Corolla SR5 brakeline replacement easy?

You can, and should, check it out before you buy it. That way nobody is going into the deal blind.

Fill it up with the proper brake fluid and try quickly bleeding the system, look under the car for where the leak is and see what is going on. Modern cars all have a split braking system, meaning either the front or rear half of the brake system will keep working even when the other half fails - at least until the master cylinder runs dry of brake fluid and the other half of the brake system sucks in air.

WARNING: Brake Fluid is a VERY effective paint stripper if it's allowed to sit for any length of time. Be careful where it goes, and clean up leaks and spills from painted surfaces /fast/.

(Or spills that can migrate onto painted surfaces - puddles of brake fluid left on the driveway can easily turn into cat-paw shaped bare metal spots on your hood. It's not good for the cat's health either, but at the moment you find the damage I don't think you'll care...)

Brake fluid that leaks and contaminates brake pads or shoes means replacing those brake pads or shoes. Same thing with oil or grease.

Unless you want to spend a lot on the proper double-flaring tool kit (for the right flare angle) and waste a few lines practicing, don't try flaring your own brake lines. Buy the proper exact-fit factory bent replacements at the dealer. That you can easily handle on a creeper with the car on ramps and jackstands.

(But a mechanic's lift sure makes it a whole lot easier and faster. Possibly enough to make it worth paying to have the work done.)

Or if you're a bit handier, buy generic steel lines with the right fittings and flares at each end and a bit longer than you need, and the proper bending tool to make them fit the chassis - don't even try bending the steel lines by hand without the tools, you /will/ kink them when you try to bend them, and end up throwing half of them out.

For a 1990 car you should change any steel brake lines that show any rust on them, and at 16 years you should also change the rubber brake hoses that go to the front wheel cylinders, and between the chassis and rear axle - they deteriorate with age. Then you need to bleed the system.

The important stuff is to get the system to hold fluid, the calipers with pads that are not contaminated and have lining left, rotors or drums that are reasonably smooth and within minimum thickness tolerances, wheel bearing and axle grease seals that seal the grease (so you don't contaminate the new pads), and calipers that slide back and forth on their locating pins easily. Everything else is minor.

Very reasonable. Might even be a bit TOO low when you factor in the value of the Cdn$ vs. the US$... Make sure they are replacing all the steel lines, and all the rubber flex hoses. There are more than four steel lines on most cars, there may be another set of two short steel lines between the master cylinder and the brake failure switch body, and two lines on top of the rear axle where the rubber line splits to go to the rear wheel cylinders/calipers. Rear discs may mean another set of two rubber hoses.

And in Canada you have to deal with the rust monster at the wheels too, the calipers should be at least cleaned up and the slide clips replaced so they float freely on the pins, or the calipers rebuilt.

TeGGeR can comment on this in more detail, he has to deal with the rust beasts daily - I'm in Southern California where rust is not nearly the problem as it is in "Eh?" territory...

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Brake lines, the hard pipes, can be a pain in the ass because they are long and easily damaged or destroyed. If you look at a hard brake pipe - steel tube - and it coves 90% of the length of the car, you can see that it will be difficult to handle such a part becausae there are lots of parts that can be in the way.

If you are able to identify the break in the pipe (the hard lines are called Brake Pipes, the soft lines are called Brake Hoses), then it would be a reasonably simple task to cut the broken section of pipe out and splice in a new section of pipe. You would need two fittings and 4 flaring operations for each section that you cut out. And it seems to me that there is an opporunity for such a repair to leak, or completely fail.

Another thing to consider is that if the brake fluid system has been open for a long time, if could be contaminated with water, or be dried by exposure to the air. This could be a significant expense for you ...

Front half or rear half? Don't you mean the right front and left rear, or the left front and the right rear, will continue working even if the other half fails?

No, either the front two brakes or the rear two brakes will work.

Unless there are faults in both halves of the brake system - in which case you'll find two separate leaks when you try filling and bleeding it.

They do NOT split the brake systems diagonally on any production street automobiles I have ever seen (*), because failure of one half of the brakes side-to-side can cause "severe directional instability"

- when one front brake fails and you stab the brakes hard the car is going to pull violently /hard/ to one side, you will swear someone grabbed the steering wheel and spun it full lock to one side.

