Fuel lines can wear under harsh conditions

By Doug McAllister

Q. I was told the other day that my Buick needs to have all the brake lines and fuel line replaced from the front to the back. It's a lot of money and I don't understand why the brake lines have to be done when it was a gas smell that caused me to bring the car in.

Can you offer any insight?

A. This is actually a fairly common problem today on many cars that have steel fuel and brake lines. It is more common on vehicles that are not kept in a garage.

The reason you typically need to replace all the lines is because they are bundled together as they run the length of the car. As soon as you disturb the bundle, the other lines will fall apart. It is actually a good thing your shop caught this before one of the brake lines started leaking because you might have lost some of your braking ability.

The replacement of all the lines tends to be a fairly time-consuming repair and that is why it can seem a little bit on the expensive side. Once this repair is made, though, you should have no further problems with this again.

• Douglas Automotive is at 417 W. Main St., Barrington; 123 Virginia Road, Crystal Lake; and 416 Northwest Hwy., Fox River Grove. For information, visit douglasautomotive.com. Send questions to underthehood@dailyherald.com.