joneh
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| posted on 30/8/08 at 10:10 AM |
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Arghgh! Help! Update
Thanks for your help guys. Sheer anger and brute force got it done in the end.
One question, after following the instructions step by step in the haynes manual, only at the end does it give you a warning about dirty fluid being
pushed back into the ABS system. It then tells you that you need to bleed the pistons as you turn. Quite why it tells you afterwards I don't
know.
Have I ballsed it up now? It brakes fine, with no pulling or am I in for a disaster failure?
Cheers,
Jon
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smart51
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| posted on 30/8/08 at 10:17 AM |
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Screwing in the pistons will push brake fluid from the pistons into the brake lines. If the old fluid was OK before then it will still be OK now.
The brake fluid at the brake ends is more likely to be in poor condition that the fluid up in the reservoir. You will have pushed anything in the
fluid nearer the master cylinders and ABS unit. Still, if the fluid was OK then it will still be OK.
If you are paranoid then bleed and refill the brakes. A word of warning though. ABS units are very hard to refill. Don't let air into them at
all. Either, take it to a proper garage where they have an evac and fill machine, or bleed the brakes till the reservoir is low then top it up and
bleed a bit more, never letting the reservoir empty.
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afj
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| posted on 30/8/08 at 10:18 AM |
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just substitute the word dirty for old it will be fine
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joneh
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| posted on 30/8/08 at 10:20 AM |
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The fluid was changed when the front brakes were done 6 months ago, so I reckon it should be ok?
Why is nothing easy?
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jollygreengiant
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| posted on 30/8/08 at 10:42 AM |
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If this is on a Vauxhall, then it is not unknown for pushing pistons back into calipers WITHOUT opening the bleed nipple, to result in master cylinder
seal reversal and hence no brake pedal when when everything is put back together. The cure for this syndrome is normally a new master cylinder.
Edit bit. ---- please read and don't ignore.
This is a serious problem and is well know in the motor trade. Haynes state that the bleed nipple should be open to prevent dirty fluid contamination.
They can't really put into print that Vauxhall has/have a design flaw so the bleed nipple should be opened. No they cover their backsides by
warning about fluid contamination so that if some one does get master cylinder failure due to not opening the bleed nipple then their backsides are
covered from both sides, they have not maligned the rich and powerful GM group BUT they did warn mr general motorist to OPEN the bleed nipple.
When you put your pads back in, pump the brake pedal slowly and carefully. IF you do not have a solid pedal within (about) 10 pumps then you in all
likely hood have damaged your master cylinder.
[Edited on 30/8/08 by jollygreengiant]
Beware of the Goldfish in the tulip mines. The ONLY defence against them is smoking peanut butter sandwiches.
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novacaine
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| posted on 30/8/08 at 12:35 PM |
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simple test you can do, jump in the car, try not to use your brakes, find yourself a nice country lane, get up to 60 heading towards that rather tight
hairpin then see if they work 
And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but its sinking, Racing around to come up behind you again, the sun is the same in a relative way but
your older, shorter of breath and one day closer to death
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MikeR
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| posted on 30/8/08 at 03:04 PM |
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if they don't try the emergency procedure of finding a large field, what ever you do - avoid the critical stop procedure of finding a large tree
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Peteff
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| posted on 30/8/08 at 04:22 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by jollygreengiant
If this is on a Vauxhall, then it is not unknown for pushing pistons back into calipers WITHOUT opening the bleed nipple, to result in master cylinder
seal reversal and hence no brake pedal when when everything is put back together.
This happened with my BIL's Astra years ago and it was repaired under warranty by VX who said the pads were incorrectly fitted but still did the
job for free.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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joneh
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| posted on 31/8/08 at 09:29 AM |
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The brakes work ok, am I in the clear?
Cheers,
Jon
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