went to replace brake fluid in the ussual way, (wheel off bleed untill clean fluid runs through) and noticed 2 things

1, the fluid never seemed to actually bleed properly

2, fluid seemed to be leaking from somewhere in the resovoir, this i assume to be some kind of overflow right? my brakes where fine before hand??? bit spongy but levels never dropped and where allright.

so tonight i'm left with a car with virtually no brakes and faced with a trip to halfrauds tmr to get more fluid before trying again.

am i missing something? or is something amiss.

How were you bleeding it?

Modern brake system dont take to kindly to anthing other than a pressure bleeder.

a bit of tube and my dad pumping the brake pedal?

is that a bad way to do it????

well its a glorified bit of tube with a valve on it.and a jar on the end,

I think you are supposed to bleed the brakes in a certain order. When you say 'pumping the brake pedal' do you mean depressing the pedal slowly and closing the bleed valve before letting the pedal return.

a bit of tube and my dad pumping the brake pedal?

is that a bad way to do it????

Yes, if he was pumping the pedal to the floor there is a good chance you have inverted the seals in the master cylinder and its knackered.

ok, i'll have another go tmr, i'm going to buy a better bleed kit (somehow an old branston pickle jar and a tube is going to suffice)

Yes, if he was pumping the pedal to the floor there is a good chance you have inverted the seals in the master cylinder and its knackered.

i might be lucky there it was definatly working, (the brakes were actually braking) its just its now 90% full of air at the min...

now i'm more worried about the fact that half the fluid seemed to end up on the floor whilst depressing the brakes....(whilst bleeding, there was fluid dripping on the floor from engine bay) so could that be something to worry about?

or is it proof that somethigns gone pete tong?

Edited 22 March, 200917 yr by vrs-k-n
my rubbish grammar

and could i ask the order that people are supposed to do it? a search didn't reveal much....

thanks, kieran (who is now cacking his pants that he's ruined his brakes....)

n/s/r

o/s/r

n/s/f

o/s/f

Thats the order I do them in, the workshop manuals are sometimes confusing as most are still written for lhd applications.

now i'm more worried about the fact that half the fluid seemed to end up on the floor whilst depressing the brakes....(whilst bleeding, there was fluid dripping on the floor from engine bay) so could that be something to worry about?

Lummox has already answered you question;

Yes, if he was pumping the pedal to the floor there is a good chance you have inverted the seals in the master cylinder and its knackered.

My advise would be to get it towed to a garage and checked/fixed. If you drive it with fluid leaking you could kill yourself or someone else..... and iirc you lose function of the clutch too....

balls, thats gay... garage it is then...

fluid is not leaking now, just when it was being filled up...

master cylinder seal, can that be changed or is that a new / recon master cylinder.

btw clutch is fine, maybe thats something to be positive about?

god i hope it isn't that, more expense! (old man is the one who supposidly knew how to do it so i'll blame him!)

fluid is not leaking now, just when it was being filled up...

master cylinder seal, can that be changed or is that a new / recon master cylinder.

New Master cylinder! Not worth the risk brakes are the most important part of a car

without seeing where's it leaking from it's hard to comment.

I agree with the order Lummox said about but it some times works in reverse order as the air will take the shortest route out, also just to make sure your not pulling air back into the system pump down slow when fully down close bleed nipple come back up and open again for the down etc etc

You may get air bubbles through the bleed pipe if it's not a good fit on the nipple

how can i test that it i have reversed these seals? i have just tried em (not driven)

no servo, engine off rock hard

servo on, engine on soft as a graham norton in camp club

is this relevent? or irrelevent? i will go to a garage so don't worry but i jus wanna no...

always start the with the furtherest one away from the master cylinder usually the n/s/r

When your engine is running has the fluid level dropped?

don't know but will check... cheers

no, but when pumping with engine on gets harder. level was also low at the moment....

Was it leaking or overflowing? Level drops when pedal pushed and refills as pedal returns. It's worth getting a self bleed kit from Halfords and having some help to close valves (nipples) before changing master cylinder as it's likely to be technique rather than damage (fingers crossed). The bleed nipples themselves should only be open half a turn or you'll get air back in around the thread even if your pipe is tight and submerged. So person one tops up fluid and presses pedal - shouting to person two when to open and close valves. Person two releases valve after pedal is pressed and tightens it before the pedal gets to the bottom. Hope you get lots of bubbles and a hard pedal.