Thanks for that

I didn't realise there were half sizes in metric haven't got any in my kit so it's probably one of those. Now I know it metric I’ll have to nip down the Halfords and grab a couple and see how that goes… thanks for the advice

Just checked, it's definitely 5mm.

OK i'll give it another go with a 5mm didn't want to force it in and damage it. I guess as you said there is loads of crud in there...

cheers

I did it a while ago. Think it was something like 5, 5.5, or 6mm. You may need to bang it in a bit as it may have a bit of crud stuck inside to loosen up.

Yep- always do that on old/rusty/dirty allen bolts as otherwise you round them out. I remmeber doing that on a Scirocco crank pulley while doing a cambelt change.

A good bang should help free it up too if it is seized. I gave up on mine as they rounded off like anything and replaced the backplates as a lazy option. I guess the more involved option is to take the backplates off and drill the head of the allen bolt off.

You might get an angle grinder, or failing that, a dremel in to cut the head off the bolt. Anoyher option is to use a dremel to cut a slot in it and get a screwdriver bit on it.

thanks for that i'll try again tomorrow... any idea were i can get replacement bolts should i need them?

The new cylinder might come with one. Failing that, a fastner supplier or a VW/Skoda dealer.

Edited 8 November, 200916 yr by cjb
Spelling of 'fastner"

Cylinder does not come with bolts (but does have a bleed valve). At least the genuine Skoda ones don't anyway. I got new bolts from a skoda dealer, didn't cost that much - only thing is the one I go to they don't have anything in stock, have to order and go to collect later.

I got two new ones from the skoda dealer and they were 36p each.

The one that I rounded off I was able to drill into the center of it then hammer a much larger allen key into it and was then able to budge it.

Still haven't been able to check the piping to see if getting a new bit of pipe would be the best thing to do.

Phil

Well got this sorted this aft. Grabbed a brake pipe spanner from the motor factors as halfords didn't have any the right size.

Got the nut straight off without any problems. Should have just got one in the first place if I knew they existed!

The Gunson Eezibleed made bleeding all the brakes really easy and had it all done in about 15 mins. The old fluid was looking pretty dark so must have been in there a while.

Brakes feel a lot better now too.

Anyone have a good way to clean the brake fluid from the rear drum as it's absolutely coated in brake fluid from the leaking cylinder and doesn't hold very well on the handbrake and therefore won't be doing much in terms of braking either!

Thanks for the help guys.

Phil

Edited 26 November, 200916 yr by philje123

i've been having my own rear cylinder woes today, i cant for the life of me undo the bleed nipples on mine! time to convert to rear discs i think

hehe... I was suprised that all the bleed nippled were very easy to undo on mine. Looks like someone has greased them up at some point. I will just make sure I don't leave it too long before opening them up again and keep them from seizing.

Aye go for it... you know what to do! hehe

It is nice to go out to the car on a morning now and not see a huge puddle of brake fluid under the rear wheel. Just cleared my boot out of rubbish and retrieved 4 empty bottles of brake fluid that I've gone through! ooops!

Phil

When I put my new cylinders in I put a little copper grease carefully on the threads (avoiding the bleed hole) so hopefully they'll just spin off if I need them too. I think when I ended up snapping one off I probably did it up too tight the last time I bled the brakes. To remove brake fluid. brake fluid is water soluble I believe as it is alcohol based, so you can simply give it a good hose down. A good drying up and brake cleaner after would probably be a good idea too.

Ah yeh.. Thanks.

I hadn't thought of that even though I have seen that the spilt brake fluid got washed away with the rain.

Will just give a hose off and see where that gets me then.

Thanks

Phil