My 1998 Bonneville SE is a great car - car has 106K and engine 35K. It runs great and gets very good gas mileage and rides great. The problem is RUST. The car had been kept at Dauphin Island on the Gulf Coast. I recently had the Transmission Fluid & Filter changed and the brakes looked at. Seems there is a lot of rust under the car. The fuel filter couldn't be changed - wouldn't come loose. A brake line broke and had to be replaced using compression fittings. A caliper had to be replaced to bleed line. When fuel pump goes tank and lines will need to be replaced. How much should I expect to spend to have all brake lines replaced? How about a new fuel tank & lines? Should I just trade the car? Thanks for any help - the surface rust really isn't to bad but under the car there'* a problem.

Hello myself - yes the rust problem is a problem. Why did I buy a rusty car - well....does stupid find in your mind....dumb.....gullible....hopeful.....no I keep coming back to stupid......

Ernie...

Cost is very dependent on which road you take to fix it. I had some rust.. called a buddin in a rust free climate..got parts of some lines shipping in.. for free, mechanic buddy helped me put them on for free. Total cost was a few couplers.

Will you be performing the repairs yourself or having a shop do it. Shop rates depend on how quickly they can bend/make the lines or if they are ordering the lines new.

It is quite hard to estimate this and probably why you haven't gotten many responses.

Ernie, your first step on deciding on whether to keep or not may be to take it to a body shop and have it inspected. If the rust is more of a cosmetic and parts removal problem, you may want to hang on to it and fix it. If it'* serious enough to cause structural problems - I think you'll have your answer.

I did the brake lines on our Olds (see sig) for under $100 including the flaring tool (I couldn't find my old set) and had to but the line locally (no time to have it shipped in)

My co-worker has a 93 Olds 98, he just had his done at a shop....$800
They took 3 days. I did it in half a day.

I'll be doing the fuel lines next. I found some aluminum lines on clearance at summit for $25. Just need to find the right fittings now.

Rust sucks! I have worked on lots of rusty cars and I hate it. Now, I look carefully for rust and don't buy the vehicle if it is rusty.

Now, I don't want to add insult to injury, but....compression fittings are NOT suitable for brake lines. Double flare fittings or the new bubble flare type are OK, as they are designed for higher pressure applications. You can buy a pretty cheap double flaring tool to do your own from Harbor Freight. This will allow you to make custom repairs cheaply and properly.