Corroded Brake Line

[hangun61]

My '96 2.2L, 5spd, S10 brake pedal went the floor yesterday and I noticed fluid running/dripping from the undercarriage. I looked a little deeper and found the brake line that runs to the rear brakes was severely corroded and had sprung a leak.

I took it to a shop for repairs. The technician said that after replacing the brake line, if they were unable to bleed the front brakes, they would have to replace the front calipers.

Two questions -
Is it common for a brake line to corrode so bad that it springs a leak? (The truck has 111,000 miles on it. It lived in Indiana for 11 years and now is in Florida.)
Second, is replacement of the front calipers necessary to bleed the brakes properly?

Thanks for any info that anyone can contribute.

[brandon200317]

Originally Posted by hangun61

My '96 2.2L, 5spd, S10 brake pedal went the floor yesterday and I noticed fluid running/dripping from the undercarriage. I looked a little deeper and found the brake line that runs to the rear brakes was severely corroded and had sprung a leak.

I took it to a shop for repairs. The technician said that after replacing the brake line, if they were unable to bleed the front brakes, they would have to replace the front calipers.

Two questions -
Is it common for a brake line to corrode so bad that it springs a leak? (The truck has 111,000 miles on it. It lived in Indiana for 11 years and now is in Florida.)
Second, is replacement of the front calipers necessary to bleed the brakes properly?

Thanks for any info that anyone can contribute.

It is quite common for a brake line to corrode or rust so bad they leak. often times they will be rusty and just the right pressure in the lines or something hitting the line will break it... i am a technician and have replace rear brake lines on a couple caprices and roadmaster recently which unfortunately broke because they run right along the frame and broke when i lifted the vehicle from slight frame flexing... but thats off topic. as far as replacing the front calipers, the only reason they would say that is they are probably really rusty around the bleeder and if that's the case can be a b*tch to break loose often times braking or stripping it out. in that case you have to replace the caliper. I recomend spraying some rust penatrant such as PB or other stuff on them ealier. helps alot. hope this was helpfull. usually the rear bleaders on the brake cylinders are harder to break loose then the front though.

Check to see your recalls.My 98 s-10 had two brakeline recalls.GM has no time limit if the repair was not performed.