Brake Hoses, Lines/piping, And Fittings problems of the 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 - part 1

Brake lines failed after having already been replaced. Factory lines corroded through and truck was scary to slow down. Was fortunate to be going at low speeds in a residential area - but glad there were no kids around and I needed to brake quickly!.

Brake lines have started rusting out. Only 120k on the truck. Called gm. Gm will not help with this known issue of the brake lines corroding. Had 1line fixed after it blew coming to a stop by my house. Second line blew yesterday slowing down while exiting the freeway.

While traveling 50 mph towing a boat applied the brakes , the vehicle slowed down and the brake pedal went to the floor with the units finally stopping . All brake failure warning lights light up on the dash and upon inspection it was discovered the brake line to the right front wheel had rusted through and blew out all the brake fluid directly under the drivers door. All remaining brake lines are severely rusted and appear swollen as to be ready to burst as well under the drivers door along the frame rail. Vehicle has 2,760 engine running hours on it with 82,500 miles driven. All brake lines are original to the truck . Dealer estimate to replace all brake lines was in excess of $2,000. This vehicle is only driven on the highway and never off road. I have owned many vehicles over the years and this vehicle is the only one that has suffered a catastrophic brake failure which thankfully did not end in a crash. After further investigation with other similar truck owners I have discovered this has been a common problem that in now surfacing and may result with tragic consequences if not addressed by NHTSA and gm immediately.

Going down exit ramp brake pedal went to floor. Had I not managed to get vehicle stopped with aggressively pumping brake pedal while ready on parking brake we would have gone into three lanes of cross traffic got vehicle home and found extremely corroded brake lines underneath driver side with one leaking over the years I've worked around equipment and never seen anything this bad on a passenger vehicle of any kind. We live in the south and this vehicle is not affected by extreme winter conditions. The vehicle has been well maintained and I consider this a serious safety concern.

On my way home from work the rusted brake lines on my truck failed. Sadly, gm has known for years that these lines were made poorly and that this has been an issue. Yet they have failed to notify consumers or voluntarily replace these parts with some of higher quality. Unfortunately, the NHTSA isn't any better, as they have been "investigating" this issue for a number of years but have yet to force the auto maker to correct this problem. Clearly not enough people have died from this issue to merit them working in the publics best interest and not be in the auto makers back pocket.

Replaced all brake lines rusted through 107,000 miles on a 2004 truck. Aluminum wheels are pitted appears to be losing the coatiing the passenger side door is showing rust. Headliner is falling down in the front of the vehicle. The rear radio speakers are not working.

Brake pedal went to the floor trying to avoid hitting another car traveling at 60 mph on the interstate , steel brake line under drivers door rusted and broke .

Rear brake line failure due to corrosion. Failure point between gas tank and rear frame rail where hydraulic line is mounted on lh side of vehicle. Upon applying brakes, the line blew causing near total brake failure coming to stop light narrowly avoiding the car in front of me. There was just enough pressure for front brakes to grab barely stopping the vehicle. There is no reason for this to happen considering the coating technology available in 2004. This truck is rated @ 9200 gvw with a towing capacity of 10,000 pounds. If this truck was fully loaded the results could have been catastrophic in the right situation.

As traffic slowed ahead of me I applied my brakes and the pedal went to the floor. I then used my parking brake to stop. I stopped an inch away from the car ahead of me. Vehicle was towed to repair shop. Upon inspection the technician said the brake line failed and the other brake lines were also rusted bad and needed to be replaced. He also said the fuel lines were rusted and should be replaced soon. I was very lucky I was able to stop in time . I could have injured other people in front of me.

I was towing my RV. When I hit the brakes and the brake pedal went to the floor. Scared the blank out of me since I had my wife and two kids with me. The brake line for the rear brakes blew due to corrosion. The only thing that saved us was the trailer brakes or we would have had a serious accident. Gm is so cheap they build their brake system with lines that easily corrode in stead of stainless. There should be a recall. The internet is littered with this issue. There should be a regulation forcing manufacters to use corrosion proof brake lines. Ridiculous!!!.

