What is this brake part?

I have a slight brake fluid leak coming from what looks like a 3 inch long cylinder where the metal brake line attaches to. It is located just before the rubber brake line at the right rear wheel. There is one on the other side, too). I managed to get the car to a local GM dealer who claims the cylinder is actually a valve. Can someone tell me what type of valve it is - and why I can't seem to find this " valve " listed on any of the big retail part sites? It's a 2000 LS. Thanks.

I have a slight brake fluid leak coming from what looks like a 3 inch long cylinder where the metal brake line attaches to. It is located just before the rubber brake line at the right rear wheel. There is one on the other side, too). I managed to get the car to a local GM dealer who claims the cylinder is actually a valve. Can someone tell me what type of valve it is - and why I can't seem to find this " valve " listed on any of the big retail part sites? It's a 2000 LS. Thanks.

is this where the steel line transitions to the rubber line to the brake caliper..?? I don't believe its a valve....but what is leaking ,,the cylinder body or the fitting ,,or the rubber line connection etc...rusted thru??

Its a proportioning valve if I recall correctly. The reason you cannot find it at the parts store is because it is not made aftermarket. It will need to be purchased from GM or a parts source that carries O.E. GM parts. These are really common for leaks especially on the older grand prix's.

Just got back from the dealer. You are right - it's a proportioning valve that is inline near the back wheel. I got a quote of $335 to change it which sent me in to orbit so I had to figure out what this was. It turrns out to be a $35 part from GM. They knocked the labor charge to replace it down to 2 hours after I insisted they double check what had to be done. Two other GM dealers quoted me the same today but I'm still not real comfortable with the charge to replace this thing. What could they be doing? Anyway, thanks for your reply - I appreciate the info.

Its a proportioning valve if I recall correctly. The reason you cannot find it at the parts store is because it is not made aftermarket. It will need to be purchased from GM or a parts source that carries O.E. GM parts. These are really common for leaks especially on the older grand prix's.


thats what I thought,, but he says 2 ???? there should be 1...

He said 2 hours labor to replace the one valve near the right rear wheel. There is another one of these valves ( exact same thing) located near the left rear wheel -but thats not leaking. Its a 4 wheel disc ABS.

Just got back from the dealer. You are right - it's a proportioning valve that is inline near the back wheel. I got a quote of $335 to change it which sent me in to orbit so I had to figure out what this was. It turrns out to be a $35 part from GM. They knocked the labor charge to replace it down to 2 hours after I insisted they double check what had to be done. Two other GM dealers quoted me the same today but I'm still not real comfortable with the charge to replace this thing. What could they be doing? Anyway, thanks for your reply - I appreciate the info.


go to a local repair shop with the part this will be much cheaper.. and this is a minor repair..the dealers should never be used to do this type of maintenance too expensive...you are tieing up there lift for a 80.oo max repair job...should be 1 hour labor max...thats why they are over charging you...

I agree -- my dilema was that I discovered the leaking fluid dripping on my driveway and the nearest shop is a GM dealer. So rather than risk an accident I sort of dumped it there. My hands are tied here -they know this -otherwise I would have done what you suggested. I'll get the car back on Monday afternoon so I'll get a chance to see what kind of inventive accounting they do on the labor charge. GM has really gone downhill.

My mother in law has been driving around with one of these leaking for years!

GM as well as many shops use a labor guide. If it says 2 hours to change that that is the industry standard and thats what they charge. The guy fixing it has to pull the car in, set it up on the rack, remove the tire, break the fittings loose without breaking the lines (I couldn't tell you how much time I have wasted heating the lines with a torch to try to save them, now I just break and replace and savet time doing it that way), Install the new part, Lower the vehicle, top off the fluid, raise the vehicle, bleed the brakes (possible needing the help of a second person), clean off the brake fluid, check for leaks, put the tire back on, lower the vehicle, top off the brake fluid, test drive it to make sure the brakes are working, then park it. It all adds!!!

