more important to change then coolant.

I forgot where I ordered my lines, but they were a little long even being pre bent.

LIKE2BUILD wrote:

VAfan wrote:
Trying to find a pre-bent copper-type line kit. May need to custom fit the copper-type (understand it's easy to work with) or go with a stainless kit. Thanks for the heads-up regarding the need to remove the gas tank.

The stainless alloy in these kits is malleable. The kit I got came with the correct bends, but it was doubled over on itself to fit in the shipping box. The tubing had colored tape on it showing you the bends that needed to be straightened for installation.

Oh, one more thing. The plastic inner fender well needs to be removed on the driver side. It's held in with plastic buttons and takes about 5 minutes to remove. It makes it so easy running the lines from the master cylinder to the ABS block and also running the lines forward that feed each front wheel.

KJ

One more thing. Don't pump the brakes when pushing or it will take longer to bleed. Just put pressure on the pedal , open bleeder, close bleeder and release brake pedal and repeat.

I know you can do it that way, but it is very time consuming because if there is air it will never come out the first time.

dodge guy wrote:

Thunderbolt wrote:
I just put all new lines on my in-laws 2000 Chevy. They crumbled when i touched them. I am anal about washing under my 03 all year and thankfully my line still look good. I put all stainless steal lines on and it was not a fun job!! I hope to never do it again. Besides the work you have to have the scan tool to bleed the anti-lock brakes properly.

You can do it without the scanner. if you have the original ABS unit it doesn't need to be bled because it was already done when installed. but if you want to do it anyway, bleed it once, take it to a gravel lot and stop hard a few times to run the ABS, then go back and re bleed, same as what a scanner would do, just cheaper for you!

Yes, ABS bleeding can be done making hard stops on gravel. To bleed the lines I highly recommend one of these Motive power bleeder. It makes brake bleeding a 1 person job and is extremely easy. I'll never bleed brakes again without one of these tools.

KJ

Thunderbolt wrote:
I just put all new lines on my in-laws 2000 Chevy. They crumbled when i touched them. I am anal about washing under my 03 all year and thankfully my line still look good. I put all stainless steal lines on and it was not a fun job!! I hope to never do it again. Besides the work you have to have the scan tool to bleed the anti-lock brakes properly.

You can do it without the scanner. if you have the original ABS unit it doesn't need to be bled because it was already done when installed. but if you want to do it anyway, bleed it once, take it to a gravel lot and stop hard a few times to run the ABS, then go back and re bleed, same as what a scanner would do, just cheaper for you!

I just put all new lines on my in-laws 2000 Chevy. They crumbled when i touched them. I am anal about washing under my 03 all year and thankfully my line still look good. I put all stainless steal lines on and it was not a fun job!! I hope to never do it again. Besides the work you have to have the scan tool to bleed the anti-lock brakes properly.

I'm doing this right now on a 2003 avalanche. I got a complete kit from classic tube.

I could strangle the engineer that put the abs unit where it's at.

VAfan wrote:
Trying to find a pre-bent copper-type line kit. May need to custom fit the copper-type (understand it's easy to work with) or go with a stainless kit. Thanks for the heads-up regarding the need to remove the gas tank.

The stainless alloy in these kits is malleable. The kit I got came with the correct bends, but it was doubled over on itself to fit in the shipping box. The tubing had colored tape on it showing you the bends that needed to be straightened for installation.

Oh, one more thing. The plastic inner fender well needs to be removed on the driver side. It's held in with plastic buttons and takes about 5 minutes to remove. It makes it so easy running the lines from the master cylinder to the ABS block and also running the lines forward that feed each front wheel.

KJ

Check with the dealer GM makes brake line kits for all the trucks and full size SUV's that are coated with plastic and won't rust, cost about 120.00 for the kit all pre-bent.