'96 Ford Escort 1.8L Diesel - Brake bleeding

[Kris]

Hello all you grease covered wrench monkeys, I have a question..

Yesterday I changed the brake pads on a '96 Escort, and in order to push the piston back in I had to remove the calipers, squirting the old fluid out out of them in the process. Once I'd finished fitting the new pads, I refitted the brake assembly etc and tried to bleed the brakes - but had some difficulty. On one side the bleed nipple worked fine and bled okay. Retightened and no problemo Unfortunately the other side was quite hard to bleed. I fitted the hosing to the nipple, with a ring spanner on the nut - and began to start bleeding the brakes. After a small turn of the spanner fluid seeped out from behind the nipple nut and was leaking down the caliper. Why does this happen, I hadn't turned it any further than the other side? Also it was hard to push fluid out of the calipers? Is this normal? There is only one bleed bolt to undo yes?

Kristof
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[alains]

on the pipe going to the caliper you've got cuper seal , did refit them . normally when you want to clean air in the calipers , you keep the nipples and the bottle cover open until it bleed down . close every neeple which bleeds . now you can begin to take the air off when every neeples are closed . put your wife (or somebody else) in the seat . ask her to pump with the pedal and stay whatever happens . repeat operation on each caliper until no more air bubble comes out . schematic : pump-stay-open neeple-close neeple. all the pipes and neeples need to tight strongly
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[Ade067]

If the fluid is coming out from behind the nipple it could be that the nipple itself is blocked up with brake dust and other gunge,take the nipple out completely and clean it through,usually a stiff piece of wire or a wire brush or something similar will do the job.

On some cars that I've fitted brakes to you can get lucky sometimes and just leave the nipple undone and let the fluid run through by itself,once the fluid is flowing cleanly without any air bubbles they are usually fine but its always worth while to get someone to give you a hand and pump the pedal a few times to check everything is ok...do this after you have pumped the pistons back out into contact with the pads.

[mr jamez]

Is fluid coming out when the nipple is tightened up and you push the brake pedal? it is very easy to strip the threads if you do them up too tight while bleeding them.

[Kris]

Is there only one nipple to undo when bleeding car calipers? i.e. the nipple on the actual caliper? There are metal brake lines running from the reservoir under the bonnet with nuts on them - do you have to loosen these too?
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[Kris]

anyone?
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[Kickstart]

Hi

Do not undo the metal pipes.

Generally there is only a single bleed nipple on each caliper, but not always.

My guess would be as above, that the bleed nipple is badly blocked. Possibly someone has been bodging it in the past.

Does the car have ABS? If so some ABS equiped cars have odd instructions for bleeding the brakes.

All the best

Keith
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[clemsta]

Hi,

Why did you open the bleed nipple when you were pushing the piston back in, i never do even when i'm at work. You should only need to bleed the brakes if the footpedal feels spongy after installing the new pads. Don't open the nuts on the pipes as kickstart said.

Do it in this order:

- get someone to pump brake pedal until it gets hard and then hold it down(engine off, nipple closed)

- open bleed nipple, pedal goes to floor, close nipple

- repeat another two times

Do the same for the other side and the back if there are bleed nipples there. (I only do it on the front)

After doing all of this pump the break pedal until it is hard, start engine and test the breaks. You will have to bed the new pads in, i find the best way to do this is to drive at 20-30mph very gently pressing the break pedal, not so much that they grip and stop you though. Only do this for a few meters or you might glaze the pads. Then do a couple of emergency stops and they should be fine. Try not to break hard in the first 100 miles after changing the pads.

Hope this helps

Adam
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[clemsta]

Just get a new bleed nipple it will cost you less that a pound, go to PARTCO or TMS or your nearest ford garage.

Adam
____________________
SOMEONE CALL THE DOCTOR! I've got 2 stroke fever!!!
OGRI - Stuff everything, i've always got my bike!
DAS Passed - 7/6/06

[Robby]

Blocked nipple, just clean it out or get a new one.

Then bleed them normally. I had a 94 escort, which had discs at the front and drums at the back. Brake fluid change was nice and easy as it had no ABS. ABS on the merc complicated the whole process a bit, just seemed to take longer to come out clear. Probably due to the extra tubes with filthy fluid in.

[Kris]

Cheers for the help people

Cleaned out the nipple and bled them front and back - brakes feel like new now. You should have seen the state of the old fluid Wow.
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