Chevy Astro and GMC Safari Forum banner

front brake line replacement

21K views 10 replies 7 participants last post by  Maxximum_44  
#1 ·
I sprung a leak on a front brake line. right behind bumper. appears to be the one that goes to the passenger side.. looks like a real pain to change out. 2003 awd.
Any advice or tips. ya cant even see the damn thing for more than an inch. Im hoping once i remove the fan housing i can see a little better
 
#5 ·
That looks more like the power steering cooler than the brake line , unless the 03 as totaly diffrent routing than the gen 2 as , normaly it goes from abs module ,then its clipped to the cross member across going to the pass side caliper .
 
#7 ·
I would check the color of whatever is leaking , i had to fix the p.s. on mine and thats exactly where it is , brake line would have to go from master to proportioning valve to abs module under the driver s seat back to the front of the van and then back to the right wheel , i am no expert but it seems very odd .
 
#9 ·
I just changed the same line in my 97 astro AWD, the line comes from the ABS controller under the drivers seat and goes through the drivers side engine bay and does ride on the metal bumper behind the cover. Thats exactly where mine rotted out. I had a friend who had a flare kit so I just grabbed about 10 feet of line, a coupling, and bent mine into place. You wont find the adapter that goes into the ABS module at LAPS so what I did was disconnect the line from that module and take off that connector. Make sure to put it on the new line BEFORE you flare it (made that mistake it sucked) You can get the line pretty close to the original location.

There is a connection above the caliper where the metal lines mate to the rubber lines that power your caliper. Take that connector with you to the LAPS and make sure it threads into the coupling that you will need for the new line. There are 2 different size lines in these things and the connector that goes into the ABS module makes the line look smaller than it is. If you get the connector from behind the caliper you will get the right size line. Get rigid brake line that bendy stuff with the compression fittings is junk.

Also a tip: When you get the connector off the ABS module and have a little stub of brake line still in it. Put it in a vise, get a torch on it and get it red hot. Then take a punch and tap the old line out. This works well for me a lot of the time. Maybe take a needle file and just clean the inside of that connector very lightly do not remove any meat from it. I hope this helps!
 
#10 ·
Thanks Astronut! i got real lucky! I just picked up the kids from school, and was stopped at a stop sign. brake went to the floor! oh boy! i only live a few miles away, and knew that i could run it slow and use low gear if i had to. (at this time i found out my e-brake line is broken!) My leak was where it makes a bend coming off the frame rail in front of the wheel where it turn down to go in front of the frame and behind the bumper cover. you need a mirror to see or use phone camera. My line was 1/4", so i bought a roll of that and ran it as close to the old one as i could. rented the flaring tool and did that. now im trying to bleed the brakes and all the bleeders are frozen or super tight. Is it 10mm nut? I cant get any size to fit good, metric or sae. Ill try a 6 point next. Ive had 5 of these vans and never had this before.