Anyone got a part number for Skoda brake bleed nipples please? This is for a 2010 1.6 TDI. Front N/S sheared off last time I did the brakes, and now I've just fitted Brembo discs and pads I need to revisit as it will need a brake fluid change at some point. Been studying YouTube videos using PlusGas and easy-out tool to extract. It's the sort of thing that go well or badly wrong!

 

Any reasons not to fit stainless steel versions, other than price? Beyond me why Skoda insist on these standard steel nipples that are inherently weak given they're battered with road salt, water and heat on a daily basis.

Edited 14 November, 20187 yr by spartacus68

I've just checked up for the p/n for a 2010 Polo 6R so should be the same for your Fabia, for some reason the parts listing I use does not cover Skoda, which is strange!

 

Anyway for both the 256mm and 288mm front disc brakes, the part number is the same 1K0 615 273B which is an M10 X 1 thread 35mm long.

 

I, so far, have never ever snapped off a bleed valve - some rear drum ones have had me worried though, I tend to give the area round the thread a really hard going over with a wire brush then maybe wet the top of the thread area with extremely "good" release oil, Plus Gas should be a "good" release fluid.  One other thing, I always replace the brake fluid every 2 years after the car has passed its initial 3 years - and maybe by the time the car is 6 or 7 years old, I replace the bleed valves as by then I've ended up slightly over tightened them and that forms a stepped circle on the taper and does not seal too well, also the hex area has probably "gone down" a size due to corrosion!

 

I've got no tips for removing them other than as you already know, use the correct drill size and proper quality and size extractor - good luck, and maybe replace the other side as well!

 

I think, or if I'm being honest know, that I fitted a slightly shorter bleed valve to my daughter's late 2009 Ibiza front callipers as I had a couple of new ones handy, probably from either a 2002 9N Polo or a 2000 VW Passat 4Motion - did the job, just maybe a couple of mms clearance when closed down!(nearer 1mm!)

 

Edit:- one thing about using SS bleed valves, they will be weaker, so snap/round off sooner and still get "grabbed" by the corrosion I think.

Edited 15 November, 20187 yr by rum4mo

1 hour ago, rum4mo said:

 

Edit:- one thing about using SS bleed valves, they will be weaker, so snap/round off sooner and still get "grabbed" by the corrosion I think.

 

You have obviously never worked with stainless steel! Harder to bend, harder to cut, harder to drill, you get the idea......

 

After a bit of googling it seems plenty of people make good quality stainless bleed nipples so I can't see it being a problem. 

Edited 15 November, 20187 yr by SuperbTWM

1 hour ago, SuperbTWM said:

 

You have obviously never worked with stainless steel! Harder to bend, harder to cut, harder to drill, you get the idea......

 

After a bit of googling it seems plenty of people make good quality stainless bleed nipples so I can't see it being a problem. 

 

I've used many SS fixings, mainly large sizes and they are not as strong as other steels, yes it maybe hard to drill, but have you tried drilling etc carbon steel?

 

One thing here not mentioned is, the bleed valve is expected to be softer than the body of the calliper, so when the bleed valve is closed it will distort and not distort the calliper, so maybe that plays into the favour of SS in this application.

Thanks for views, appreciate it. Will let you know how get on trying to remove it. It's flush with caliper body, so nothing to grip it. Easy-out it is, heat and PlusGas. Will post pictures later. 

I admit that I've got the wrong end of the stick wrt SS, I do seem to remember needing to buy many many small coated drill bits to make holes in a piece of SS sheeting to secure an air distribution box onto, and that was a really slow horrible job!

 

Used to come across SS M8, M10 and M12 bolts for securing jigs in thermal chambers, got rid of them all and made use that the high strength bolts that replaced them were smothered in a mixture of high temperature grease and WD-40 to keep the moisture out.

 

So, why are most cars fitted with these nasty bleed screws made from soft metal - I'd think that it is because they are only meant to be screwed down with low torque to seal off the hole in the calliper body, and as I said earlier deform rather than damage the sealing point in the calliper body, so maybe that material works best in that application, plus it should be easy to drill out is compared with SS.  I suppose if you managed to apply some compatible sealer at the top of the thread, that would stop the normal rusting up at that point?  

they are not made from "soft metal" the fasteners will be of the same spec as any other general fastener on the vehicle aside from specific highly stressed ones like con rod bolts or stretch bolts, I have forgotten more than I ever learned but ISO grade 8.8 rings a bell.

 

They are weak because they are exposed to road salts, a small diameter and non standard fine thread but most of all because they have a ruddy great hole running through the centre, they need treating with kid gloves and a hand used to judging whether a fastener will unscrew or is about to yield, sadly a skill that I have mostly lost due to lack of practice.

 

Stainless nipples may resist the corrosion better but dependant on the caliper material or plating galvanic corrosion may increase, stainless also galls much more than mild steel so not the preferred choice for a fastener that is intended to be repeatedly loosened and retightened.

Stainless steel isn’t as hard as the standard steel ones. As others have said it’s due to the environment they’re in. Fit new ones and covered in grease before they’re installed and make sure dust caps are fitted and you won’t have any future issues.  When you come to loosen them in the future use a 6 sided socket rather than multipoint socket or spanner to prevent slippage. Once you’ve loosened it slightly then use a spanner. Don’t over tighten them either. 

Yes, but 8.8 is quite soft when compared with 12.9, and yes SS does have some very bad habits like galling so making life a bit annoying.

 

We used to have to use a J version of thread for some customer's applications and that version of thread is best made by rolling - and then a pacification coating was added on top, it seemed like our customer had spec'd that fixing wrongly and the bolts were made to the final correct dimension then had the pacification coating added on top - not clever and very destructive once the pacification coating started to tear off and foul the threads - but the customer is always right so we had to work round that!

