Brake line fittings stuck - Suspension and Brake Forum

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Brake line fittings stuck
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 6:21 AM
I bought russel stainless lines but cant get the fittings off the rubber lines.....any of them. I soaked them with PB blaster and used a flare wrench, but even that wants to round off the nut. Any suggestions?

and just for shytts and giggles i asked a shop what they would charge and told me $280 to do all 4 lines and bleed.

Re: Brake line fittings stuck
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 6:38 AM
Not being too mechanically inclined myself, I took the easy way out and had my family mechanic do mine. It was about an hour's labor, in amongst some other work. Good deal for the potential headaches, if you ask me.

When I mentioned that I'd heard some people had trouble getting the fittings off, he said they were "a bunch of wusses". His words, not mine.




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Re: Brake line fittings stuck
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 6:51 AM
yeah, I usually grab the fittings with some pretty hardcore pliers......ive never had one I couldnt get undone.....


they can be a bear, but some hefty pliers and some muscle, and they come off.





Re: Brake line fittings stuck
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 8:38 AM
They are a huge pita. i spent around an hour doing mine. John is right, get some pliers and put some muscle into it.
Re: Brake line fittings stuck
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 8:56 AM
i was going to use the vise grips but i didnt want to mangle the nut before i explored the option of having someone else do it, but theres no way in hell i would pay $280 for that.

Im mechanicall yinclined but i dont like taking chances on my DD. when I replaced the header not too long ago, i ended up renting a car becuase my dipstick tube broke off in the block and had to wait for the dealer to order it.

This is the first time in a while that I havent had a winter beater. I moved from pgh to florida and didnt think it was worth it to ship my $1000 civic down here. I regret that all the time, especially since it got 30city/40hwy mpg
Re: Brake line fittings stuck
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 4:31 PM
Hey bro. use a propane torch and a vice grip wrench made for not stripping/ removing stripped bolts. If that fails buy some 1/4 in line and a flare kit, then start cutting and drilling out the old rusted lines from the fittings and install them on the new line. The new line fittings are not the same size as the oem. good luck.
Re: Brake line fittings stuck
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 4:44 PM
Paul D wrote:Hey bro. use a propane torch and a vice grip wrench made for not stripping/ removing stripped bolts. If that fails buy some 1/4 in line and a flare kit, then start cutting and drilling out the old rusted lines from the fittings and install them on the new line. The new line fittings are not the same size as the oem. good luck.


WHAT!!!!! TORCH...NO WAY.....thats explosion city man. F... that.. The lines can be a bear. Brake fluid is designed to "ABSORB" water, and when it does this it can leave little deposits of water in hard to get to areas such as fitting threads and things like that. When I did my Wilwood front brakes, the passenger side line was a bear and a half. Its mangled and ugly but still VERY VERY functional. I had to use two pairs of pliers to do the job, along with pb blaster, but eventually they busted free. Then when you tighten them back up make sure they are good and tight and you should not have any problems...



Re: Brake line fittings stuck
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 9:43 PM
Paul D wrote:Hey bro. use a propane torch and a vice grip wrench made for not stripping/ removing stripped bolts. If that fails buy some 1/4 in line and a flare kit, then start cutting and drilling out the old rusted lines from the fittings and install them on the new line. The new line fittings are not the same size as the oem. good luck.


please please PLEASE tell me you dont work on cars, because that was the biggest load of bs i've read on here in a while. torching brake fluid? BAD idea. 1/4 inch line? our cars take 3/16 with bubble flare. no cutting, no splicing available at EVERY parts store. do at least a little research next time.



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Re: Brake line fittings stuck
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 10:01 PM
this is one of the few things I say "fire. . BAD. . " too. and by god, it doesn't happen too often. fire can be good an all, but using it on brakes is asking to die. I wouldn't want to risk them failing at anytime on anyone, not even my worst enemy. . .



Re: Brake line fittings stuck
Thursday, September 25, 2008 7:59 AM
Used vise grips for mine. Got them off quick and easy.
Re: Brake line fittings stuck
Thursday, September 25, 2008 3:01 PM
Wow, you people see "torch" and automatically think Hiroshima. Brake fluid isn't flammable, there's no fear of using a torch PROPERLY to help with stuck fasteners. The car isn't going to explode, the brakes aren't going to fail because you torched a nut, so calm down a few notches.




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Re: Brake line fittings stuck
Friday, September 26, 2008 12:19 PM
the reason torches are bad for brake lines is because using them to heat a fitting can easily cause the fluid to boil, and if not thought out properly, you may not bleed the brakes properly to get all the air bubbles out.

Not because you will blow the car up.

It is very difficult to get boiled air bubbles out of an ABS unit.....





Re: Brake line fittings stuck
Saturday, September 27, 2008 9:58 PM
its boiling point depends on the age, new dot3 i believe boils at 400F, ive torched my lines before but only cause the system was empty, and it was my crx so i didnt really care haha, but dont leave the torch there forever, if you have to torch do short on and offs with the torch so you dont heat it up too much, and you can try to break it loose inbetween, but thats only if its that bad.
Re: Brake line fittings stuck
Monday, September 29, 2008 4:37 AM
John Benham wrote:the reason torches are bad for brake lines is because using them to heat a fitting can easily cause the fluid to boil, and if not thought out properly, you may not bleed the brakes properly to get all the air bubbles out.

Not because you will blow the car up.

It is very difficult to get boiled air bubbles out of an ABS unit.....


exactly. if he's having this much trouble with the fittings, it means they've never been touched, which would lead me to believe the system's never been flushed, which means LOTS OF WATER in the brake fluid (being that brake fluid is hygroscopic, which is why you always use brake fluid from a new, not opened bottle). water boils quickly when torched, and those bubbles have a tendency to move quickly.



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Re: Brake line fittings stuck
Monday, September 29, 2008 12:27 PM
it has been flushed before. I dont have a torch and i wont be using one. I can probably get them loose( notice how i actually use this term correctly) with vise grips. Like i said before, i just didnt want to mangle them in case I wanted to have a shop do it. I didnt want to take it there and have them tell me that they didnt want to touch it or recommmend i get new hard lines because i F'd up the fittings.

Thanks for the suggestions.

on a side note.......I replaced my hawk pads with green stuff. I havent fully tested the stopping ability since im still breaking them in with the new powerstop rotors, but they seem to have more bite than the hawks. I also didnt a like the fact that the Hawks started to break apart and consequently put a nice deep gouge in my powerslots, and this is before the squealer started doing its job.
Re: Brake line fittings stuck
Monday, September 29, 2008 2:25 PM
I had this same problem and I had to take it to the dealer due to time constraints. Well they had to heat up mine to loosen the fittings and I can feel that they didn't bleed it well. I am not so worried about it since the car still brakes well and I am doing the neon rear swap soon after that a serious flush and I will have a shop get the bubbles out of my abs if I have to.


The proper way of using the word seen. It is not I seen it that would be I saw it. He has seen the car is the right way to use the word. English class is Cool. By the way thats my sig
Re: Brake line fittings stuck
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 10:27 AM
Done 2 cars this summer. 2 pairs of vice-grips and a bit of blood.

I really don't see what the big deal is. I did a 1995 sunfire with 180,000 miles on it this summer with original brake lines on it... only took me 5 minutes a corner.

-Chris-




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