keith_99_sts Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 I was driving into NYC last week and a car pulled out and I had to do a panic stop. The anti-lock didn't activate and all was well. A few miles later I was stuck in traffic and noticed the brake pedal was going long, almost to the floor. The brakes were working fine though. Yesterday I was driving and the red brake warning light came on the dash, followed soon thereafter by the Low Brake Fluid message. The brakes were very weak now and the car pulled to the left when stopping. I thought it might be a bad caliper on the front right. Pulled off the wheel and looked for a leak - nothing. Got my son to pump the brake pedal and there was a stream of fluid coming out in front of the drivers side rear wheel. Jacked up the car and guess what - the brake lines are rusted out. It's kind of odd - where the brake lines run horizontally from the front of the car, the lines are not rusted. Then they take a turn upwards and everything from that point rearward is rust. I couldn't pinpoint the leak but felt the lines with my fingers and the rust was coming off in large chunks. Mixed emotions - glad it's not a caliper or master cylinder, but what the ..... The lines are obviously not stainless In this age of lawsuits, I'm surprised that any manufacturer still uses cheap brake lines that rust out. Best guess is the prior panic stop put just enough extra pressure in the lines to bust through the rust and start a small leak, which grew into a major leak. Taking the STS to a shop tomorrow to get the brake lines replaced. Not a fun experience. Is it normal for these cars to rust out the brake lines? I've had cars before that were much older than this and never had to repair metal brake lines. I'll ask tomorrow about putting stainless in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 I have yet to expirience anything like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenMachine Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 from my understanding there was a thread somewhere I read that talked about the brake lines actually being a rubber or some sort of material and they actually could begin to crack if not watched. Sounds like someone put differant lines than stock on. The Green's Machines 1998 Deville - high mileage, keeps on going, custom cat-back exhaust 2003 Seville - stock low mileage goodness! 2004 Grand Prix GTP CompG - Smaller supercharger pulley, Ported Exhaust Manifolds, Dyno tune, etc 1998 Firebird Formula - 408 LQ9 Stroker motor swap and all sorts of go fast stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadillac Jim Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 It doesn't sound like GM brake lines to me. The rust sounds like an electrolysis problem that couldn't happen with any brake line I would ever put on my car. Some mechanic may have kinked a brake line while pulling a wheel or jacking up the car or something and put on a cheap one. I would look at all of the brake lines while I was at it. -- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data -- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 Mine are rusted badly also. The shop that is going to make them up for me tells me that its common for brake lines to rust out. They said that they make up brake lines for cars under warranty. they said that the worst is the Lincoln. The worst brake line that i have travels across the car between the rear wheels. It appears to be very open to the elements, ie, water, salt, rocks, etc. Its not going to be easy to replace. Cadillac no longer sells it, it must be made up. Somewhat off the topic, yesterday, I hit my brakes at 95 and my braking was very uneven and the brakes caused a swerve. Don't ask why I was doing 95. I need to find out why my braking was uneven, in wet weather that problem will be very serious. Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 Mine rusted out at the bottom of the firewall just where it makes the bend, about where your feet are. It seems to me that our Federal government is asleep at the switch on this issue. What is more important to safety than the integrity of the brake lines? On a side note my wife's new Toyota has brake lines that are coated or painted with a dark green material. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadillac Jim Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 I'm going to ask for brake line inspection as part of my regular service (oil change, etc). It seems to me that there should be a service interval for inspection of the brake lines. It has to be in terms of years or winters, because you can't wait for a brake job. My car is 8 1/2 years old and 117,000 miles and still has 30% of caliper life left on the front and more on the rear. I wouldn't trust a paint treatment to prevent rust on brake lines because a scratch from a rock is all it takes. You should consider regular inspections the brake lines on your wife's Toytoa, too. -- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data -- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keith_99_sts Posted July 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 The worst brake line that i have travels across the car between the rear wheels. That's the one that burst on my STS. It is rusted along the whole length. I looked at the lines on my wifes Dodge minivan, also a year '99. Very minimal rust on those brake lines, and what rust there is, is only on the surface - which is how galvanizing is supposed to work. The STS lines appear to use a very thin zinc plating rather than the superior in-line coating method. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonA Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 Rust is really variable, and will depend heavily on the conditions in which the car was operated. For some reason, this stuff tends to happen on some cars and not others. On the Chrysler Minivan Fan Club forum, a common problem is the rear coolant lines (for the rear A/C) rusting -- but the ones on our '03 are 100% clean. Even vans as new as 2004 and 2005 are having some of these lines replaced. And on some vans, they're still original, going back to the 1996 model year in some folks' cases. I'm glad this subject came up (but not glad for Keith!). I'll inspect all the brake lines on my '97 this weekend. I don't think anything is rusted, but we'll see. Living in the south helps I'm sure. Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 A few years ago, I had to replace the brake lines and the fuel lines that run from the front of the car to the rear on my old Park Avenue - the fuel line rusted through and while I was bending up a new line, I noticed that the brake lines were also in a similar state of rust - I replaced the brake lines while I was under there as well. I've used brake lines with the dark green coating and within a year of road salt exposure, they were all rusted too... Keep in mind that all cars have a split master cylinder so if a brake line ruptures, there is still braking ability left. Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenMachine Posted July 12, 2006 Report Share Posted July 12, 2006 My deville isn't garaged, drives in Buffalo Salt Coating winters and they looked ok last time will certainly check the out next time I'm under there. Do they use differant lines on deville versus seville? The Green's Machines 1998 Deville - high mileage, keeps on going, custom cat-back exhaust 2003 Seville - stock low mileage goodness! 2004 Grand Prix GTP CompG - Smaller supercharger pulley, Ported Exhaust Manifolds, Dyno tune, etc 1998 Firebird Formula - 408 LQ9 Stroker motor swap and all sorts of go fast stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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