Being an automotive professional with over 13 years of experience it just floors me how people rant about the automotive industry ripping them off and then head over to burger king and pay $5 for a burger thats worth .75, or a $4.90 coffee from starbucks thats worth $.50 or pay $4 for a bottle of beer that costs a buck at the liquor store!

I dont doubt there is work to be done as you describe - but there is a specific difference in my situation with this dealer - and here is what I told him and what he told me. I said I have no problem with a $35 part charge but I do have a problem with a cost estimate of $300 sight unseen. This guy looked up absolutely nothing - no labor guide of any sort - and nor did he himself look at the car. He told me this himself. He told me that all the brake lines had to be dis-assembled to do the job. I can only guess he was confusing this with a master cylinder replacement - I dont know. Once he looked at it himself he came back and told me I was right and that he had overstated the labor charge. At least he was honest about it - and I respect that. Nothing against your industry of automotive repairs but let me assure you I have my facts about this one and it was one sloppy and unprofessional assessment by this dealer. No rant -just what really happened.

cost estimate of $300 sight unseen.

You just said you dumped it at the local GM garage?

So you called them to get an estimate on a part that you had no idea what it was called and they shoot you an estimate for what they had no idea what you where talking about and there the bad guys? Or they had the car there they looked at it and gave you an estimate for which you thought (based on no experience in the automotive trade) was to much. They then discount the labor to make you happy meanwhile the guy that feeds his family and makes his house payments based on the work he does makes less money because you thought it was to much! I wish I could tell the cashier at my grocery store that it is to much for my groceries and have them knock off a third of the bill!!!

I'm not trying to be an ass but when you see it from there perspective you may see things differently. There are thousands of parts on a car, If you expect an exact quote than you should have the vehicle at the shop on a hoist so that every one is clear on what you are trying to describe unless you know exactly what the part is, where it is located, and what it does. Otherwise phone quotes will very greatly depending on how the person on the other end percieves what you are describing!

The $300 sight unseen quote refers to what they gave me after they had the car for 7 hours and after they put in on the lift . More specifically - the service writer gave me this quote without ever having looked at it. He claimed to have quoted me on disassembly of all the brake lines which is not necessary here . It wasn't untill I questioned what the part was and why so much labor did he actually look at it himself. When he did he came back and apologized for his error and adjusted the entire quote. It's as simple as that.

Let me also make this clear - just because I go to a repair shop with something wrong that I'm not famliar with doesn't , and never will, entitle them to charge anything they want. Nor does it, or will it ever, prohibit me from questioning an estimate. I do not need to be in the automotive industry to have this right.

Also -so you understand -they didn't adjust the quote to make me happy - and they are not the bad guys either. I think it was an honest mistake, but had I not objectively questioned them with info from web forums and other competitive dealer quotes they would have not corrected their error. No one is taking food off of anyones table.

I dont see how any further discussion here would be of any benefit to anyone -so I thank you for your input and assistance.

You just said you dumped it at the local GM garage?

So you called them to get an estimate on a part that you had no idea what it was called and they shoot you an estimate for what they had no idea what you where talking about and there the bad guys? Or they had the car there they looked at it and gave you an estimate for which you thought (based on no experience in the automotive trade) was to much. They then discount the labor to make you happy meanwhile the guy that feeds his family and makes his house payments based on the work he does makes less money because you thought it was to much! I wish I could tell the cashier at my grocery store that it is to much for my groceries and have them knock off a third of the bill!!!

I'm not trying to be an ass but when you see it from there perspective you may see things differently. There are thousands of parts on a car, If you expect an exact quote than you should have the vehicle at the shop on a hoist so that every one is clear on what you are trying to describe unless you know exactly what the part is, where it is located, and what it does. Otherwise phone quotes will very greatly depending on how the person on the other end percieves what you are describing!


If you really have been a mechanic in the automotive repair business for 13years and have worked for a dealership you know that this type of crime occurs every day and this person was smart enough to use our forum to get the info needed to prevent being ripped off....

