This is a serious issue. I was very fortunate that the line failed with no warning as I was retrieving mail from mailbox at home. There was zero warning and the car had virtually no braking capacity and dumped at least two pints of fluid in 200 feet from mailbox to end of drive way, if the drive way was not up hill I'm not sure vehicle would have stopped even with parking brake. I just passed DE inspection which requires slamming on brakes on a pad that measures performance and passed perfectly on Nov 16th.
The Suburban has been a great vehicle other than a failed transmission @ 40,003 that Gm & local dealer covered for $200.00 and a failed differential @ 110,000 that local mechanic replaced ring and pinion @ $800.00. I do 90% of maintenance and repaired the brake line myself it was a bitch and would have cost at least $500.00 anywhere. The job required dropping the spare tire (the safety mechanism preventing tire from dropping if hanging cable failed, due to corrosion adding at least an hour), dropping the gas tank (one of the two clip nuts holding the tank straps up failed due to rust, another hour to cut out and replace) then removed the brake line from ABS unit under driver to rear axel, (this was installed on the chassis assembly line prior to the body being mounted, several hours so remove in 4 pieces and replace in two pieces with two pre-flaired lines and a union in the middle, this part of job should have required removal of body mounting bolts and raisin body of chassis.
I am 56 years old and am extremely mechanically inclined this was a very time consuming job. I have been working on cars since I was 15 and have tens of thousands worth of tools this is the first time in 40 years of owning and driving cars some over 350,000 miles that I have had a brake line rust through. I am also very surprised at how totally the failure was, with no braking instantly (the idiot light did come on at failure) but if this had been an emergency stop on the highway or at any sort of speed the results would have been catastrophic. GM should at least pay the labor cost for replacement the lines are relatively cheap SS line sets can be had for @ $300.00 which is the route I'll go if I elect to keep the vehicle much longer. This is a very dangerous problem.
I don't live in the salt belt and don't drive on the beach, that said GMs recommending that owners wash the under side of vehicle is BS its had as hell to wash salt off brake lines run inside and on top of the frame rails. I have had Jeeps that were driven hundreds of times on the beach with less rust on the hard lines these lines are defective or at the lease very substandard. BTW this vehicle has three small surface rust issues two where minor body work was done, I don't think Ive ever seen brake or gas line rust through where the body sheet metal wasn't extensively rotten.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
This is a serious issue. I was very fortunate that the line failed with no warning as I was retrieving mail from mailbox at home. There was zero warning and the car had virtually no braking capacity and dumped at least two pints of fluid in 200 feet from mailbox to end of drive way, if the drive way was not up hill I'm not sure vehicle would have stopped even with parking brake. I just passed DE inspection which requires slamming on brakes on a pad that measures performance and passed perfectly on Nov 16th.
The Suburban has been a great vehicle other than a failed transmission @ 40,003 that Gm & local dealer covered for $200.00 and a failed differential @ 110,000 that local mechanic replaced ring and pinion @ $800.00. I do 90% of maintenance and repaired the brake line myself it was a bitch and would have cost at least $500.00 anywhere. The job required dropping the spare tire (the safety mechanism preventing tire from dropping if hanging cable failed, due to corrosion adding at least an hour), dropping the gas tank (one of the two clip nuts holding the tank straps up failed due to rust, another hour to cut out and replace) then removed the brake line from ABS unit under driver to rear axel, (this was installed on the chassis assembly line prior to the body being mounted, several hours so remove in 4 pieces and replace in two pieces with two pre-flaired lines and a union in the middle, this part of job should have required removal of body mounting bolts and raisin body of chassis.
I am 56 years old and am extremely mechanically inclined this was a very time consuming job. I have been working on cars since I was 15 and have tens of thousands worth of tools this is the first time in 40 years of owning and driving cars some over 350,000 miles that I have had a brake line rust through. I am also very surprised at how totally the failure was, with no braking instantly (the idiot light did come on at failure) but if this had been an emergency stop on the highway or at any sort of speed the results would have been catastrophic. GM should at least pay the labor cost for replacement the lines are relatively cheap SS line sets can be had for @ $300.00 which is the route I'll go if I elect to keep the vehicle much longer. This is a very dangerous problem.
I don't live in the salt belt and don't drive on the beach, that said GMs recommending that owners wash the under side of vehicle is BS its had as hell to wash salt off brake lines run inside and on top of the frame rails. I have had Jeeps that were driven hundreds of times on the beach with less rust on the hard lines these lines are defective or at the lease very substandard. BTW this vehicle has three small surface rust issues two where minor body work was done, I don't think Ive ever seen brake or gas line rust through where the body sheet metal wasn't extensively rotten.
- Mike C., Milton, US