3 minutes ago, CWARD said:

Stainless steel isn’t as hard as the standard steel ones. As others have said it’s due to the environment they’re in. Fit new ones and covered in grease before they’re installed and make sure dust caps are fitted and you won’t have any future issues.  When you come to loosen them in the future use a 6 sided socket rather than multipoint socket or spanner to prevent slippage. Once you’ve loosened it slightly then use a spanner. Don’t over tighten them either. 

 

Unfortunately I'm not sure that many of us know quite how tight to make them, so as it is a brake fluid valve we end up slightly over tightening them and so maybe after 3 fluid changes, I at least, have considered replacing them and restarting that life'ng cycle!  I've never tried putting anything on the engaged threads - yet.

Put grease on the threads and the exposed part of the nipple,  thing will get into the brake fluid then. When you tighten them say with a standard spanner keep your thumb on the spanner nipple end, then use your outer three fingers only to push down on the opposite end of the spanner.  This will equate to around 10nm of torque which is more than enough to nip them together. 

If you apply more than this the nipple can’t go any further inside the caliper and you then apply all the torque to just under the nut part and weaken it or snap it. Come to undo a weakened nipple and you have apply at least the same torque again and a bit more for an corrosion and it just snaps. 

Got the grease nipple at the weekend, so will measure prior to drilling for guide.

I know that you meant to write "brake" nipple!  I thought it might even have been "nipples".

 

Edit:- okay probably "bleed" nipples!

Edited 18 November, 20187 yr by rum4mo

1 hour ago, rum4mo said:

I know that you meant to write "brake" nipple!  I thought it might even have been "nipples".

 

Edit:- okay probably "bleed" nipples!

Thanks for the edit rum4mo. It's been a difficult weekend!

 

My eldest daughter is at university 75 miles away and needed her (2009) Fiat 500 which has been parked in front of our house. I know it had been pulling to the N/S, so before handing it over I checked it yesterday. Dismantled front discs and pads and extended piston bores to use red grease under the dust covers. Pressed them back in and N/S was weaping slightly. Local car parts don't sell rebuild kits (would normally use Bigg Red), so ended up getting a remanufactured Bosch caliper. Brakes still didn't feel right after. Checked rear brakes and shoes literally fell off after removing drums. Another 50 round trip and set about installing them. God I hate drums, plus it's dark in Scotland by 4.00pm!

 

Drove the car over the Cairn 'O Mount to heat up the brakes and deliver the car to her. The Fiat bounces about, but good news the brakes were fine. One of the brake nipples (8mm) looks like it's rounded off with corrosion. Glad to see this isn't just Skoda!

 

 

Ah, "children's" cars, oldest daughter graduated maybe 14 years ago, I still seem to be connected/involved with any car trouble solving, her late 2009 Ibiza now seems to have something strange about the steering at around 55MPH, this is after the strange sensation when braking quickly only at a certain off slip!  All I found that time was a couple of holes on each brake pad on one side (Pagid from ECP), and at that time no looseness anywhere on the suspension or steering system, her boyfriend agrees with her this time, but he normally drives old Lotuses - a front wheel drive Elan and an Esprit GT!  Maybe some more jobs to do or scare her with the fact that its timing belt etc is due for replacement - that might force her to get a new/newer one with a bit more power!

 

It used to annoy me that Ford used to fit rubber dust covers on the front bleed valves and hard plastic ones on the smaller rear bleed valves, as the rears tended to get harder with time and get a bit loose, so you needed to run a drill down the rear nipples before you could change the fluid!

after finishing installing both rear drum brake assembly, I was bleeding off the last piston, and with a gentle twisting the bleed valve snapped off. After 10 min of a deep depression, I decided to buy a screw extractor set and made things a lot worse as the extractor snapped off. since it's not leaking I left it like that. 

Yes too easy a mistake to make, the usual plan is to buy high quality extractors and use the correct drill size, it is just too easy to buy crap extractors and then finish your luck off by using too small a drill and so use too small/weak an extractor, I think that spartacus68 hinted about that possibility!

 

Edit:- at least in your case the smart fix for this problem is just a new cylinder - as long as the brake pipe comes off.

Edited 24 November, 20187 yr by rum4mo

31 minutes ago, Bertie90 said:

after finishing installing both rear drum brake assembly, I was bleeding off the last piston, and with a gentle twisting the bleed valve snapped off. After 10 min of a deep depression, I decided to buy a screw extractor set and made things a lot worse as the extractor snapped off. since it's not leaking I left it like that. 

 

I feel your pain. 

 

Chances are the nipple is seated and closed. I bought the genuine Skoda brake bleed nipple, so it's quite a deep thread. I was going to do mine (front N/S), but weather has been atrocious lately.

 

Was it a decent extractor tool? Only reason I ask, is that I bought genuine Draper screw extractor tool for £22, but there were generic own-brand ones for sale for £8.

 

I plan to shock thread with punch and hammer, wire brush surface, then liberally use Plus Gas, then heat it before going anywhere near it to drill.

 

Good call rum4mo regards brake cylinder. Not particularly expensive and straight forward fix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 24 November, 20187 yr by spartacus68

It was a cheap one from Halfords. In fact I took it back and asked for a refund

If you're doing rear drums, there's not normally a lot of point trying to battle them as a wheel cylinder tends to be about the 10 quid mark.

 

Don't underestimate the power of giving them some release spray the night before, then again a cup of tea before you start the job. 

 

I tend to use a pair of mini molegrips rather than a spanner and, for the sake of a few pence, drop a new nipple in with the tiniest dab of copper grease on the thread.