1990 LeSabre fuel lines

['97ventureowner]

I am working on a '90 LeSabre that had been in storage for about 4 years and am trying to fix a fuel leak. It is located under the driver's side rear door near where the filter is. My question is: Has anybody replaced fuel lines on this particular year/model, and if so were you able to use the steel lines found at auto parts stores commonly used for transmission cooler lines, or do you have to get them at a dealer? I had a similar leak on my '94 Chevrolet C1500 pickup and had to purchase the ones at the dealership ( which weren't cheap!) If anybody else has any tips or tricks to get this job done, I'd greatly appreciate it.

[yogi_123rd]

The underside of this model car is it's achilles heel. I have the same car. Here's my horror story:

You will notice that the fuel and brake lines are in a single unit going the lenght of the car. By its design, I think it traps water which promotes rust. When one line rusts out, the other lines are ready to go too. I think the previous owner of my car took the car thru too many car washes (it had a great exterior).

In my case, the previous owner had spliced in fixes to both the fuel and brake lines as leaks developed. When I got the car, the brake line had failed (at the same spot in yours too) and the lines were almost rusted out along the entire lenght and even to the wheels. The gas line was failing in four seperate spots up to and near the fuel pump. It was impractable to do any splices. That left running replacement fuel and brake lines up to the engine compartment as need be. I wanted to run the fuel line back and splice in fuel line hose as connections at the fuel pump. The garage mechanic who looked at this wouldn't guarentee or touch the job unless every line were replaced (I didn't blame him) inclusive of the fuel pump. Interestingly enough, GM has a parts kit for exactly this (complete fuel + brake lines). The total cost installed topped out at $1500 figuring $400 alone for the fuel pump.

The moral of this story is that you should inspect the condition of the rest of the lines to see if it is worth fixing.

In your case, I'm fairly certain that someone makes a steel fuel line of the proper diameter to use as a replacement. Rubber hose fuel line could then be used as a splice at the end points.

[buickmastermind]

Don't bother with the tranny coolant lines, just use brake line. It is steal and usually coated better the tranny coolant lines, which are aluminum.

Fuel pump-$25-$50 at autozone
sufficient tubing for entire fuel lines- $15

Dealer profit-$1800

['97ventureowner]

Could you elaborate further on this "kit" you mentioned in your post? I tried my local dealers, and even went online to some other dealers I have purchased parts from in the past, and they tell me such a kit does not exist. I was able to locate the fuel lines at a local dealer that go from the filter to about the firewall, which is what I need, and I was told to use 3/16 brake line to replace my brakeline from an auto parts store. Is undercoating applied from a spray can an effective means to preventing rust on the new lines, or is there something better to use?

[avatar307]

Hell, I'd get that rubber undercoating spary on stuff. Looks like Rhino linings after it's dry. Just spray the whole bottom of the car.

Then again... if I had leaking lines, I'd be rather annoyed. I'd probably end up building a steel channel around them all the way along the bottom the chassis. Then you could run whatever type of line you wanted, even plastic.