Leaky brake caliper.... Is this unusual?
Discussion
This might be better in home mechanics but it's a bit quiet in there.
Fitted a recon rear caliper to my mk3 ford galaxy last Friday night. All went well until today when the brake fluid level warning came on.
Anyway it's been leaking fluid obviously and I though it might have been from th brake line connection or bleed nipple but these are both dry. It's actually been leaking from the rear handbrake lever seal which is the left most rubber but on this picture.
The motor factors want it back but will only refund after they send it back to their supplier to confirm it's a manufacturer defect and not me messing up th installation.
The thing is, how can you mess up fitting one of these, it's just take the old one off, pop this one back in, bleed and off you pop. Have I b
ksd it or what?
Fitted a recon rear caliper to my mk3 ford galaxy last Friday night. All went well until today when the brake fluid level warning came on.
Anyway it's been leaking fluid obviously and I though it might have been from th brake line connection or bleed nipple but these are both dry. It's actually been leaking from the rear handbrake lever seal which is the left most rubber but on this picture.
The motor factors want it back but will only refund after they send it back to their supplier to confirm it's a manufacturer defect and not me messing up th installation.
The thing is, how can you mess up fitting one of these, it's just take the old one off, pop this one back in, bleed and off you pop. Have I b
ksd it or what? I was pretty gentle I think. I've got a proper wind back tool but didn't need to use it as the piston was back enough to clear the pads.
I've put the old one back on for now as it was only replaced due to a sticky handbrake mechanism, fine as long as you leave the handbrake alone. Trouble is the bleed nipple on the old one was seized solid so I couldn't bleed the sodding thing. Now I've got a lot of pedal travel... Stops OK though til I sort it out.
Pain in the arse though, really wish I'd just booked it in for someone else to sort now.
I've put the old one back on for now as it was only replaced due to a sticky handbrake mechanism, fine as long as you leave the handbrake alone. Trouble is the bleed nipple on the old one was seized solid so I couldn't bleed the sodding thing. Now I've got a lot of pedal travel... Stops OK though til I sort it out.
Pain in the arse though, really wish I'd just booked it in for someone else to sort now.
Mr2Mike said:
Have you tried bleeding it through the hydraulic connection, i.e. slacken off the tube nut? You can often do a fairly reasonable job of getting the air out like this if the pipe goes in somewhere near the top.
Good tip, I'll try this in a bit as I think I can get a spanner on it without having to get the wheel off. Thanks for the replies anyway. Plan now is to take it back for a straight refund, don't want another from them. Going to pay extra and get one from ECP,twice the price but you'd hope it'll be sound.
spaximus said:
If it is Shaftec, they are a spot on supplier we use them, they will pay up no problem if there is no damage done. Hard to see how you could do that so I would not worry.
Cheers for that :thumbsup:I've just ordered one from ECP and used a 15% code so not too bad (£100 vs £65).
Got it booked in tomorrow morning for the garage to do it while I'm at work as although I managed to get a bit of air out of the brake line this morning it's still spongy in the pedal. It's just going to be much easier all round to get the pro's on the job and get it bled out properly.
It's a ball ache of a job with one trolley jack, a bit of pipe and a bottle, an unenthusiastic wife and 3 kids constantly asking me "what are you doing daddy?"......"why?".
Edited by dave_s13 on Thursday 5th May 09:19
It does seem that they don't always refurb these things very successfully then doesn't it!?
I'm not surprised really given how cheap they are.
The shaftec one I got was £105 exchange - so £43 quid back for my old caliper which leaves them with £62.
It then has to be shipped to the refurb outfit, stripped, shot blasted, painted, new seals/pistons etc then sent back out to be retailed. In this little dance there is £62 "profit" changing hands, how much of that goes to the retailer and how much to the refurb shop? Who knows. It's not much though is it.
I'm not surprised really given how cheap they are.
The shaftec one I got was £105 exchange - so £43 quid back for my old caliper which leaves them with £62.
It then has to be shipped to the refurb outfit, stripped, shot blasted, painted, new seals/pistons etc then sent back out to be retailed. In this little dance there is £62 "profit" changing hands, how much of that goes to the retailer and how much to the refurb shop? Who knows. It's not much though is it.
Edited by dave_s13 on Thursday 5th May 09:36
Ozzie Osmond said:
I'm confused. How does brake fluid get involved with the hand brake mechanism?
I think it's because on these the handbrake actuates the pads on the disc, not on shoes within the disc (like in a lot of other cars).In the pic the nut on the far left holds on the actuator arm for the handbrake which the cable attaches to. The actuator arm is then connected to some kind spindle/plunger device that acts on the piston. These don't have internal shoes.
It's the seal between that spindle and the outside world that's defective. So when you press the brake pedal or move the handbrake actuator arm fluids seeps out from the area of the left most nut.
Not the caliper in question but you can see the handbrake actuator and there are a few seals involved. I'm guessing one of those has gone.
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