Argh! the brake valve broke off

[texcl]

I was going to bleed my brakes and before the valve even budged the valve broke off, I didn't put hardly any pressure on it either. It's not leaking since it didn't budge so I guess it's still safe to drive but now what is the best recourse, buy a new caliper or drill it out, how do you guys avoid this kind of thing?

[bbob203]

everytime I pull the wheels I spray some pb blaster on em. also soak em good before hand. touch of heat

[bscutt]

in 43 years of working on cars (less for disk brakes) I have never been able to repair a broken/wrung off bleeder valve in a caliper. I have tried heat, screw extractors, drilling out (not a good idea) to no avail. It always costs me a new caliper.

[bscutt]

BTW best bet for keeping them freed up is when you get new calipers, put a thin coat of anti seize on the bleeder valve before installing the caliper.

[texcl]

This is a good argument for dot 5 silicone brake fluid. Dot 3 and 4 are so corrosive they always cause problems. At least the calipers are pretty cheap.

[82vdub]

I'm in the same ballpark as bscutt - especially living in the rust belt. They just break off so easily.

[surfcam]

I was wondering if seized calipers are more frequent in the rust belt. My brother in law lives on the Wet coast has taken to changing his brake fluid every two years to stop this. In the last 20 years I think I've had one seized caliper and never changed my brake fluid in the semi desert.

[bbob203]

I need to change by brake fluid and get new front lines my pedal has been feeling kinda weak these days anyone got any advice on how to do a one man brake fluid change?

[Quantum-man]

I can see of no reason why drilling is doomed to failure
Oops that's a lie, but often successful for me...
Clearly, you need a previously salvaged nipple. Not checked; but would they be available separately new?

However, at the point where you are now, it is possible to bleed the brake by slackening off the hydraulic line. I have personally done this.
The Quantum get's this problem, because the brakes are touched so infrequently, and the front ones tend to self 'de-airiate' back to the master cylinder.

Two of you needed for this job, some rag, and a good fitting spanner, mostly 11mm, but not always
A little messy, but will get most of air out especially if caliper fully retracted first.

Usual proceedure of slacken on the downward push. Tighten at bottom of stroke, release pedal and repeat. Commands from spanner end

[TylerDurden]

I rarely can salvage a stuck bleeder. I figure it's the sign that it's time to replace the assembly.

I suppose that a humid climate could contaminate brake fluid faster, leading to seized calipers. Overheating the brakes might also contribute to seizing.

For one-person brake bleeding, I use a cheap bleeding kit (available at any FLAPS, or HF):


The bottle is annoyingly small. The reason, I presume, is to ensure you don't drain the car's reservoir by accident:

• open bleeder
  slowly pump pedal until bottle fills
  close bleeder
  empty old fluid from bottle
  replace new at reservoir
  repeat until bottle fills with new

[82vdub]

You can buy a mighty-vac brake line bleeder kit for pretty cheap, like $20 or something. I've used this many times over the years, although I do find that it pulls air in around the bleeder screw when this is loosened. It works though. I've also used the gravity method of bleeding. So, if your brake system will leak fluid when you open the bleeder screws or loosen a fitting, then you could bleed your brakes by themselves while having a cold one. Just make sure you don't let the master cylinder run out of fluid. If so, then you'll have to get the air out of that.

As far as changing your brake fluid, I've never done this. My parents (living in Colorado) had this done to their car as the service center said it was time to do it. However, I personally have never done this. I supposed it's mostly because I have more important things to do then go break bleeder screws off calipers/wheel cylinders in the attempt to not let a caliper/wheel cylinder rust and start leaking. But, since bleeder screws break so easily, what's the point of turning a supposidly easy job into a bigger job? I just wait until they leak or stick, and then replace things at that time.

[Quantum-man]

You can buy a mighty-vac brake line bleeder kit for pretty cheap, like $20 or something. I've used this many times over the years, although I do find that it pulls air in around the bleeder screw when this is loosened. It works though. I've also used the gravity method of bleeding. So, if your brake system will leak fluid when you open the bleeder screws or loosen a fitting, then you could bleed your brakes by themselves while having a cold one. Just make sure you don't let the master cylinder run out of fluid. If so, then you'll have to get the air out of that.

As far as changing your brake fluid, I've never done this. My parents (living in Colorado) had this done to their car as the service center said it was time to do it. However, I personally have never done this. I supposed it's mostly because I have more important things to do then go break bleeder screws off calipers/wheel cylinders in the attempt to not let a caliper/wheel cylinder rust and start leaking. But, since bleeder screws break so easily, what's the point of turning a supposidly easy job into a bigger job? I just wait until they leak or stick, and then replace things at that time.

I'm a little confused with what you are saying. You have never changed the hydraulic fluid as part of a service. I have never done it either merely for the sake of some imaginary stop watch.

You say you never bleed a faulty system, just replace?
How can you know if the bleed screw is stuck, or not until you try it?

If you try it, and it turns yet you'd rather replace the whole unit, then you're the one who is making an easy job into a hard one, aren't you?
Unless you know of a way to replace slave cylinders, be they calipers, or rear drums, without bleeding them; then you have to cope with dismantling the brake shoes, springs, seized on slaves etc etc.

Finding a 7mm Alan Key for the front calipers can be hard enough in an Imperial world

Then there's the hydraulic fittings that are stuck on the old item...
Being flexible on what needs to be done is the secret in making life easy.

Wasting money purchasing replacement parts that are nearly always inferior, on a 'vintage' car when service is all that is neccessary, shows a lack of understanding of the benefits of these cars IMO

[82vdub]

No, what I meant was that I've never replaced my brake fluid (and only the fluid) as part of a maintenance task. I bleed the brake system when I need to replace a caliper or wheel cylinder and that is the only time I replace fluid as part of maintenance. Newer cars with ABS brake systems are very susceptable to malfunction when the slightest bit of moisture gets into the brake system. So, as part of maintenance on newer vehicles, replacing the brake fluid is part of normal service routine to try to hold off other more expensive issues.

If you lived in the area of the US that's nicknamed the rust belt and service your own vehicles, you would know better than to try to mess with a brake bleeder screw unless you had to on an older vehicle. That is why I don't touch my bleed screws unless I have had to. I have cars that I only run in the summer months and cars that I only run in the winter months. I have always owned old cars. Some of my old winter cars have been very rusted. I quit driving my old winter Jetta because the drivers seat was falling through the floor for the second time and I got tired of dealing with rust underneath the car when I had to do anything to it. I've had cars that I've had to quit driving because the frame rusted through. That's the frame on a frame based car, which means that the car is pretty darn rusted.

I have broken off a bleed screw before, and just loosened the hose fitting and was able to bleed the brake system that way before. My old winter Jetta cost me two days of brake work when I had to replace a rear wheel cylinder. The hard line going to the cylinder was so rusted that it just twisted, and the hard line was so rusted that I couldn't splice it. After a day under the car, I was beginning to wonder how far up the brake line I would have to go before I was able to successfully splice a line. I was beginning to believe that I would have to replace all the way to the master cylinder, if I could get that connection undone without breaking something.

[TylerDurden]

Years ago, when I drove American cars, they had bellows in the lid of the master cylinder to keep air from reaching the fluid.

The reservoirs on these German rigs seem to simply vent to the atmosphere.

Or, am I mistaken?

[82vdub]

My old domestic cars have those "bellows" in the cap, but I believe that's to expand and contract to keep the fluid from splishing around. They are still vented to atmosphere.