Brake Fluid Seeping Past Bleeder Threads

[eacmen]

Trying to do a full bleed after replacing OE lines with SS lines. No leaks seem to be coming from any of the lines. But I left the brake pedal wedged overnight with a piece of wood to keep pressure in the brake system and there seems to be seeping coming from the bleeders. They are already pretty tight. Any ideas? I made sure they were tight with the small flare nut wrench I had, I dont think I could have over tightened them. But looking at the torque specs these are like 3.6 ft-lb which is almost nothing. I have never used a torque wrench on a bleeder, but I also have never had one leak like this.

Planning on pulling the bleeders out and inspecting them tonight, just curious if others have had the same issue before?

TIA

[timmo]

Try to remove the leaking bleeder and see if there is any corrosion on the taper. If there is, wire brush it off, then re-install and re-check for leaks. The bleeders seal on this taper, any corrosion could cause it not to seat & seal correctly

[eacmen]

Try to remove the leaking bleeder and see if there is any corrosion on the taper. If there is, wire brush it off, then re-install and re-check for leaks. The bleeders seal on this taper, any corrosion could cause it not to seat & seal correctly

Thanks! I just did that. There was a little corrosion, not the worse I have ever seen. Going to let it sit overnight and check it in the morning for leaks!

[eacmen]

Still leaking, ordered new bleeders. Hoping the caliper isn't damaged. I assume these bleeder screws are a softer metal than the steel calipers? Any advice on how to clean the seats in the caliper without completely removing the caliper?

[mrgizmo04]

The problem with the taper is that it requires 2 clean surfaces to tango, so one is the bleeder itself, the other it mates to is the caliper. I've noticed that I have had to tighten the bleeders a lot harder than 3.6 over time. Mine don't leak, but I had to clean up the caliper surface with a very thin wire brush when I rebuilt my calipers.

[eacmen]

The problem with the taper is that it requires 2 clean surfaces to tango, so one is the bleeder itself, the other it mates to is the caliper. I've noticed that I have had to tighten the bleeders a lot harder than 3.6 over time. Mine don't leak, but I had to clean up the caliper surface with a very thin wire brush when I rebuilt my calipers.

Thanks! New bleeders are coming tomorrow and I am going to go at the caliper itself with some firearm brushes. Thats the only tool I could find that would be able to get in the M8 hole down to the taper. Any other tools you would recommend to clean the seat on the caliper itself?

[Tbonem3]

Qtip and a strong solvent. You can cut one end of the qtip off and insert it into a drill.

There might exist other drill/dremel attachments that could be useful. Maybe a scotch pad style tip, use some wd40 as lube. Hard part is finding things that'll fit in that small of a hole.

[eacmen]

New bleeders did the trick. The old ones were cranked on quite a bit. Maybe I am just a wimp with these soft bleeders on steel calipers. The bleeder threads should stretch before the caliper threads. But it should not require much torque to seal the seat.

Seems like previous owners really went to town on them. The seat on the bleed nipple was fairly deformed.

[Arith2]

New bleeders did the trick. The old ones were cranked on quite a bit. Maybe I am just a wimp with these soft bleeders on steel calipers. The bleeder threads should stretch before the caliper threads. But it should not require much torque to seal the seat.

Seems like previous owners really went to town on them. The seat on the bleed nipple was fairly deformed.

My best guess would be heat did that. That nonsense does get pretty warm. Glad this fixed your problem.

[bigjae46]

I’m sure BMW designed it that way. If you fock up threads...it will be the bleeder threads instead of the calipers.

Not like that on aluminum fixed calipers...