I've seen lots of postings on various truck forums about corroding exploding brake line on GM trucks, but I don't think the issue has been mentioned here. My 2005 Sierra treated us to a variation on 'pedal to the metal' last week when the brakes failed completely and with no warning at all. Fortunately we were not towing our fifth wheel at the time. NHTSA has an open 'investigation' into 1999 - 2003 models but may expand up to 2009 as more reports come in. So far no recall has been issued. It is worth a few minutes to climb underneath your truck and inspect the brake lines - mine was spraying brake fluid over the underside of the hood on the driver's side. There is a Technical Service Bulletin, which can be found with a little careful Googling, #13-05-22-001: it advises dealers that GM has made up kits of pre-formed and pre-flared brake lines, and that should dramatically reduce the cost of the repair from the $2,000 some dealers have been charging for manually working up replacement brake lines. Mine is still at the dealer, but when I get it back, hopefully repaired, I will add my note to the NHTSA site. GM refers to the dual-circuit braking system that should allow the vehicle to stop safely if one side fails: they neglect to mention what happens when both sides fail at once like mine did. Dangerous situation.

Glad no body was hurt. We kind of take brakes for granted, scary when you hit the fat pedal and just keep moving.

If it happened on routine stop and not a steep grade, I think I would rather be pulling the fiver when it happened as the brakes on the trailer will stop both the truck and trailer. Happy to hear you didn't get hurt.

Mine were rusted badly and I replaced them before (thankfully) I had any incidents. I hate to say it but if your brake lines went your fuel lines are not far behind.I got a complete of pre-bent STAINLESS brake and fuel lines from Classic Tube for $900. This included new plastic-encased braided stainless hoses to the wheel cylinders and a full fuel line set including return and evap lines to BOTH tanks. All pre-flared with stainless fittings. I did the job myself, the brake lines were way easier than the fuel lines, but since you had to drop the fuel tanks to route the brake lines it made sense to do everything at once. I also put in new fuel pumps, shocks and a couple other things while I was under there. Gave the underside a good scraping and rust proofing. If the lines look bad where you can see them, they are worse up above the fuel tanks.New fuel lines, you can see one of the old ones laying next to its replacement. All computer-bent using OEM data files.For the life of me I can't figure out why GM didn't use stainless or at least coated steel like Ford does....I mean, they used stainless for the exhaust pipes....

Folks just demand more and more road salt. They want to be safe. Then the brakes fail and they don't associate that with the corrosion they demanded.I talked to someone who used stainless steel lines and he said that they failed as well. Perhaps it was a poor grade of stainless.

Same thing happened to us on our return trip home from Michigan, luckily we were towing so the trailer brakes brought us home.

Sierra, Silverado, Avalanche, Yukon corroded brake lines

45Ricochet
Explorer
Mar 05, 2014
Glad no body was hurt. We kind of take brakes for granted, scary when you hit the fat pedal and just keep moving.
powderman426
Explorer
Mar 05, 2014
If it happened on routine stop and not a steep grade, I think I would rather be pulling the fiver when it happened as the brakes on the trailer will stop both the truck and trailer. Happy to hear you didn't get hurt.
BurbMan
Explorer II
Mar 05, 2014
Mine were rusted badly and I replaced them before (thankfully) I had any incidents. I hate to say it but if your brake lines went your fuel lines are not far behind.

I got a complete of pre-bent STAINLESS brake and fuel lines from Classic Tube for $900. This included new plastic-encased braided stainless hoses to the wheel cylinders and a full fuel line set including return and evap lines to BOTH tanks. All pre-flared with stainless fittings. I did the job myself, the brake lines were way easier than the fuel lines, but since you had to drop the fuel tanks to route the brake lines it made sense to do everything at once. I also put in new fuel pumps, shocks and a couple other things while I was under there. Gave the underside a good scraping and rust proofing. If the lines look bad where you can see them, they are worse up above the fuel tanks.

New fuel lines, you can see one of the old ones laying next to its replacement. All computer-bent using OEM data files.

For the life of me I can't figure out why GM didn't use stainless or at least coated steel like Ford does....I mean, they used stainless for the exhaust pipes....
Lynnmor
Explorer
Mar 05, 2014
Folks just demand more and more road salt. They want to be safe. Then the brakes fail and they don't associate that with the corrosion they demanded.
I talked to someone who used stainless steel lines and he said that they failed as well. Perhaps it was a poor grade of stainless.
sausageking
Explorer
Mar 05, 2014
Same thing happened to us on our return trip home from Michigan, luckily we were towing so the trailer brakes brought us home.
monkey44
Nomad II
Mar 05, 2014
Mine failed completely last year on my 2003 GMC - I got off the highway, pulled into the campground pad, and the pedal hit the floor. Brake fluid all over the concrete -- we were extremely lucky it did it when it did it ... instead of ten minutes earlier at 70mph on I-95 ... corroded lines an several places...
dodge_guy
Explorer II
Mar 06, 2014
I know the overall price of a car may go up $5, but I wish the manuf. would use Stainless lines for the brake system! some are using stainless for the fuel system. Ford uses it for the fuel system on some of their cars. at least when you slam into someone your fuel lines won`t be leaking!
Led_67
Explorer
Mar 06, 2014
BurbMan wrote:
Mine were rusted badly and I replaced them before (thankfully) I had any incidents. I hate to say it but if your brake lines went your fuel lines are not far behind.

I got a complete of pre-bent STAINLESS brake and fuel lines from Classic Tube for $900. This included new plastic-encased braided stainless hoses to the wheel cylinders and a full fuel line set including return and evap lines to BOTH tanks. All pre-flared with stainless fittings. I did the job myself, the brake lines were way easier than the fuel lines, but since you had to drop the fuel tanks to route the brake lines it made sense to do everything at once. I also put in new fuel pumps, shocks and a couple other things while was under there. Gave the underside a good scraping and rust proofing. If the lines look bad where you can them, they are worse up above the fuel tanks.

New fuel lines, you can see one of the old ones laying next to its replacement. All computer-bent using OEM data files.

For the life of me I can't figure out why GM didn't use stainless or at least coated steel like Ford does....I mean, they used stainless for the exhaust pipes....

The most interesting part of this quote is also a warning to others... Crud can build up in hidden places and cause your steel line to corrode and if the lines are untreated such as these in this discussion well I need say no more.
bucky
Explorer II
Mar 06, 2014
This is the recall that GM should be announcing. True, we live in a beach environment that hastens rust but this is a national problem. If you need brake lines, GM came out with sets last summer for most newer models in the $125 range. Your local dealer may not be aware yet, but there is a TSB out and the numbers are in the EPCs.
Trail-Mate
Explorer
Mar 06, 2014
My son is a Mechanic, last year he was working at a Small Independent shop in the Baltimore MD area, He said they were getting a lot of these in mainly brake lines. One was so bad he said the brake baking plates were rusted out and they had to replace them also. The older trucks did not have this issue because I have owned 4 GM trucks in the 91-95 range and none of these had this type of issue.