During a highway braking event, brake lines blew out due to rusting, causing complete brake failure.

I was traveling home from dropping my dog off at his groomer. I went to brake coming to an intersection to prepare for a change in the light when the brake pedal went straight down to the floor with no warning light in the gauges or information system until after the incident happened. I had very little braking at all and was able to get the truck to my resident without incident. I had the truck towed to a mechanic who informed me the brake line had rusted completely through. I have read many complaints being filed by other chevy silverado owners. When is gm going to be held responsible for failing parts on all of their vehicles? I was a lucky individual that it was early morning and very lite traffic on the road I was traveling.

Was entering drive-thru restaurant, gave order, proceeded to window to receive order/pay. Noticed that upon stopping at window, brake pedal started to depress normally, and then went all the way to floor. Within a few seconds smoke started coming into driver compartment thru air vents, smoke could be seen coming out of engine from under hood. Quickly proceeded to move vehicle to empty parking spot/area. Turned vehicle off, extinguished fire burning in engine compartment. Brake line burst sending brake fluid onto exhaust manifolds igniting engine compartment insulation. Could have been a serious incident/fatality of my 5 year old daughter and myself and/or others if travelling at speed and/or not able to extinguish fire quickly. This is an engineering defect with a high potential to cause fatalities/injury that needs to be addressed by the manufacturer.

While pulling a 30 boat this weekend my brakes failed. Pedal dropped to the floor . Pulled my 2004 2500hd truck into the shop after using the e-brake and what remained of my brakes to get 4 miles home. Added brake fluid and when I pressed the peddle a shower of fluid sprayed all over the ground. My undercarriage is clean. Removed the fuel tank to find the brake line complete deteriorated. I live in TN and salt is not a major uses here.

The contact owns a 2004 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 hd. While driving approximately 3 mph, the brake pedal traveled to the floorboard when it was depressed. The brake pedal was applied several times, but failed to respond. As a result, the contact crashed into several bushes. A police report was not filed and there were no injuries reported. The contact replaced the entire brake line. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 10,000.

Pulling my boat on secondary road toward highway, pushed brakes to stop for stop sign, brake pedal went to the floor with no warning or trouble light. Had enough braking force to stop after rolling approx 100 ft. Cautiously drove to gas station/parked vehicle and called a wrecker to take truck 65 miles to my home. On inspection I discovered corroded brake line(steel) had ruptured along routing to back brake. Lots of corrrosion visible on multiple steel lines. I was incredibly lucky to not be travelling faster and in an emergency braking situation.

I had just returned home with a full load (2 yards) of mulch and parked the truck to unload. The truck was perfectly fine. When I finished unloading I went to move the truck and the brake pedal went to the floor and the driver information center indicated "low coolant level". When I checked out what was wrong, I found two brake lines severely rusted with one leaking located under driver's seat area where the lines cross over top of the frame. That is the only area that rusted that I saw so far. There is no other rust underneath on the rest of the lines. My truck does not get heavy use, is frequently housed in a garage and rarely driven in snow/ice conditions (I'm retired). In addition the truck is well maintained and kept clean. In addition, the low coolant level I believe is a computer glitch as the level is fine and unchanged before and after the incident. In my opinion the truck's computer is sending the wrong message for a defect in the primary braking system.

Stepped on brake and put vehicle in drive. Drove to end of driveway and stopped. The pedal went to floor after stopping. Upon investigation I noticed the brakeline running from front to back of vehicle broke. Same time I also noticed that the entire brake line system was rusted and falling apart.

Just finished a 300 mile trip towing a 24 foot race trailer. Next morning left to put the trailer in storage and the pedal went to floor on the way out of the subdivision. Luckily the speed was slow and the trailer had brakes so I could get stopped by using the omg switch on the brake controller. There was cross traffic that would have resulted in a bad accident had I entered the intersection. Judging by the number of complaints of rusted brake lines on this vehicle it is only a matter of time before someone is killed. Further inspection of the vehicle shows that all the lines need to be replaced. This truck is maintained in like new condition and brake lines should go many more years than this.