And if you are not holding onto the wheel tight and ready to correct for that hard pull I Gua-Ron-Tee you will end up in a spin, in a collision with the vehicle in the next lane, and/or in the ditch. Bad things will happen, the variable is who is going to end up in your way before you can get it back together.

(A classic "Don't ask me how I know this..." )

If you lose your front brakes you can get stopped with the rear brakes only, but it'll take a lot more distance - they are far less effective when the vehicle weight all transfers to the front. This is why a diagonal split will not work as a balance, the right rear drum cannot brake hard enough to compensate for the front left disc pull.

(*) - They might split the brakes diagonally on an exotic like a Maserati or Lamborghini, where you basically have a competitive race car that has been modified with bumpers and side marker lamps to be street legal. When you're spending north of $100,000 for a car, they expect a higher caliber of driver.

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The loss of braking ability depends on WHY that ability is lost before there can be any reliance on what might be left intact. For example, I managed to physically pull a brake hose from the front tire on my Jeep, and the result was no brakes anywhere. The entire system went down because of a catastrophic loss of pressure, and none of the brake system worked until the system was repaired.

I thought that all cars had diagonal brakes because it would be a huge problem to have the rear brakes fail for whatever reason, and then rely only on the front brakes. Or, if the front brakes go out, the rear brakes alone would be almost useless because the stopping action would transfer the weight of the car forward, off of the rear axle and the brakes would easily lock. If the brakes worked diagonally, then the pull on the steering wheel would certainly be an issue, but the weight and balance of the car would help to bring it to a halt. Having said that, the only brake failure I have ever experienced came as a result of ripping the brake hose out of the caliper, and this gave me no brake pressure anywhere in the system, and I have no idea which parts of the system even attempted to work because the pedal went to the floor, and any attempt to pump the pedal only resulted in shooting brake fluid out of the gaping hole that was created. .

Thanks for the hints. I purchased it and will 'pick' it up Sunday. I'll then have a car with no brakes, wondering how the insurance will work.

Am also looking at mechanics to tow it to. Brake lines seem like a lot of work, but if I can patch the hole enough if its accessible, enough to bring it home I will (I suppose I'll have to bleed the lines too on-the-spot). Hoping it hasnt had air in the pipes for too long... apart from the brakes I'll be able to drive the car around and gradually repair and replace all servicable parts.

Even if I have to replace the pipes, hoses, master cylinder and labour, still remains a reasonable price overall for me, which is why I purchased it.

The only problem for me is a place to do all the repairwork. Last night I got caught in the apartments basement parking lot changing oil on the loaner car. I do have the time and willpower to try and replace the pipes myself. I suppose I'll just leave it to the mechanics.

Do NOT attempt to patch holes in brake lines! The patch is unlikely to hold for more than 1 brake application.

If the interior of the brake system has been exposed to air for any length of time, there is a good chance that corrosion has set in and the entire hydraulic system will have to be replaced.

Think about taking a continuing education class in automotive repair. The classes often offer access to lifts and professional quality tools. Even if you don't need the knowledge, the facilities and tools can make the class worthwhile.

What year was that Jeep? Cars and light trucks built before about

1966-1967 had a single brake system - no front/rear splits at all, a leak anywhere in the brakes kills the whole system.

And when you find this out? Downshift, grab the mechanical parking brake, honk to warn people to get out of the way, and pray hard...

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Deal fell through. Wont buy it for a couple of reasons including that I dont have a place to work on it, and all quotes seemed in excess of $500 for all 4 lines.

Thanks for all your help.

1981.

Right after it happened. Well, right after the brake pedal made a dent in the floor. ;-)

I was offroading and goinf very slow anyway, so there was never any danger to me or my passenger - my daughter on that particular trip. I had to drive home in LO range to keep my speed down so I could avoid pushing the brake pedal.

I think the safety measures you are speaking of are intended to kick in if there is a small leak such as might occur if a seal or o-ring broke, not a huge hole that results when a hose is ripped out of the brake caliper.

I'm wondering if the insurance will work at all.

I would be looking to UHaul to see about a trailer or a dolly. The dolly should be good for this car, just put the front tires on the dolly and drag the back tires home.