03 GMC Safari,Breakdown,Rant ,Baffled,Long

Ok.Wife goes to Walmart to pick up new glasses.Comes out turns key,nothing.New battery last fall.So some fine gentlemen comes up to help.Gets out jumper cables hooks up with no results,wife says he melts his cables,hmmmm.She goes inside buys a pair cables,40.00.Next fine gentlemen comes along hooks up with new cables,nothing,says sorry see ya later.Wife goes into tire department at Wallys.Fine young gentlemen comes out looks around and says well of course your battery cable is loose(them tiny little annoying connectors)gets a wrench,tightens it down,says try it,van starts right up."UREAKA"Wife says thank you,puts it in gear starts off,hits the brake going out of parking"uhoh"pedal goes right to the floor.Now Im at work 70 miles away during all this coming off a 12 hr shift mind you.So I tell her go to Applebees have some dinner and I will come get you.So I get down there,look around and see that the rubber brake hose on left front is blown right out of the crimp.Ok what to do?Van is 20mi. from house.Most newer vehicles these days when you blow a line you still have some brakes at the other end of vehicle,right?Well I got nuthin.Get out look around,lo and behold,rear rubber line is also blown out of the crimp too.Now Im in so. tier NY,20mi.to house is a lot of hills.Im not real comfortable driving all that way with emer.brake.So I ask around and find out there is a Monroe Muffler down the road.So I take it over there.Park it,throw keys through drop off slot and call next morning.Tell them just fix brake lines so I can drive it home.OK.So they call a little while later and say they can do it for the small fee of 800.00 dollars.New caliper,20ft.brake line,new rubber lines,and I say I dont think so.Call garage down there for a tow,150.00.Ill get back to ya.Call garage in my town says he will go get it for 70.00.I say deal.Now I got truck in my garage.Up on the blocks.I got two blown rubber hoses,one caliper I with a destroyed bleeder screw(cant imagine how that happened)and of course when I loosen fittings metal brake hose is destroyed from front to rear(which by the way is only 10ft.not the 20ft MM wanted to charge me for @4.60a ft.)Now heres the baffling part>As Im dismantling the old brake line there are these plastic clips along the frame that secure the line to the vehicle.I notice that everyone of them is melted.On further inspection of the rubber brake hoses I find that they didnt blow off the crimp,they melted off.So my question is.Is it possible that one of these fine gentlemen that so graciously decided to help my wife actually hooked a jumper cable to a brake line for a ground and fried the whole brake line(front to rear).They are very close to the battery in this vehicle.As of today a week later(had to wait on rubber lines)Ive got about 200.00(including towing)into this project.Will have to invest another 70.00 if I cant get the bleeder screw broke free on the rear.
If you took the time to read this whole story,I thank you for sharing my pain.
Any input will be appreciated.

Thanks
Stan

Bleeder screw is a mystery beyond saying it may be damage from road debris. As for the rest of the brake system melted plastic and rubber all took ALOT of heat to melt like you describe. I can see where having the jumper cable attached to the line and trying to start the carwould definately fit the scenerio you describe. Thankfully there are still people out there that are nice enough to help someone like the two gentlemen did your wife. Saddly there are way too many of them nowdays that want to help but, unfortunately, have no idea what they are doing.

Had a friend like that once. He was great at his day job, which I won't mention (((truck drivers catch enough he!! already....LOL)))) Saddly he always meant well but the best way he could ever help was to stay as far away from most things related to mechanics, plumbing, carpentry, electrical, etc, etc, etc as possible.....

I could see the meltdown, especially if there was a loose cable adding to the resistance..... Too bad the bigname shop and the town towservice wanted to gouge you. In the shops defense, they have to answer for future problems with anything they touch so could have been going to replace ALL brake lines/hoses. Flatrate book probably really piled up the labor if bubba looked up each individual part instead of the system...Tow service is prolly used to dealing with insurance and gets away with the high prices.

No matter what, you are real lucky that the guys helping out spent enough time to ruin the brakes on the spot rather than just make them weak enough to go out on one of them hills you mentioned.

Naw,

Whole derned shootin' match was caused by that negative battery cable.

I'd sure look that thing over real good (both ends) or the problem will probably happen all over again......... right after you've spent all that money getting it going again.

The first jump was shoving everything thru the body ground and the 300 or so starting amps were trying to find a way home by any means possible.

I've seen transmission bushings welded right to their shafts by this same type of event.

Allan

the melting of the other guy's cable was the first hint, poor gound , the eletricity found the least path of restinace and your brake lines were it.

I hate electricity................ Got the harrow caught in the fence this morning. fence was on and I was at the other end of the pasture from the charger. Was fishing with sticks to get it loose when the neighbor kid's dad comes up on his scooter (they have a knack for catchimng me at darwin moments). Grabs the fence and unhooks it. I thought there was something wrong and grabbed the wire to "test" it........... LOOKOUT!!!!! fence works.......... Why it didn't shock him......I give up.....Maybe the harrow had it grounded....

Yep,

That's exactly what happened.

The metal braid carried the load for a little while. :>)

Allan

My guess is he used the bleeder screw as a ground, and the brake hoses have steel reinforcing. It is odd, though, that the current couldn't find a better ground path than through the rear wheel cylinders. Don't be surprised if you find yourself replacing the ABS module, proportioning valve and/or master cylinder.

Does your vehicle have a ground bolted to the frame on one end and the engine on the other?It should all sorts of things can get melted trying to carry the ground from one to the other.Loose connections and bad grounds=trouble on any electrical system.If the Neg battery cable is bolted to the engine and they hooked the Neg jumper to the frame it apparently went thru the brake system to the engine

The so called safety experts had drummed into people NOT to ground booster cables at the battery that I can see this happening when someone, WHO DOES NOT understand electricity, use WHO KNOWS WHAT for ground. I always use both post on the battery when using booster cable. I have NEVER had a battery explode. I am also smart enough to recognize/smell a battery that is outgassing hydrogen to not connect anything to it.
A little off topic on this post. My Bother bought a used pick-up that had many creative repairs. From time to time it cranked very slowly. On year during fescue cutting season when his boy was old enough to come along and help. His boy notice part of the aftermarket gauge GLOING when my brother tried to start the engine. It turned out that the ONLY ground the engine had was the 1/8 inch copper line on the OP gauge.

Kent

I 'm guessing the brake shop boogered up the bleeder when they were checking out the system.
why would you even think of putting booster cable there or even reach it ?

Any jumper cable arc marks on the master cylinder? Sounds like a possibility.

I work on cars all day, and when a GM type comes in I can usually tighten the little side post bolts. Found the same when I drove GM's, nearly every oil change the battery bolts were loose. Think its the cable stiffening out when under high current draw.