Brake problem help or suggestions please

[frank rabbets]

You got me so worried Chris I took your advice and went down to Specsavers armed with a copy of this thread. The bloke there read through it and could not understand a word of it so there's nothing wrong with my eyes. He thought I might have a brain problem though and is going to take my eyeballs out and put some lenses in front of the brain so my brain will be able to see more clearly. I'm going down with the wife to make sure he doesn't swap my OEM eyeballs with those Milner ones .

 

[Chris]

Sound idea Frank. Let's see if it does indeed have the desired effect. I believe they do ceramic ones.....

 

[stumog]

mud slinging by 2 OAPs

 

[Chris]

Hey who you calling old?

 

[Chris]

Speak up Sonny..

 

[stumog]

should i have said no spring chicken?

 

[frank rabbets]

Don't panic Chris he's talking about both of me not you. Another of my brain problems that comes and goes.

 

[Gary Stockton]

Where's that popcorn emoticon when you need it??

 

[Chris]

Gary, I was looking for that the other day too. I was sure we had one then I remembered that I was going senile.

 

[frank rabbets]

Well it's hello again from both of me. We don't care how much mud Chris throws at us because we can always get out in our bog standard 80. However we only have to throw a little bit of mud at Chris and he gets stuck in his Milners enhanced 80.

We both think the hijacked part of this thread out to be posted in "The Asylum" before there are three of I.

 

[clivehorridge]

By this time Julian has slumped in his chair thinking there must be more to life than worrying about such trivia as the brakes not working correctly on his truck.

When you have a problem, always immerse yourself in someone else's problems, it puts your own into perspective.

Whatever age you both (all 3 in fact) "...you're old enough to know better".

Another great quote from my Grandmother, passed on down the generations.

BTW, I wonder how Julian is getting on with his brakes...

 

[Julian T]

Well having given this thread time to cool down it's possibly time for a quick update.
Chris I ordered a sealey vacuum tester and it will probably be very useful as a suction tool but it frustrated me no end as it kept drawing air past the bleed nipples rather than brake fluid, only way to prevent it doing so was to fasten the nipple to the point where it was closed, it is highly likely that I need more practice with this tool.

I resorted to the old fashioned method of foot application to brake pedal after fitting a length of hose from the vacuum kit to a loosened bleed nipple with the free end immersed in a little brake fluid in a bottle and after bleeding about 2.5 litres of brake fluid through the system I am happy to say that the brake pedal now feels as it should.

The brake warning lamp has not returned since my first post so it may be that the sensor on the brake fluid reservoir needed a little time to reset or detect the fact that the reservoir was full not empty.

However Thirsty still feels like she has more rearward brake bias than is ideal but then again I have been driving a 94 Rav4 while this saga has been ongoing and that thing feels like a sports car after thirsty lol.

To every one who participated in this thread my thanks for the moral support and good humour

 

[Chris]

JT, mine pulls air in too. But it doesn't matter as long as there is fluid appearing too. It works very well for me, it's just different. Air CANNOT be getting back into the system whilst it's pulling so as long as fluid also appears, it's working. I used it after completely emptying the whole system.

 

[frank rabbets]

The air is being pulled round the threads of the bleed nipple so the sucking is causing brake fluid and air to be drawn out of the nipple(s).

I've been lucky by all accounts as I've never had trouble bleeding brakes on any car. I use Anne on the brake pedal whilst I man the calliper. Fast down on the pedal then I tighten the nipple. Then SLOW up on the pedal so as not to draw air through a week seal. All I use is a pipe on the nipple to take off the expelled fluid. Some fluid gets forced round the threads and dribbles down the calliper body so if I don't want paint stripped off I use silicone fluid.

 

[Chris]

Unfortunately Frank as many have found to their considerable cost (myself included), when you do that on an old car that has not been bled in recent times, this completely shags up the seals in the MC and you lose all pressure resulting in a new MC. Pushing the pedal to the floor runs the seals though part of the bore that normally doesn't get touched.

I think we all know how to bleed brakes, but this one catches many people unaware hence the discussion being about the vacuum bleeder which negates the need to depress the pedal. You could always bleed the manual way as long as you were very disciplined about not pressing the pedal past halfway. I didn't take the chance. I bought the bleeder. I have tried pressure bleeders which just don't seem to fit Toyotas and you end up with fluid pissing everywhere. Waste of time.

 

[Towpack]

I bought an adaptor plate for the Gunsons pressure bleeder to use with the non-threaded type reservoir on the LC and it seems to work OK with no pressure leakage past the reservoir cap but it needs tightening down quite hard to get a seal.

 

[frank rabbets]

Perhaps if you do a lot of mileage off road in water you get water in the fluid and this corrodes the bore of the M/C. Mines 1995 and I changed my brake fluid last year. I first emptied the rear system by pressing the pedal completely down then the front by pressing it completely down and the pedal travelled further. It's a tandem cylinder so there are two seals in the M/C which could be damaged. Fortunately I did not have a problem. If you raise the brake pedal up sharply you can draw air past an otherwise serviceable seal.

 

[frank rabbets]

If Julian is still having brake bias problems presumably it's the bias valve on the rear.

 

[frank rabbets]

If Julian is still having brake bias problems presumably it's the rear bias valve or too soft a pad on the front compared with the rear.

 

[Chris]

Mine had never been off road Frank. I don't think you get water in the main res from off roading. You were lucky and I think an exception there. It's very common. I don't make this stuff up, people post it on here. Bled brakes, no air but no pedal pressure anymore. A bleeder is cheaper than a mater cylinder. Takes the gamble out of it and means you don't need an assistant.