paulstamser

Blew the rear driver side steel brake line on my 89 Tempo GL. Tried to trace the old line but it's pretty hidden.

Is there one LONG line running from each rear wheel connection all the way up to the front left wheel area? I seem to find a pair of lines from rear to front of car.

I guess my best bet is to use the universal lines and bend them to fit as I could NEVER get a stock line into those recesses. Will probably end up replacing both rear lines.

Any tips on replacing the steel brake lines? It's been a long time since I've tackled a brake line repair.

Thank you!

Cronicus

its gona be 100% easier to just replace the whole caliper, might even even be a junkyard job.
u can get a core trade in discount at autozone for a oem new 1 rofl

otherwise its gona be a home depo job , my personal favorite

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paulstamser

Why replace a caliper when a brake line blows?

Anyone know if the rear brake lines on an 89 Tempo is one LONG line or if there is a junction somewhere?

The Haynes manual doesn't have a diagram of the brake lines and their connections.

Butchart

First of all Cronicus is all wrong. You have drum brakes on the rear of your Tempo.
You have a short steel line coming from the wheel cylinder to a mounting bracket held on by the shock strut bolts. That steel line then is connected to a flex hose, then again to a steel line going to the front of the car, likely to a proportioning valve. For the price of a brake line (they are cheap here in Canada and the US) I would just take it to a reputable brake shop and have it put on the hoist. Shouldn't take a good brake man any more than a half hour to replace and bleed the line if he knows what he is doing. Looks like you have rusty lines if you blew one, I would check the others too.

paulstamser

Thanks for the info, but I do all my own work on my cars and other junk. Plus the nearest brake shop is a 100 mile round trip from here.

Looks like I'll locate that proportioning valve and replace the rear line all the way back to the flex hose fitting now that I know it's one long line.

Hopefully I'll figure out which line at the proportioning valve is the bad one. There must be some trick in figuring that out. Probably should also first loosen bleeders on rear brakes in case they should break off. This is my winter car and a rusty sacrifice to the Salt god. Really belongs in the junkyard.

Cronicus

wow wow wow there buddy, i though he meant front end brakes, shoulda read more mr f****** brake master, why dont u dig depeer in the tempo section see how many ppl u can help to the T.
why is it ppl wont help ppl unles sum1 else has already and they might be slightly off but ppl wont even touch the topic unles they can prove the other person wrong off it, u guys feed of this sh** huh
this is competition in its lowest form, and buddy until uve had to repair a control arm and axle keeper pins on the side of the road with bailing wire , and rig up a small pvc pipe to be ur brake because u f***** it up offroading and got stuck, dont clown on me please man, invest ur time helping ppl, not letting everone else know about there miostakes.

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Butchart

Don't want to argue with you Cronicus, but Paulstamser did say the brake line going to the rear of his vehicle, this has nothing to do about questioning your mechanical ability. But I do know one thing, I've done a hell of a lot of brake jobs in my lifetime, and still don't know everything about them, you always learn something everytime you tackle a job. I just try to help guys out best I can.
To Paulstamser, I would put lots of penitrating oil on all the brake line connections you intend to try and undo, sometimes the nut connecting the line will twist the line as you try to undo it, especially if its really rusted. But wouldn't worry about the lines twisting off if they are the ones you are replacing. Good luck

paulstamser

Thanks Butchart,

I already cut the line at the rear brake and got the fitting apart okay by using pentrating oil and tapping it with a small hammer. But I forgot to loosen the bleeder at that time. I put the wheel back on and put the car up on ramps. Then I crawled under and tried to trace the brake line forward. Then I couldn't tell if it was a long one-piece brakeline or if there is a junction somewhere.

That's where it sits right now. Not sure if I'll fix it now or wait until spring. Depends mostly on the weather I guess and how ambitious I feel. I have two other cars that I can use, altho I hate to take them out in the salt.

paulstamser

Since it was warm yesterday (40s F.) I went out and worked a little on the brake line problem. Jacked up the rear again and took off the wheel. Then I opened the bleeder valve with no problem. It was rounded off but a Vise Grip and penetrating fluid did the trick. Then I put the front end up on ramps and jacked up the rear driver's side and blocked it up.

Now I have to get under there and measure the run of the brake line at the same time tracing the leaky line to the first connection towards the front of the car.

Not an esp. fun job as it is dirty and ugly under there. The good side is that it shouldn't cost more than a few bucks to fix.

Butchart

Hi, just appreciate you updating us on your job, let us know how you make out in the end.