Hopefully there's someone around for this.
I'm just doing the brakes and by pushing the piston back, the fluid level has now gone well above max. Whats the best way to get it back down to the right level? Caliper bleed?
Thanks
I use a little plastic syringe to pull it out. Came with a two stroke oil pack for the strimmer I think. Holds 10 or 20 cc.
Clive.
Thanks clive. Pumped pedal and fluid gone down a bit. Took it for a slow drive and brakes working but they're a bit soft. Might need to do a full bleed. Weren't amazing to start with.
Mines always above max every morning. Start the car and the pump fires up and the level drops down.
Mines always above max every morning. Start the car and the pump fires up and the level drops down.
I bled the calipers and master cylinder. 11mm ring spanner.
Have fluid there but I think the pedal still has a bit of bounce. I'll see if the pads bed in.
There's two circuits, a standard hydrostatic circuit and the powered circuit. Air in the hydrostatic circuit will result in a spongy pedal when the power circuit isn't pressurised, air in the power circuit will result in a delay between hitting the pedal and the brakes coming on. Your best bet is to do a full bleed, follow RAVE to the letter, and set aside plenty of time as it isn't quick.
From what you've said, it would be the hydrostatic then. The brakes work, but like I say, bit of a spongy pedal and no immediacy about them.
Rave says about the rear booster bleeder. I don't have that on mine. Or couldn't see.
It's definitely there, but probably buried behind the sound deadening.
oh. that's right tight if it is.
blueplasticsoulman wrote:
oh. that's right tight if it is.
It certainly is. Beautifully engineered to make it really hard to see/ get to/ get a bleed pipe on/ get a spanner on. That's what makes it fun.
I carefully cut out a block of the sound insulation foam around the 3 nipples so that I can just pull it out for access purposes, and pop it back in when I've finished. It's almost invisible if you use a thin sharp knife.
Orangebean wrote:
It's almost invisible if you use a thin sharp knife.
lol. like I'm fussed about what the cut in the under bonnet soundproofing looks like.
Clive603 wrote:
I use a little plastic syringe to pull it out. Came with a two stroke oil pack for the strimmer I think. Holds 10 or 20 cc.
Clive.
The one that comes with Calpol works a treat too. Did that yesterday after changing the brake pads in my dad's car.
At rest, before starting up, the fluid level will be higher than 'Max'
The fluid level should be read with the ignition on, and after the ABS pump has stopped running and charged the system. Once pump stopped, the fluid level should be sitting at 'Max'
Again, I use a syringe to suck out any excess if I'm swapping brake pads - and then just top up again once finished, pressed the pedal a few times and let the pump stop.
New rear caliper required.
Is the banjo washer something I need to order or will the local motor factors have em?
depends on your motorfactor. Mines completely useless.
I went in looking for a replacement sump plug for the Autobox, clearly their computer isnt going to list the auto, but i hoped we'd be able to find an engine sump plug with the same thread.
He stared at me with a blank face going "cant do anything without a reg" "we dont sell gearbox drain plugs" proper robot spec. I ended up standing in the shop, on Google, trying to find a car that had the same thread. In the end i discovered the BMW 330d used the same thread size as the autobox, and gave him the reg of the one i used to own. Then he sprung into life and went and fetched it no problem.
I then asked for some Copper washers as i wasnt sure if the new plug was going to seal properly (it came with an alloy washer on it), nope dont do them. the only thing they had was a big "garage kit" with about 200 washers in it of all different sizes and it was about 30quid.
You used to go into these places, and they'd have the computer, but they'd also have the old paper books, and those usually had some generic cross reference etc in the back of them so if you werent quite sure, they'd get the catalog out and you could have a look thru it. The bloke behind the counter actually knew cars, knew what you were asking for, probably had an idea of alternatives etc etc. Nowadays, the folk that work there seem to be no different to the folk operating the till in Tesco. They dont actually have a clue.
The computer software my local place uses will perfectly happily allow you to do a manual lookup, you can input make, model, year, engine etc and it works fine. Feeding it the reg simply pre-populates the fields automatically, but they will actually refuse to do a manual lookup if your looking for a part off a different car or whatever. I've had him refuse, then ended up standing in front of him googling the car make and model on my phone, and pulling a random reg from ebay before...
These days i try to avoid using them, i normally order online, or from EuroCarParts, and only go there when i really need to. Half the time i go there they dont even have what i need either.
Mine is the complete opposite, all the guys that work there are into cars (although there is one young guy who runs out the back as soon as he sees me approaching as he doesn't understand anything older than about 2000). They will have boxes of things like assorted copper washers, bleed nipples, grease nipples, nuts, screws, bolts, trim clips, body fixings, you name it, they've got it and you can buy one at a time. They are quite used to me walking in and asking for bits for 1960's cars, where even if they had a registration number (as most are imports that haven't yet been registered), it wouldn't help. If they don't have it in stock, they will get it for me tomorrow and it really is tomorrow too.
just rang em to ask. They said they'll most likely have one.
It's not clean and tidy and smells like cars. old school shop. Sounds like your local one Gilbert. They ask for a reg but I've also seen them look stuff up in the books and have a rummage round.
New caliper arrived Monday but just managed to get round to picking it up. Nice shiny gold. Lovely, but that won't do at all. Can't go round with gold calipers. So on with the paint. Hopefully should be a good body colour match.
From this
To This
Gotta do the rest now.
Either you have a metallic purple Range Rover or my monitor doesn't agree with your camera at all! :)