Hard brake lines, how hard to replace? Options

[6gsillyca]

I need to replace my master brake cylinder. I want to do it myself, but only know how to change the pads/rotors at the moment. The bgb on celica tech arent working right now (something with my ips settings...) so i cant see them.

How hard is it to change? What do i need to do? just take the lines off, unbolt it, take it out, replace, put it back in and reconnect it?

This post has been edited by 6gsillyca: Mar 16, 2007 - 1:49 AM

[Coomer]

just take the lines off, unbolt it, take it out, replace, put it back in and reconnect it?

Yep...that's it. It's really not too bad at all.

Make sure you have a quality line wrench for removing the brake lines so that you don't round them off.

[Batman722]

you will need to bleed the system to get all of the air out, so just to be safe crack open each bleeder first to make sure they are ok (one of mine was frozen and snapped off, and I've seen it happen on another local 6gc too)

[6gsillyca]

SH!TTY deal....I drop the car off this morning to get everything inspected and to 100% detirmine the problem. From the symptoms Ive been having I was almost 100% sure it was the MBC (mushy pedal, pedal drops w/ constant pressure, pedal drops to the floor, dash light on). Turns out my hard lines are all shot, and since the mechanic was poking around in there for a few hours, they are more degraded now that before (he said they "crumbled" in his hand...)

What would a good "book time guess" be to replace these? I asked if they could just be patched but he said the whole length of them were rusted/rotted out.

Right now Im looking at $800. $240 from toyota for the lines, and approx 6 hours of labor. He wasnt sure if he had to drop the gas tank or not, so it could go down a bit if he doesnt.

How hard is it to change these lines (hard steel lines, run under car) and how long "should" it take.

BTW the place is a member of the BBB so I dont think they will jerk me around too much.

[Batman722]

the 2 front lines shouldn't need to be replaced. The rear 2 are the ones that usually rust out. The rear lines from toyota are $40 and $30 (from the front to the back).

bunch of info on this here
http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=37838

[6gsillyca]

Thanks, I was looking for that thread but couldnt find it, I just knew it was the only thread dealing with hard lines.

Dustin,
did you end up replacing the whole line or did you just patch the area that was leaking? Did you do both pass and drivers lines? How much more work would be needed to do the pass (you mentioned needing to drop the tank).

thanks

This post has been edited by 6gsillyca: Mar 16, 2007 - 11:53 AM

[Batman722]

I replaced the line going to the driver's side rear. I did not have to remove the tank, I just snaked the new line into place. I think I did have to lossen the tank up and drop it down about 2 inces so I could get up closer top the body (it was easy to do that).

The pass side rear line goes under the tank and I don't see any way around dropping the tank to replace that line.

your best bet is to find where it's leaking from/rusted and replace that 8-12 inches of tubing.

[6gsillyca]

I have the same problem tech9 had. The whole line is rusted out. I need to change it all, well a good portion of it. Going to change it all out, so I dont have to worry about it again later

[WALKER]

I'm busy this weekend, but if your free some night next week or next weekend I can swing by with my BGB and we can try and tackle it!

[6gsillyca]

Thanks for the offer, but I need to get it done asap. I dont have the time or knowledge to try and do it myself so I'm just going to suck it up and pay the shop to do it.

[jc47]

Mine has a plastic coating on the lines when they get near the fuel tank. There was no rust under the coating. I replaced the rusted part of the lines from the valve block in the front and patched them in where the plastic coating started. This makes it easier and the tank does not need to be removed.