Hi, I have a '97 LX Honda Civic, and yesterday my brake light came on while driving and I discovered the reservoir was empty. I promptly filled it up (had DOT3 fluid in my car) and on my way back from work, braking hard a lot (to test the brakes) it had leaked out and light on again.

So long story short I found the leak underneath, where the pipes had rusted out. Now I bought about 18 or 20 feet of brake line (in 4 sections, and purchased 2 couplers) from Advance Auto, in straight lengths with bubble flair connectors. (3/16" pipe). My plan is to just zip tie the new lines in and hope to get a few years more before I get a newer car.

But, the diagram in the manual shows 2 lines going back (additional 2 from E-brake), and I see 4 separate pipes. I think the bigger looking one is the fuel line. So I'm really confused. Can someone enlighten me on the brake line setup on this civic?

Meanwhile I'm trying to pull the plastic cover (the big one underneath that has 10MM bolts and several plastic phillips/snap type connectors--the ones that always break), but one of the bolts is too rusty to get a socket on, so all I can do is pry it off slightly and see a little bit. It was then that I realized I should make a post here to get some insight on this matter.

Thanks



update: so with a lot of help, my brakes work great now. My brother said the 2 smallest ones were the brake lines. (And there's actually 5 lines total, not 4, 1 was hiding in the picture) I think the biggest one is the gas line, the other 2 related to the evap system?

 

Mine rotted out there too on 2 different civics , 98 + 2000. A shop charged me $50. Prolly too much, but that's the only work I won't do is brake lines, any thing else is game. That fuel rail was engineered badly, they always rot out under there. The big ones the fuel line is my guess.

 

$50?! That's less than I paid for the parts! Yeah I wouldn't have done it by myself, luckily I have older brothers with car experience.

One last thing, don't buy bubble flair! I had to exchange it for inverted flare (standard?). Hopefully that will save someone a trip back to the parts store. (Another tip, if you have no flare nut wrench and the old lines are bad, snip them off & use socket. Then use regular wrench for tightening and you're good to go)

 

brake fluid will absorb water over time if its not fully synthetic so basically the lines will rust from the inside out thats why it extremely important to change the fluid at recommended intervals.