Rear Brake Line - 96 Outback

[wrongturninwv]

Rear brake line burst above gas tank on passenger side. Can not see up in there. Need a quick way to repair. If I need to pull gas tank to get at lines please explain how. Looks like its gonna be a big job. Also how do I beed rear with the ABS,anything I should know. thnaks

[logic23]

My buddies did this too. I think the easiest way is to cut the line inside the car and add the coupler/t fitting there. better place for it anyway

[porcupine73]

I had this happen on a '96 Legacy. I just chopped the lines under the rear seat with bolt cutters and abandoned the old lines in place. I ran new lines where it was convenient/safe/protected to run them. I did not remove the tank to do this job. A good double flare tool of course is needed. I got some flack for using it, but I just ran cunifer brake line. That stuff is much easier in my book to work with than steel line. I was able to just fish it right over the top of the tank without much problem. If you need brake fittings the Subaru uses M10x1.0 I think it was.

 

I had to replace the entire section of line because the lines were reallly badly rotted in the rear. Just trying to replace a small section would have resulted in needing to the job again soon.

[Rooster2]

ABS equipped brake systems bleed out just the same and non-ABS. No difference!

[porcupine73]

There's no difference in bleeding the ABS vs non ABS - provided you do not let any air into the lines near the ABS at any point, or let the master go dry whilst bleeding. If you do that, then you really should put the ABS into sequence control during bleeding. This will cycle the pressure hold and release valves and cycle the pump to make sure no air remains in the unit. Also doing that whilst bleeding ABS units can help make sure that old fluid doesn't remain trapped in the unit, though I don't usually do it for just normal bleeding.

[wrongturninwv]

Thanks guys for all the help. This is on my must do list. Will get to it this week.

[mdjdc]

You can do it the right way. Just lift the car and drop the rear cross member. You may have to drop the rear of the tank, but you do not have to detach any lines or plugs, not even to drop the cross member. Sqirm the new line into place and atttach it to the junction bloc and you are done. If you want good used preformed lines with the junction block, I have them. let me know if you are interested. If you fix it right the first time you will be more comfortable and safer. I, personally, so not like rigging brakes. I want them the way they were designed.

[idosubaru]

wow this is awesome, my friends 96 Legacy brighton has a leak in the same spot. passengers side rear above crossmember somewhere.

 

big question - i can't see where the line goes after it disappears over the cross member.

where can i access "the other side" of the brake line?

Edited August 12, 2010 by grossgary

[idosubaru]

this makes it look like there's one line going under the seat, then somewhere above the cross member it separates into two lines?

 

is there any valve or anything or literally just a split of the lines into two for each side? i guess that split is impossible to get to without dropping the cross member?

 

http://opposedforces.com/parts/legacy/us_b11/type_28/brake_system/brake_piping/illustration_4/

Edited August 12, 2010 by grossgary

[porcupine73]

Two lines do go under the rear seat, one for the rear left brake and one for the rear right. Then they penetrate the floor into a junction block and then go who knows where in the routing to get to the calipers/cylinders. I hacked them off under the seat and spliced in there and just routed my new lines over the tank or wherever it was convenient and secured them with stainless safety wire. I have some pics I took of the job here: http://www.porcupine73.com/pics/brakes/leak96/

[idosubaru]

thanks porcupine, i have the passengers side removed and picked up some brake line.

 

they didn't have any couplers so i don't have enough length to get to the rear drivers side. i need 6 ft and all they have is 5ft GRRRR!! i'm going to try it tomorrow and see how close i can get.

 

i feel like i should remove that junction box too - they appear very corroded on the other side like yours in the picture. but i'm not very confident in making the connection inside the cabin area. you found plenty of room to work with and make that connection?

 

you have to cut the line - then install some kind of female end piece, are those easy to find?

[porcupine73]

Yes I eliminated the junction box too because the lines going to it were rusty. I used a cutoff tool like a dremel and cut the lines under the seat. Then I put double flare fittings on them and flared the ends. Then I put couplers in there. Then I did the same thing with my new brake lines and attached them to the couplers, all right under the rear seat. I'm guessing the couplers and such are all readily available at the parts stores (I got all my supplies from the place that sells cunifer). You can use any thread you want for the couplers; the connection to the caplier hoses has to be M10x1.0 though. I have a picture of the completed work under the seat if I can find it.

 

I had enough room to work to flare the fittings and such right under the seat. I was using a double flare tool by KD Tools that I got from MSC Industrial.

[porcupine73]

Found some more pics