31 replies to this topic

[minidan]

errr im getting confused again.

will i need to bleed the rears aswell? i only had the front calipers off .

i think the braking system is split front/rear but not diagonal
Also - on the calipers , there is no top/middle/bottom, theres 2 in the middle (one either side, then one at the inner top). i'll get a pic asap.
I need to bleed the brakes tomorrow so hopefully we can work this out lol.

[Surfbluegarage]

yer thts rite one either side in the middle and one at the top on the inner bit. thts rite. if its split front and back u shud b ok just bleedin the front then but bleed it passenger side first all of them. then drivers side in this order (passenger side first)
outside middle nipple
inner middle nipple top inner nipple then the same on the drivers side

[minidan]

are you sure its outer first. on your other posts you say inner first .

[minidan]

ok this is the passenger side caliper

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[Surfbluegarage]

yer sorry inner first mate sorry

[minidan]

omfg i dont believe this!! was happily bleeding the brakes , did the passenger side very easy no probs.

went over to the drivers side and tried to undo the nipple and withour even trying, it snapped off!!!!! now im very pissed off.

How do you remove a snapped off bleed nipple . by the way its flush with the caliper.

[Ethel]

Ooo unlucky - all I can suggest is carefully drilling what's left of the nipple so as not to drill right through into the caliper and try one of those stud extractors with the reverse taper thread. You can use one of the nips you have got free to judge how far you can drill. Might need another calliper I fear - it's certainly worthwhile replacing any dodgy looking bleed nips.

If it's one of the lower nips you could tilt the calliper (unbolt it from the mini first ) so the remaining nipple is highest to let the air out.

Really doesn't matter which order you bleed in as long as you get the air out and you know you've done that when the pedal feels nice 'n unspongey.

I like to have all the pistons fully backed off so there's less air in the system to start with and use a syringe to draw the air out rather than push fluid in. If you have a split system do one complete circuit before you start on the other. Go nice and steady to avoid frothing the 'n let it settle overnight before a final bleed to allow any remaining air to rise out of the fluid.

[TOMMO0302]

this has been covered many times and there is a lot of speculation in this thread. The type of caliper you have doesn't affect the order (in terms of wheels) you bleed them in, this is purely down to the master cylinder and brake system you have, so you should consult your haynes on the wheel order to bleed in; despite only having the fronts off, you should bleed the rears as well.

As for the metro 4 pots, you should bleed outer first, then inner middle and then inner top.

As for your broken nipple, you can try the stud extractor's route, but i haven't personally had any joy with them. How much is snapped and left in there? At this stage you don't have much to lose by drilling or you can take them to a machine shop, DK Lawson recommends someone that has an 'edm' machine. What might be a pleasent surprise is that you can pick up brand new (recon) calipers from motor factor for <£60 which considering the cost of 4 pistons, seals etc etc isnt bad.

Good Luck

[minidan]

well ive tried the stud extractor, no luck - it just removed more metal ...

resorted to drilling it out. got pretty much all of it out but of course there is still the remaning thread left in the caliper. would i be able to use a tap of the right size to cut it out?

if so, what size do i need for metro 4 pots.

[minidan]

does noone know the right size tap i need for these calipers?? im getting desperate :/

[minidan]

someone? anyone? take a guess lol!

does anyone know if its a UNF thread?

[Jordie]

3/8 UNF isnt it?

[minidan]

they're not metric then. i wasnt sure

[minidan]

turned out to be a 7mm bleed nip. but we decided not to repair the caliper being a safety critical part an all.. not worth dicing with death over the cost of a recon caliper..

[minidan]

ok this is getting beyond a joke now.

we bought 2 reconditioned metro 4 pots off ebay (link)

put them on the car and started to bleed them and noticed that one of the bleed nips was leaking even though it was shut off, as tight as it could be...
unscrewed it to find that the thread has been stripped !!!!!! so i used an old bleed nip from our other calipers and that also got stripped. so i looked inside the thread and theres something in there. somehow something is stuck in the caliper .... im really peeeed off now , it seems impossible to get things right these days! anyway we sent an email to the guy we bought them from and hopefully he will give us another caliper.
this is so depressing.
also , on the drivers side caliper one of the bleed nips has been bent!! possibly due to someone dropping the caliper before sending them out!!!

this seller has quite a good feedback rating , i would have thought his calipers are good quality... if he replaces them without a fuss then i'll calm down.

rant over. (for now)