Brakes Are Poo Poo

[lammi]

Hi, so went to bleed the brakes on a recently purchased ke30, Both back drums bled perfectly fine, but got to the front and NOTHING. NO FLUID! only a couple of drops here and there, and the occasional gurgle, go to the drivers side, and nothing but air comes out when the pedal goes down.

 

automatically i thought master cylinder is buggered?

 

Am i correct, just wanted a double check that it couldnt be something else before replacing it.

 

Looks like i'll end up rebuilding the calipers as well anyway.

 

Any intelligent info is very welcome :yes:

[Trev]

Mike, you are back.

 

Get a pressure bleeder and see if you can suck the fluid out.

[lammi]

little brothers first car ;)

[Evan G]

are you using 2 people to bleed it up?

 

pump the pedal -> hold it -> person cracks the nipple and repeat?

 

got a vacuum bleeder you can borrow from anyone? (instead of push the fluid out the bleed nipple, it gets sucked out)

[lammi]

I don't think i know anyone with a vacuum bleeder. Are they expensive?

[Evan G]

make your own.

 

2 pipes going to a bottle, one for the brake fluid, and the other pipe through the lid for the vacuum.

 

start the car a plug it in a vacuum port and get bleeding!

 

just watch the level as your doing it. engines don't like brake fluid

[lammi]

hahaha, sounds intuitive, i'll give that a shot. Thanks :y:

[Evan G]

or another way to bleed em is to "reverse bleed em"

 

thats when you get a large syringe full of brake fluid, crack the nipple and pump the fluid into it, this will cause all the air bubbles go to the reservoir.

 

i did this on a clutch slave that was a c**t to bleed, worked a treat!

[kpaddict]

is the master cylinder new or been sitting? you may need to "bench bleed" the master if it is dual circuit.

 

i did mine in the car, just make up short lines/pipes that run from the outputs for the brake lines back up to the reservoir(s), fill the reservoir(s)(making sure the ends of the short lines are submerged) and pump the pedal till all the bubbles stop coming thru. then reconnect the brakes lines and bleed as normal.

 

there are plenty of tutorials on youtube if this makes no sense :)

[lammi]

I ordered two caliper kits and I'm going to rebuild both front calipers, also got new brake pads....Also bought a gigantic syringe to bleed the brakes with, I can either use it to pump it back in up to the master cylinder, or use it to suck the fluid through....I'll try both.

 

Hopefully all goes to plan :bash:

[towe001]

Sure its not a leaking system ?

Like, where the brake line from the master cylinder splits for the front calipers. Pull that connection and see if fluid comes out. And doing a bit of line tracing.

[lammi]

I'm such an idiot. :bash: I had no idea that there was two resevoirs on these cars. I only just discovered the one for the fronts. I have NO IDEA how i didnt see it before. But oh well. Already ordered caliper rebuild kits so at least that will be done and they'll be functioning properly :rolls:

[Taz_Rx]

:lolcry: Won't make that mistake again.

 

just watch the level as your doing it. engines don't like brake fluid

 

FYI E - Pouring brake fluid into the carby of your (running) engine is actually a done thing!!! As well as some lubrication (being oil) the brake fluid apparently boils a bit and effectively gives your engine a 'steam clean'. Its a handy trick to know with old rotary engines that have been sitting inactive for years. Sometimes the apex seals and corner seals will get a bit stuck in the rotors causing a loss of compression, the 'steam clean' will free them up and potentially bring an old motor back to life. :wink: