Greetings fellow brickboarders.

I need your help.

I have an '87 240 DL wagon. I need to replace the calipers but having a damn tough time getting the brake lines unfrozen from calipers. I've used about a can of PB Blaster and still won't budge. A friend lent his hand and he started to strip the bolts even with those flare end wrenches. So now I'm pretty sure I'll have to replace the lines, at least on the front drivers side. Any advice?

If I do need to replace the lines how difficult is this to do? Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. Anything to look pout for, anything NOT to do, etc.

New calipers and rotors are waiting if I could just get the damn bolts loose. Caliper bolts I could get loose.

Also, 2 brake lines per wheel from junction to caliper on front and only one per wheel at back? Are there center brake lines connecting front to rear as well?

If need any clarification let me know.

Thanks to all and a good day.

John

Centerville, Ohio

I just replaced my son's 83 244Ti front brake lines ... the four copper lines to the calipers, the four copper lines from the junction block to the flex hoses and the four flex hoses. The old lines were virtually welded with corrosion at the connections. After a lot of BP B'laster, swearing and buying some Craftsman flare wrenches, I still couldn't be the SOBs apart. Finally ordered up all lines from FCP Groton and cut the old ones off with a hack saw.

I found one of the two copper lines they sent that go from the caliper to the flex hoses was a bit too long. I had a couple spare shorter lines that run from the junction block to the front left flex hoses and they were the perfect lenght for the shorter run from the flex hose to the caliper on both sides.
I had a leaking junction block so I replaced that, as well as the brake pads, front rotors, brake hardware, rear flex hoses and wheel bearings.

In dealing with the metal flared lines ... I found if I made the connection to the caliper before I started bending the lines around the strut tube to the flex hose it was much easier. Actually it was pretty simple to get the lines coiled and routed properly without any damage or kinks.

If I need to replace any part of the front brake lines on any other of my 200's, I think I'll just get all new lines and hoses at the start. The hassle of trying to free connections that have spent decades being soaked in salt and slush is simply too much trouble ... the cost of an additional few copper lines is IMO,a bargain.

I didn't want to mess with these lines, but kinda had to when the brake pad pins siezed inside the calipers, making removal of the dangerously worn pads impossible.

On my '85 - the brake line connections were all siezed and would strip even with a flare nut wrench. I found that the flexible hose-to-caliper line connections were even more difficult and I ended up basically torching the old hoses off of the hard lines. It was quite a headache and I ended up replacing all of the lines from the flex hoses to the caliper, all flex hoses, and one line from the flex hose to the junction box because the flare nut busted while torching the old flexible hose connection off.

As mentioned, replacing the flex hose-to-caliper lines is a bit difficult as you have to bend the lines to match the old ones - I'd recommend buying a tubing bender (they've got 'em at Sears) and scheduling some time to do this job. FCPGroton's got the lines but they're not exactly the right length - you'll need some ingenuity to get them to fit right.

Also make sure you block off the brake lines some how (i.e. pencils in the lines or whatever) - don't let the master cyl run dry or you'll have a real headache bleeding the system.
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85 245 DL - 91 Mazda MX6 Turbo

I agree with blocking off the brake lines, but not with anything inserted in them. I did this one time with some plastic cones, polystyrene I believe. The sharp edge of the flare in the brake line cut a ridge around the cones and caused a brake off at that point. Now I had a piece of cone "stuck" in the brake line. I was able to pick the pieces out, but have not tried that trick since.

Next time, I'll block the brake pedal down as suggested by lucid.

Dan

Broke a sharpened golf tee brushing past it by accident. Had to remove the line and run a wire through it. If your master has good seals, blocking the pedal will hold the dripping for a while, but maybe not while waiting on mail order parts. Now have old pieces of line and hose ends with tubes soldered shut.

blocking the pedal will hold the dripping for a while, but maybe not while waiting on mail order parts

Art, the pedal method has never failed me, even going for days with both front calipers off. However, I've never done it with a MC that was known to have bad seals, which might make a difference.

If it did get the drips, iI would be suspicious of the MC.

Bruce
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Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

You're right Bruce. I can't say I've ever tried the reverse of that; holding the fluid with a known good master. The recent experience (with the bremserhea) was followed by a master-ectomy within a month.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

You're right in that that's certainly possible - I mentioned pencils as a last resort. They can certainly break off inside so be careful if using them.

What I actually did to block off the lines in the long term (while waiting on calipers) was bought the right sized bolts to thread into the caliper line end of the flexible hoses - worked perfectly.
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85 245 DL - 91 Mazda MX6 Turbo

Are you not entertained?

If you have a Dremel with a cutter wheel you might be able to cut a slot along the brake hose connection, leaving the flare nut and brake line intact.

Otherwise it's a long, dark night ahead.

Before you get the lines open (one way or another), block the brake pedal down about 1.5". This will prevent any fluid loss from the Master Cylinder while the lines are open, after the first drop or two.

This trick isn't published anywhere as far as I know. But the 900 Volvo brake manual shows blocking the pedal all the way down when removing a caliper.
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Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

Replacing the lines between the caliper and flex hoses with new is tedious and fiddly work, mostly in getting the bends near the caliper end to match. Use easy-to-form copper-nickel replacement lines if you go this way.

Better idea is master that flare-nut technique first-- you need a really good 11mm line wrench; mine are just Craftsman and barely adequate when combined with good luck. Practice at the pick and pull yard, and get your pre-bent replacement lines there. Use new flex hoses on an 87.

The rear brakes get a cupro-nickel line each from the distribution octopus back to the proportioning valve. Then a flex line makes the jump to the rear axle unit, with hard runs to the calipers from just left of the middle.

I can't give you that much advice but I would recommend looking at replacing your flexible brake line too if you haven't. I have a 90 244 and one of my front passenger's side lines was starting to bulge badly.

The Bentley manual for 240s has a nice diagram of how the brakes are laid out.