I was planning on heading up to the mountains to my cabin today (8/10/2014). I stopped for diesel at king's quick stop, about 3 blocks from my house. After I filled up, I put it in drive and the brakes failed completely. By the grace of god I was only going 5 mph in the gas station parking lot or I could have easily hit cars or pedestrians causing injury or loss of life. I drove home using the emergency brake which is not in a great place for emergency stopping. After arriving home I took a look and discovered that the brake lines in one particular section were completely corroded and one of them had burst. This is a vehicle that I frequently drive to the mountains and I cannot fathom how this could happen on any truck, let alone a heavy duty truck. No warning light came out to inform me that my brake pressure was low although I figured that out quickly when my foot went all the way to the floor. After diagnosing the problem, I did some searching on the web and discovered this is a common problem in the salt belt states. But I live in north carolina so this is quite a surprise. I will be scheduling repairs tomorrow but my understanding is that gm is not assisting in any way and that the repairs can run up to $2000. I've owned 20 cars in my lifetime, many with excessive mileage and have never had brakes fail before. So this is quite unsettling and clearly gm has a faulty and dangerous design here.

I was driving and went to stop the brake petal went to the floor. I put the shifter into low 1 and hit the emergency brake to come to a stop just short of hitting the Honda civic in front of me with the baby in the back seat. I put my hazards lights on and checked the truck. Under the bed was wet with brake fluid. The brake line was rusted through and is snapped letting all of the fluid out. So, no brakes!.

My wife, daughter, and I were traveling down a two lane highway at the 55 mph speed limit. A oncoming vehicle pulled out to pass another vehicle. When I stepped on the brake pedal to avoid a collision, the pedal went all the way to the floor. Thankfully, the oncoming vehicle went back to their lane and we were able to coast to a stop. Upon examination, all four brake lines on the front half of the truck were badly rusted and leaking. The undercarriage on our 2004 chevy silverado is extremely rusted. Fuel lines. Transmission cooler lines, brake lines, frame, body panels all have large amounts of rust. We purchased this vehicle new in 2004. It has never been in a flood.

I was leaving my home to do an errand, while nearing an intersection I applied pressure to the brake pedal when it dropped to the floor . I had to apply serious pressure to get it slowed enough to turn around to head uphill towards home. Notice I said slow down, not stop. Had I gone seconds further I would have been in far worse shape as there is a steep decline for about 3/4s of a mile just past the intersection where the line gave out. I have had brake lines go bad before in other vehicles but was always able to stop the vehicle within a reasonable distance. I think if I had been on a main road with traffic and a generally faster speed allowance there would have been an accident. Something should be done to better supply the use of front brakes when the rear brakes fail and vice versa.

Driving a 2004 Chevrolet 2500hd 4x4 6 liter crew cab with 143005 miles. Traveling at 55 mph as I approached my turn onto a side street at approximately 100 yards out I applied brakes to reduce speed to 15/20 mph to make 90 degree downhill right turn. I experienced a very spongy brake for a couple of seconds followed by the brake pedal going completely to floor. I pumped brakes several more times with the same brake pedal response and zero braking. My speed had only dropped to about 40 mph, too fast to negotiate my turn. I continued on the hwy to the next street using my parking brake and down shifting. Safely parked, I got out of truck and noticed a large amount of fluid was running on the ground, drivers side forward part of cab, resulting in a complete loss of brakes. My left front steel brake line located on top of frame under driver side at firewall had burst. All 4 brake lines in that 4" long area were badly rusted. Removed all the brake lines and that appears to be the heaviest area of heavy rust.  .

A badly rusted brake line burst while I was stopping for a stop sign. I managed to stop the vehicle without incident and get it home, but upon inspection, I found that all of the metallic brake lines which run to the rear of the vehicle are rusted to some degree. The line which burst runs along the frame in the vicinity of the gas tank. I own a 1971 Jeep commando which still has its original metallic brake lines, and they are not the least bit rusty. It is disturbing to me that a modern vehicle would be constructed with materials inferior to those used more than 40 years ago.

