brake bleeder

Dont have to be strong ! that is quite common. You might be able to strip the WC and weld a bolt to the nipple. Or drill and tap - but its hard to retrace the orig thread. You can get 'easy out' (reverse thread bolts things) but they dont usually work.

Jim adney may be able to help !

Pure guess - 17 mm thats the tranny oil drain size. you may be able to find a bolt head that fits in the allen hole and fabricate a tool or double thread some nuts on it.

Rich

Personally, I'd go for new wheel cyls. Get new hoses too, if you haven't.

Careful on the massive allen head. That adj controls the preload on the wee tiny ball bearings on the worm shaft. Just a hair too tight and they are toast. You can weld a big nut to a handle to use as a tool, or just grip the edge of the threads with a vise-grip (crude).

Check out the Bentley for the "official" procedure.

Speedy Jim

I've always wondered why you guys in the States recommend this? I've never known anyone to do this, so I asked a mechanic I know. He said it's a pretty rare thing to change them (and he trained with Volvo Australia).

Allan.

Recently I had a bolt that was sheared off on another car we own. There's a great tool for doing this...

If the nipple/screw is closed up (doesn't have a hole), then drill it out, trying to keep the drill bit centred as much as possible. If there's any protruding bits, you could file those first, to help the drill bit stay centred. Then you use the tool...

It's like the tap from a tap and die set. It tapers from the tip to the back, so you can put the tip into the hole. It also is meant to "cut" a new thread, but in the unscrew position. So as you screw it into the sheared-off bolt, it eventually bites and unscrews it. You can bet you'll need it again in the future too.

Not sure what they call them over there - after all, you guys call jam, "jelly" - so you're a bit strange like that.

: )

Allan.

Hm... I might ask him about it again - our car is 27 years old.

I guess Volvos aren't old enough yet, or they used better hoses.

Somewhere around 20 years age, the rubber inside the hose swells up from the effects of the brake fluid. Usually, the owner doesn't notice right away because hydraulic pressure is quite high when braking and the fluid gets forced thru the blocked "artery".

BUT.....when the brake fluid tries to return to the M/C reservoir, it is under very low pressure and can't get thru. That's when the brake shoes start to drag and overheat.

If the atherosclerosis is bad enough, even medium braking pressure can't get thru. That's when you get delayed braking on one side if one hose is more solidly blocked than the other.

Speedy Jim

I'd recommend new wheel cylinders, and hoses, too- They also need to be replaced in pairs (both fronts or both rears) for properly balanced braking.

Besides, a brake job is not the place to cut corners or save money- 15 bucks is A LOT cheaper than new calipers for your 2003 Jetta (or whatever modern car you also drive) so don't complain. They do an important job... They keep you from crashing into things!

Trying to drill and tap a wheel cylinder is a bad idea, for a couple reasons. First, the wheel cylinders are cast iron, which doesn't tap very well. Second, the hole for the bleeder screw has a specially machined "seat" at the bottom which allows the bleeder valve to close and seal properly when tightened. Drilling will only destroy or damage the seat.

Here in the states, we call those special tools "screw extractors" or "easy-outs".. They rarely work, at least from my experience. Maybe the rust is different here too- In the winter, they de-ice the roads with salt in my state.

The user who posted about the brake hoses is right, I'm a professional auto restorer with 15 years experience, I've replaced thousands of them. Brake fluid is mildly corrosive to rubber parts (wheel cylinder and master cylinder pistons, hoses, etc). You can only expect them to last about 10 years, 20 if they're original German. If they're older than that, it's only a matter of time before they swell up and can't pass fluid. This is especially true if the car has been stored for some time: the first to go is the wheel cylinders- they rust and freeze up. Then the hoses, then the master cylinder. It's a textbook case, and no car is completely immune to this.

Repairing brake systems can be a proverbial "Pandora's Box". There's good news though- All of the brake parts for air cooled VW's are readily available, and very cheap, even the metal lines and backing plates. If they need replacing, go for it. Your VW will thank you every time you pull up to a light. -Dave

In a pinch, you can bleed the brakes from the fluid line fitting. Assuming that's not too corroded. Well heck if it is, it's easier to replace a piece of hard line than a broken off bleeder and wheel cylinder. :)

Crack the brake line fitting open a little and have someone pump the pedal. When the pedal goes down, it is kept there until you close the fitting. Then repeat pumping-loosening the fitting procedure several times. It's a bit messy, and you should wash off the fluid from the wheel once you're done, before driving. The wheel will otherwise throw the fluid all over the place as it turns :)

Jan

I did a bit of a "review" of several cheap, er- inexpensive brake bleeder 'kits'. See at

well if I'm replacing 1...I'm replacing 4 of them...hell 40 buck for 4 cylinders....JC Whitnet...hell of a deal....

easier too....from the reciepts I have..the car was restored 10 years ago...making fenders easy to remove...but all the brake cylinders are rusted...i do wonder if when i put the new ones in..i should put some anti seize or a spot of greas on the threeads (careful not to let any in)

the lines appear to be uncracked and good...though I will prob replace those in a couple years...10 years IS pushing those.