97 SE brake line leak
 

A couple hrs ago i slammed my brakes because of an amber light and a guy jaywalking when suddenly i lost my brakes. I quickly pulled the ebrake to make the stop. The brake pedal just sank all the way to the floor. I pulled over and panicked. Luckily i havent entered the freeway as i couldnt have imagined what kind of accident would have occured.
I popped the hood and noticed the obvious - brake fluid was completely drained.

After school i went home, jacked up the car and put new DOT 3 brake fluid and pumped up my brakes to see where the leak is. It ends up being being in the rear driver side.

(1) Is the brake line under that cover? assuming that under that cover is the gas tank and the lines for the brakes. (2) All i need to do is to unscrew all the bolts that's holding that cover together right? (3) And that i shouldn't expect anything really heavy to fall under me when all bolts are unscrewed right? (4) my tank is less than 1/4 full do i have to drain it anyways? (5) aside from having a socket set, wrenches, ratchets, jack stands and a 3 ton jack lift, DOT 3 brake fluid and new brake lines, what else would i need?

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...97518229_n.jpg

Nothing should fall out when you remove that cover. The gas tank is held in by two metal straps that you shouldn't have to remove.

Are you replacing bad section(s) of the brake line by cutting out the bad sections, or are you replacing the whole brake line?

If you are going to remove the line bolts, then I would suggest a line wrench.

im not going to replace by cutting but by removing and installing a new one.
What are the dif with line wrench and a socket set? So it's safe to remove that cover then?

A line wrench has more sides to grip compared to an open end wrench.

Removing that plastic cover should not cause anything to fall down. Its there to keep water/salt away from the tank.

Wrenches needed are also called "flare tubing wrenches" and prevent rounding these small tubing nuts when loosening or tightening.

Looking at brake routing (check brake lines on Majestic Honda), this tube runs all the way to the front, so a splice may save a lot of work. However, if one place is corroded through, then rest may be in bad shape also. I maade a splice repair for my son's truck (used on Corpus beaches and marshes) and line ruptured elsewhere shortly afterwards. I fabricated an entire replacement in 3 pieces because it is difficult to bend a perfect 1-piece replacement.

good luck

Ahh i was just about to question this brake line but i think you answered my question.

Anyways here is the question
I took out all the jazz covers and all and found out that the whole is located on the very bottom of this 6 line thing in the area where the brace is. Now, i noticed that the line traces all the way up to the front as what TexasHonda have mentioned. Im not sure, base on the state of this brake line, if it's worth splicing.

Here is a picture before the brace and i will upload and edit once the i take a picture without it.

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/5366/img0347p.jpg
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/3328/img0348u.jpg

Here is a link to majestic honda about the brake line
http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...+LINES+%281%29

Quick update.


now i'm stuck and for sure i think this time i'll need to bring it to a mechanic as i dont know how to reach the other end of the pipe

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/6907/img0349nz.jpg

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/8245/img0350d.jpg

Both my rear lines on a 96 accord are spliced basically where they come below the bottom surface of the car (not at the master cylinder) and routed back to the rear junctions on each side. They are held with zip ties at various locations and not routed up over the gas tank. I didn't remove the old lines. I haven't had any problems with them although I would not drive over very frozen snow with the car they are not under the plastic protector thing under the car but tied to it. It just looked like a mess of a repair to replace with the honda lines, I would have liked to but just trying to remove the old ones looked like a nightmare.

haha i know what you mean! I tried removing the whole pipe. I even unbolted and removed the brace that holds all 5 pipe lines and the second i tried to remove the pipe from the plastic holder thing above the brace, the pipe just snapped due to rust. So you're telling me that i should replace both lines and reconnect via master cylinder (brake fluid tank reservoir) cuz it's easier than replacing one? I know that there is only 1 pipe that goes down and somehow turns into 2 pipe

There's 3 fuel lines & 2 brake lines. They are probably all 5 in about the same state of corrosion. Ask your mechanic if it makes economic sense to do all 5 so you only have to remove all the other stuff once.

Its a tough route back to the master cylinder, my lines were in good shape from the master cylinder basically to wear they start to get exposed to salt which is a couple inches above the bottom of the car. There should be two break lines that are in the shield underneath, in addition there are the fuel lines in there. If the lines are in bad shape you may want to replace both but dont make more work for yourself if its not needed. If your lines are that corroded I think your probably opening a can of worms trying to remove the shield underneath and messing with lines your likely to break fuel lines. I would think about routing a new break line underneath and putting it outside the shield and just tying them to the shield with zip ties, depending on how big of project your looking for.

I replaced mine because of state inspections not because of them failing, the fuel lines looked the same but the inspection standards are more lenient then break lines so I left the fuel lines.

What did you use to splice your pipe, i will have to probably do that and bolt back the brace brackets.

If you can remember, what are the things you used to splice then and if you have to flare the pipes.

I probably have miscounted i thought there were 6. ANyways, the gas pipes are in good shape. both brake line are in the same state. i'm probably going to change both lines to save me the trouble of having to crawl under again. not to mention, deny accidents

Anyways, moey, if you get the time, i would appreciate it if you could give me some ideas on what you used to splice the brake pipes.
thanks!

any help?

I had the rusty lines in a 95 Integra and I had the whole line replaced.

That car has a real tight clearance between the firewall, steering rack, & front crossmember. Needed to drop the crossmember & I don't have a lift, so I gave the job to a shop.

You can purchase flare end tube unions at parts stores and rent the flaring tool to cut/flare the tube ends (after installing nuts). Doin this on the "in-place" end may be challenging.

good luck

Im not really telling you anything :) Its hard to judge whats the best, if you have lots of time the honda break line that runs the whole length is probably the best option. A quicker option is running the line next to the old one and rerouting it. To make the connection you can use a flare fitting you need to rent some tools for this or you can use a could use a compression fitting. I have a compression fitting some people say they shouldn't be used though but they are used often when just replacing a section of break line.

Its not that costly of repair, it cost me $250 to have both lines done at a local break shop. I started down the path you were on only I didnt break the lines but I would have had I pulled a bit. It would have cost me $75 in equipment flare tools the line is pretty expensive if your not buying a huge roll of it.