Today i had a non-fun thing happen today, went out to start my car and the brake light is lit up, sure enough the front half of the MC is empty. fill it up and half a hour later the light returns. Start looking around under the car and i see dripping and a wet hose on the front passenger side where the rubber hose connects to the hard steel line. Are there any tricks to removing this hose and in a worst case scenario what size steel line will i need if the hard line fittings are ruined?
Thanks

 

they aren't steel, they are cupronickel. Volvo pioneered copper-nickel lines in 1976 (before that they used heavily zinc plated steel). Cupro-nickel is really corrosion resistant, but a hard rock at the right speed and wrong angle could chip them, I suppose. Sulphates corrode copper alloys rapidly, but they aren't common most places. It lasts way longer than any sort of steel line, and is easier to work.

here's the factory parts page for a non-ABS 740/940 (if yours has ABS, its different part numbers and arrangement)

the hoses to the front wheels are #10.




Volvo 740/940 non-ABS Brake Lines

those links to volvopartswebstore are to Volvo of Oak Park, which is a suburb north of Chicago. tascaparts might be a bit cheaper, or your local volvo dealer might be faster. or might not, depending. these parts might not be available as Volvo seems to be dropping parts ofr older cars right and left, but the front brake hoses fit all 740/940, 2 hoses on each side, all same.

 

Thanks again Pierce! I've just spent about 30 mins on google and learned about cupro nickle brake lines. I had never heard of them before your reply. also thanks for the link to the volvo diagrams with part numbers for the hard lines in case i need them.

 

Most likely you need to change the rubber line itself, they crack with time. Everything there is probably covered in dirt and undercoating, etc. Clean it all well and you should be able to see it clearly. I have never seen a metal line fail around there not that it's not possible. The rubber lines are cheap, around $12 last time I looked, and easily available. Removing them is not hard but use good six point wrenches to prevent stripping the ends.

 

yeah, about the only thing I could think of that would crack one of those hardlines would be a high energy impact with something hard and sharp, not very likely.

re: Cupronickel lines, most /good/ shops will fab a set of those to replace the crappy steel lines on american vehicles when they start rusting through.

 

I just finished the job a few minutes ago.. Pheeeewwww! I was worried that the fittings would be fused into their locations after 20+ years, so i was planning for a worst case scenario of replacing the hard lines as well. I tentatively placed a wrench on the first hard line nut and bumped it a little and it turned to my surprise! I tried that again to the end of the hose that went to the caliper and the bleeder screw and all 3 moved without cursing, breaking of parts etc. Praise be the Nordic Gods of engineering and luck!
and thanks again to this forum for all of the info and moral support.