Blew a brakeline,thanks to my "MECHANIC’, who shoved the pedal all the way to the floor,when I brought it to him to check it out…barely got it back home. Saw a article online that said GM had a recall or was planning to reimburse for these faulty lines…just asking if that’s so??? Thank you
I’ve had the same problem with my 04 Avalanche. There are inexpensive kits sold now to replace these lines. It makes the installation much easier and cheaper. I doubt you’ll get any compensation for a 16 year old vehicle. I don’t expect any for my 14 year old truck.
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Are You telling us, that You drove the car back home. Without brakes???
You should be appreciative of Your mechanic that he did it in his shop with the car not moving. Instead of You doing it while trying to stop before You hit Mrs. somebody and her 3 children on the sidewalk.
Checking such things as brake lines goes with maintenance, especially in a rust prone area.
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Your mechanic did not break anything . Proper working brakes will not fail just because foot pressure is applied . That line was a disaster just waiting to happen . As Mr. Asterix says better there than in heavy traffic.
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You should not drive this with brake lines leaking, the only place this should be is on a flat bed heading to your mechanic.
If a brake line can be blown by pressing on the pedal it was a disaster waiting to happen. You are very very lucky this happened in a controlled situation, I assume your mechanic had this in a lot or repair bay.
No way in h#$% should you have driven it to ‘barely got it back home’. Downright irresponsible and dangerous to you and the people around you.
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NHTSA does not show a Recall for brake lines on your vehicle. Many always want a “Recall” when the repair cost has to come out of their pocket…
Your mechanic did NOT blow a brake line. If a brake line failed it failed due to age and quite likely; rust.
This means that all lines should be replaced because of the weak link in the chain scenario.
So the brake line surrendered its life in the shop and you insisted upon driving it out of there anyway. The only way I would allow this would be if you signed an affidavit that you were going to take the car anyway in spite of recommendations not to do so…
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No recall after NHTSA investigation. Interesting conclusion:
Documents that NHTSA collected during the investigation included warranty and engineering information regarding similar vehicles produced by Ford, Fiat Chrysler and Toyota.
That showed similar frequency and severity of brake line corrosion, the agency said in its report.
Definitely the mechanic did nothing to break the brake line.
No human has the strength to burst a brake line. It was about to burst most likely from being rusted out.
I really don’t think that GM will help you out with the age of the vehicle.
It is common for brake lines to rust through and are just another part of normal wear and tear.
As for driving it home, I think everyone else has covered this well.
Yosemite
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You were darn lucky the line failed when it did. I had a brake line burst while I was driving. Right behind a school bus. Fortunately, I was able to stop in time, but that’s not something I want to do again.
Hey TECH GUYS…I WAS PUMPING THE BREAKS TO GET IT TO THE SHOP,ABOUT 2 MI ON A SECONDARY ROAD. WHEN I GOT THERE,HE HAD A CAR IN HIS GARAGE DOING BODY WORK…I ASKED IF HE HAD A JOB HE WAS WORKIN ON HE SAID NO,YOU CAN BRING IT IN THIS AFTERNNOON…HE CAME OUT AND I ASKED HIM TO DRIVE IT AND SEE WHAT HE THOUGHT…HE GOT IN AND PRESSED THE PEDAL ALL THE WAY TO THE FLOOR…THATS WHEN THE LINE BLEW…AND HE TOLD ME TO BRING IT BACK NEXT WEEK…WHEN I GOT IN AND BACKED UP I DIDINT HAVE ANY BRAKES TILL I FLOORED IT…I CALLED HIM BACK OUT AND TOLD HIM I HAD NO BRAKES…HE TOLD ME TO JUST TAKE IT EASY GOIN HOME. NEEDLESS TO SAY, I WONT BE GOIN BACK TO HIM NEXT WEEK…
I don’t see anything in the tsb’s at all about brake lines. For the 2WD 5.3L configuration of the 2002 Suburban anyway.
IMO the shop was wrong to tell you “take it easy on your way back home” after you reported your brakes no longer worked. The better choices were to either leave it there and they’ll get to it later, or to tell you to tow it back to your home or another shop. But that’s all water under the bridge at this point. Brake lines fail for various reasons, rust being one of the common ones, and so it isn’t unusual to have to replace some of them on a 16 year old vehicle.
Reminds me of a Corolla wagon I bought from a college roommate: “The brakes work. You just have to pump 'em.” Guess what I fixed before anything else!
A rear brake line rusted out on my 1999 Civic a few years ago. Very slow leak and it took a while to find. These things happen on older cars in snow and ice and salt country. A cost of ownership.
Brake lines can easily rust out on anything that is 16 years old (or even much younger…) and especially so if someones lives in the Rust Belt.
The fact that you were having to pump the brakes to get it to the shop tells me it was an accident waiting to happen anyway. Slight leak becomes full blown failure.
Same thing with a head gasket, It may weep a little and at some point just fail catastrophically.
You COULD have left the car until that afternoon when he said he could get to it. Turn off the caps lock. This usually means someone’s adrenaline is pumping and they’re irate, in a panic, or in a hysteria mode.
The mechanic is innocent of any wrong doing.
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