caburnside

I went to leave the gym tonight and had absolutely no brakes, pedal staight to floor. I then noticed there was a leak coming the passenger side front wheel. It is not coming from the line that conects to the caliper. But seems to be coming out around one of the mounting bolts (very steady drip). Now my pads have been on the way out for the past week and I planned on changing them on turkey day tomorrow but now my truck is stranded in a college parking lot. So what do you guys think? Is it the piston seal? caliper piston? dust boot? Or something else I am not aware of? Is this something I can do in the parking lot while the hipies play frisbee golf (I have most all of my tools in the truck right now)

Also I am guessing I am going to have to bleed the whole system now because the resevoir was empty when I checked it, so I filled it back up but that did nothing to help the situation. Or do I not have to bleed the whole system.

Hercules

If you are absolutely certain that the leak is coming from the caliper and not a brake line, then I'd just replace the caliper. Actually, I'd replace both. They're usually cheap enough once you trade in the cores. I would verify the leak is coming from the calipers first. When you pull the caliper off the rotor, hopefully it will be obvious where the leak is originating. If after inspecting the caliper and there's no obvious signs of where the leak is coming from, you may have to fill the master cylinder back up, bleed the system, then have someone pump the brakes while you watch for the leak...unless it showed itself while you were bleeding the system. When you pump the brakes to bleed the system, only push the pedal half way down each time you pump. You don't want to drive the little piston in the master cylinder any further past it's normal range of movement from pushing the pedal all the way to the floor too often. If you have a small piece of 2x4 to take with you, put it under the brake pedal to act as a stop to keep the pedal from going to the floor while you bleed the brakes. Good luck.

blackimpala

You can bleed the brakes by just opening the bleed fitting and let gravity do its thing. Make sure to keep the master cyl. full, it will take a little longer but works great. I used clear hose to see when all the air was out.

Floyd

johnh

that's a great way to replace the fluid, when it runs clear you're done

blackimpala

Thats what I was doing after putting GM wheel cyl. on the rear brakes. If your goal is to flush the sys. make sure you remove the old fluid from the M.C. before starting.
Floyd