While in traffic I pushed my brake pedal down hard to stop and it went to the floor. Some braking resistance was felt by the vehicle but I still hit the car in front of me. There was only a minor scratch on the car I hit because I also hit the parking brake one the brake pedal didn't do anything. There was no warning light to indicate a problem but when I pulled off the road the brake line going to the rear brakes was squirting fluid. All of the brake lines on the car showed heavy signs of rust.

While applying moderate brake pressure in heavy morning traffic on clean dry pavement, the brake pedal collapsed to the floor, followed by rear brake lock-up. I swerved to avoid a collision. I was forced to use the parking brake to move to safety. Inspection revealed a metal brake line failure. In fact, all brake lines were severely rusted. I thought this was highly unusual. However one work colleague and one neighbor immediately revealed that they had suffered the same failure on other gm trucks of that age. My mechanic reported doing several dozen brake line replacements on gm trucks in the 2000 to 2006 era. Surely this is a major class safety problem.

While stopped in a parking lot the brake pedal went to the floor. Closer inspection revealed that the hard brake line had burst above the fuel tank on the line that runs between the abs module and rear axle.

The brake line to the rear brakes failed due to rust (ruptured). This is the third chevy truck, of this generation, that I have owned; all three have experienced this failure. All three failed with no warning. I cannot believe people have not been killed; I was left with very little effective braking in all three events.

I was traveling on a two-line road nearing the city and near the top of a hill when a line of cars slowed quickly in front of me. I had to get onto the brakes quickly to maintain a safe following distance, but when I did the pedal went completely to the floor. Having very little time to react, I noticed the traffic in the oncoming lane had stopped or slowed greatly about 100 yards in front of me, so I was able to swerve into the left lane to avoid rear ending an entire line of cars with my 6000lbs truck. Fortunately the driver at the front of the oncoming traffic saw me and stopped. I was then able to barely manage my way back into the right lane as some of those cars started moving again. At this point I was just cresting a large hill at approximately 40mph. A police officer in the oncoming lane had already seen me and activated his lights and then started working to turn around in the road to chase me. When I was back in the right lane I finally had a second to try to locate the parking brake, but activating it had absolutely no effect. I coasted nearly 1/2 mile down the road and forced the truck into a parking lot, over a large set of railroad ties and into a yard with an upsloped hill. If I couldn't have gotten it stopped there I could have coasted down an even steeper hill and into a very busy mutli-lane intersection and killed someone. The police officer ended up being understanding of my situation and called a tow truck for me and I had it towed to a shop. The shop said that all of the brake lines were rusted out completely and both the front and rear sets of lines were leaking. I did not have any dash light indicating that the fluid was slow either before or after the incident. The shop owner also told me that these trucks do not have a proportioning valve in order to allow one of the front or rear brakes to continue working in the event of a failure.

My wife had just left our house and as she went to stop at a stop sign the brake pedal went to the floor and she had to use the emergency brake to stop. The brake lines had rusted and blew a hole in the lines.

While driving I saw a deer, it started toward the road I was traveling at 50mph the deer started to run to cross my path. I applied my brakes (I should have stopped in plenty of time but. . . . ) the pedal went down approximately halfway as normal and held firm, then the pedal continued to the floor, the brakes no longer slowed my truck impacting the deer. A similar incident happened two weeks prior. The first time the left rear brake line failed over the fuel tank. The instant incident the left front brake line failed two inches from the wheel flexible brake line joint. An automobile that is 9 years old should not have brake lines failing, this vehicle has just recently rolled over 100,000 miles mark and is used to pull the family rvs it is not a daily driver. Why is steel used for brake lines? it rusts! why is it not coated? why not stainless steel? why put people's lives at risk using cheap materials that rust in a vital safety component such as brakes.

David j. . Read more...

Driving to work pushed on the brakes and the pedal went to the floor. Inspected to find a rusted brake line broken just under the drivers side front door. Also the brake lines have major rust at rear wheel. All of the lines are rusting and need replaced.

Had no brakes. Discovered ruptured brake line.