Corroded brake bleed nipple - best way to extract?

[Andy 308GTB]

I was attempting to flush the brake fluid on my 16 year old Ford Focus.

On the rear drum brakes the bleed nipples are completely shot. I managed to get the offside one bled, using mole grips, as there was nothing left for a spanner to get hold of. But the nearside is really bad (see photo).
Is plenty of Plus Gas and mole grips the best way to remove them? There isn't a lot of room and mole grips are a tight fit. Obviously, I'm nervous of them snapping off.

Edited by Andy 308GTB on Sunday 14th October 19:05

[E-bmw]

TBH with a bleed nipple looking like that I would have gone straight for a new slave cylinder.

Either that or buy a new nipple & get the drill out expecting it to shear, which is not always a bad thing.

[wolf1]

^^^ What he said

Fresh slave cylinder fit and bled in half the time you'll take messing about with the old nipple (which will snap anyway and you'll still have to replace the slave)

[Andy 308GTB]

E-bmw said:

TBH with a bleed nipple looking like that I would have gone straight for a new slave cylinder.

Either that or buy a new nipple & get the drill out expecting it to shear, which is not always a bad thing.

Thanks.
I'll have to look into fitting a new slave cylinder, not a clue how much work that would be.
But on Ebay they are cheap as chips, which appeals to me!
Where's that Haynes manual...

[Andy 308GTB]

Once I worked out that Slave Cylinders are now referred to as Wheel Cylinders in Videoland, life became a lot easier...

I found this excellent video on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j7qDoi1LP0

It's a bit theoretical because the car they are working on has clearly never been out in the rain or been 'serviced' by a gorilla who thinks that every nut and bolt should be tightened until the threads are ruined. I'd happily eat my dinner off the underneath of their car.
Other videos on the subject of replacing Wheel Cylinders, invariably dwell on rounded off nuts, use of angle grinders and trying to stay calm.

This all feels a bit st or bust.

[souper]

Never tried this, but always remembered this method, If rusted and difficult the chances of the nipple loosening are rare as the hollow brake nipple collapses in on itself breaking off. The method was to put either a drill or a rivet point into the nipple hole thus filling in the empty space making the part to be turned out much stronger with a spanner/mole grips, worth a try before drilling.

[stevieturbo]

Andy 308GTB said:

Once I worked out that Slave Cylinders are now referred to as Wheel Cylinders in Videoland, life became a lot easier...

I found this excellent video on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j7qDoi1LP0

It's a bit theoretical because the car they are working on has clearly never been out in the rain or been 'serviced' by a gorilla who thinks that every nut and bolt should be tightened until the threads are ruined. I'd happily eat my dinner off the underneath of their car.
Other videos on the subject of replacing Wheel Cylinders, invariably dwell on rounded off nuts, use of angle grinders and trying to stay calm.

This all feels a bit st or bust.

Slave cylinders refer to clutches. Cant say I've ever heard them referred to with brakes.

[Andy 308GTB]

souper said:

Never tried this, but always remembered this method, If rusted and difficult the chances of the nipple loosening are rare as the hollow brake nipple collapses in on itself breaking off. The method was to put either a drill or a rivet point into the nipple hole thus filling in the empty space making the part to be turned out much stronger with a spanner/mole grips, worth a try before drilling.

That's a good tip. The risk of crushing the bleed nipple was one of my concerns when I initiated this thread. It would go from being a routine job to major car surgery.

I am going to order up new bleed nipples all round (£5 on Ebay) and have another go at the weekend. If nothing will budge, I'll see if the nuts holding the wheel cylinders in place can be undone. If so, I'll order a pair of new wheel cylinders (£12 on Ebay) and push it along another week...

[tapkaJohnD]

stevieturbo said:

Slave cylinders refer to clutches. Cant say I've ever heard them referred to with brakes.

You must be a lot younger than me, then! When brakes were drums, the actuating device was always a slave cylinder!
John

[paintman]

tapkaJohnD said:

stevieturbo said:

Slave cylinders refer to clutches. Cant say I've ever heard them referred to with brakes.

You must be a lot younger than me, then! When brakes were drums, the actuating device was always a slave cylinder!
John

Worked in a motor factor (trade) in the 70s. Disc brakes were still something of a rarity & most smaller cars were drums front & rear.
Always known them as 'wheel cylinders' & that's how our customers (garages) would ask for them. Still ask for them as 'wheel cylinders' & that's how they're listed in the parts lists I have access to.
Only occasions I was asked for a 'slave cylinder' was for clutches.
Although brakes & clutches both used 'master cylinders'.

Although I see that some ebay sellers talk of 'brake slave wheel cylinders' but that's covering all the bases & might not be a bad idea to ask for them as that to avoid a clutch slave arriving!

Edited by paintman on Monday 15th October 10:39

[tapkaJohnD]

paintman,
Interesting lack of standardisation! All my Triumph manuals use "Slave", Ford Capri used "Wheel", Escort "operating". All same thing!

As long as we know what it means!
John

[TooMany2cvs]

The master cylinder tells it what to do...

Anyway, another vote for a new one. If that nip hasn't been touched in donkey's, you can bet nobody's ever changed the brake fluid, which will be as damp as the weather - so the cylinder's probably internally fubar.

Next step - replacing the pipe, because the union wouldn't come undone.

[stevieturbo]

tapkaJohnD said:

You must be a lot younger than me, then! When brakes were drums, the actuating device was always a slave cylinder!
John

I'm certainly not young, but hopefully not that old either.

Drums have always been operated by wheel cylinders here ! usually leaky ones.

[cambiker71]

Some decent penetrating fluid (not wd40!!) followed a bit later by a couple of sharp hammer taps on the end of the nipple will usually break any rust holding it allowing it to unscrew fairly easily.

[Mignon]

Bang a 10 mm socket onto it.

[Boosted LS1]

cambiker71 said:

Some decent penetrating fluid (not wd40!!) followed a bit later by a couple of sharp hammer taps on the end of the nipple will usually break any rust holding it allowing it to unscrew fairly easily.

This and then a tight socket, hammered on. If that fails you can always buy a new cylinder.

[stevieturbo]

Mignon said:

Bang a 10 mm socket onto it.

Finding one is always the hard bit !

[E-bmw]

Mignon said:

Bang a 10 mm socket onto it.

Looks more like 8 or even 7 to me.......................

[Oldandslow]

Best method I've found:

Swear a lot
Remove offending caliper/cylinder from car.
Swear more.
Nip bleed nipple up tight in bench vice.
Turn caliper/cylinder around nipple
Usually this results in loosened nipple that goes in the bin.
Sometimes broken nipple, much swearing and reaching for drill or, admitting defeat, laptop to order new caliper/cylinder depending on level of funds/arsed.

[Andy 308GTB]

I replaced the offside rear nipple with a bright, new shiny one, yesterday.
This weekend, I will have a crack at the nearside rear nipple which was a complete mess and wouldn't budge previously. Since I need the car on a daily basis, I am going to work through the many suggestions, starting with the text book ideas before moving down an increasingly destructive path. The ultimate step will be to remove the drum and replace the wheel cylinder (which I have at the ready).

Obviously, I was unable to bleed the front discs because Ford used 9mm bleed nipples. I now have a 9mm spanner (£1.99). What is it with Ford, when i replaced an A-Arm all the bolts were 18mm - I now have about 6 different types of 18mm sockets. All only used once.

I will also replace the Front Pads at the same time because they were wafer thin.

This was meant to be a 15 minute job to flush the brake fluid...