I have in the past used to local mechanics to do work. One of them (who I use whenever necesary) fixes the car based on the industry standard labor rates, without adding silly charges. The second likes to ripfolks off, and I avoid him when I can. Unfortunatly, he is the "certified emmissions" guy. the other is not.

An example. I needed four O2 sensors replaced on my Taurus. The certified guy wanted a $600 to do the job. I have no issues with an hour of labor to pull the first O2 sensor. It takes time to put it on the lift and get to the thing. The second one is located next to the first. The car is allreaady on the lift, and the thing is allready staring at him. 15 min to get the thing out sounds about right since he might need to heat it to get it out. Same thing applies to the other two (Which you don't need to put the car on a lift). should have been parts plus 2 or 2.4 hours of labor. Not 4. He also insisted on charging me fot he most expensive sencors on the market, and using the cheapest. Charge me for the cheapest, or put in the expencive ones.

In the end, something else went wrong with the car while I was deciding what to do, so I junked the car and baught a new one.

My new car blew a power steering hose. I sent it back to the GM dealership over labor day weekend. The policy is if the car has to stay overnight, they give you a loaner. That does not apply if I drop the car off when the maintnance is closed. Since the car was purchased recently, they gave me a loaner anyways. They called me the next day and told me they were very busy and would get my cat done that day, but asked if I minded if they kept it an extra day so they would have more time to do it. Sounded reasonable to me (especialy since I had a loaner from them). In my mind, that is great service from a GM dealer. Your milage will vary depending on the dealer you use.

Sorry for the rant. But honest mechanics should be defended for doing an honest days work for an honest days pay. These other folks are basicaly thieves taking advantage of the fact that most folks have no clue what they do.

If you really have been a mechanic in the automotive repair business for 13years and have worked for a dealership you know that this type of crime occurs every day and this person was smart enough to use our forum to get the info needed to prevent being ripped off....

And if you had any experience in the business you would know that the good guys who are honest and give 100% day in and day out to make sure they do the best repairs with the highest of standards outnumber the far and few between that don't care what they do or what they charge. Yet as soon as somebody runs into one of these less than qualified hacks there all over the boards with the mechanics are rip-offs!! Its an unfair generalization that happens way to often!

As far as it happening everyday, I agree! Remember there are millions of repairs done everyday that aren't takeing advantage of the consumer as well. Far more than the "They saw me comming" scenerios!!!

The best part is the guys that do it themselves and end up spending hundreds of dollars on parts they don't need only to find out that once they bring it in and have the pro's look at it the actual repair needed is far less than the parts that they didn't need. You think if a shop did that everyday they would be in business very long? Sounds to me like there is a little hypocracy going on. Its o.k that the owner of the vehicle throws parts at it but the "pro" better get everything right the first time!!??

Sounds to me like the service writer at the GM shop must be a pretty good guy. Anybody that can admit a mistake and take care of it is deffinetely worthy of my business. In all actuality there was likely a communication error between the tech and the service writer. The tech knows what needs to be done but the writers aren't always the most mechanically experienced people.

Once again - thank you for your replies and comments. I respectfully submitted to you once already that I didnt think any further discussion of this would be productive to anyone and I am stating that again.

Obviously j cAT (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/member.php?u=537532) didn't get the message!!

You didn't get the message - so I am going to tell you a third time. Thank you for your replies and comments. I respectfully submit that I don't believe any further discussion of this will benefit anyone. Kindly respect the thread I started by not continuing to post anything further as I have asked.

:rolleyes:

Timeout guys. Lets play fair and no more personal attacks. ken729 when you make a post it does not belong to you but becomes the property of AF. Just because you do not like the replies or get into disagreements doesn't mean a thread gets closed or shut down. Other members are allowed to weigh-in especially to clarify an issue or position even if you may disagree with it. If you do not like the replies then disregard them. Now to repliers lets keep the thread on topic or it will be closed and further action will be taken by the Moderating staff.