Frozen brake calliper bleed nipples.
- Thread starter aarndell
- Start date
vitesse
Active member
By frozen I presume they mean -unable to undo-using normal effort.
In those circumstances I would soak the affected bleed nipple seating area several times with a releasing fluid such as GT85 -then use carefully a fine flame gas torch around the nipple continually trying to undo it with a well fitting small ring spanner -it doesn't normally need much of this process to get movement -sometimes even initially tightening the nipple slightly once heated can help.
Just needs a good degree of feel & care.
In those circumstances I would soak the affected bleed nipple seating area several times with a releasing fluid such as GT85 -then use carefully a fine flame gas torch around the nipple continually trying to undo it with a well fitting small ring spanner -it doesn't normally need much of this process to get movement -sometimes even initially tightening the nipple slightly once heated can help.
Just needs a good degree of feel & care.
You could also try to loan a induction heater, my local garage has one and you select the coil to suit the size of fixing and heat up just the fixing. Since he's had it he has not snapped a fixing. May be able to hire these now. In addition I tend to use a deep socket with T handle as you rotate the bleed nipple around its access. Using a spanner can put an axial load on. But as Vitesse above says just needs lots of feel and care it can be done
good luck
good luck
graham tompkins
New member
Quite frankly I’m amazed that your local "specialist” didn’t resolve the issue for you as difficult to remove bleed nipples are a common issue . As the guys have already said, plenty of penetrating fluid and a firm hand and a sharp tap with a hammer should sort it.
Graham
Graham
chaser
New member
GeoffB said:
This ^^^^^^. A gas flame could damage the painted caliper, if that`s what you have. A `specialist` broke 7 out of 8 on my last car costing me 4 new calipers at around £500 each ...... not happy.
I now replace my bleed nipples with stainless items to reduce the risk.
Dekker
New member
Always use Copaslip or Alumslip when re-assembling to prevent this happening in the future.
Those induction heaters are the way to go.
I had one break and I saved the caliper by finding a shop with spark erosion equipment and for a special after hours price, he drilled and removed the broken stub.
Those induction heaters are the way to go.
I had one break and I saved the caliper by finding a shop with spark erosion equipment and for a special after hours price, he drilled and removed the broken stub.
Indeed - I asked a PC to do a report on my car and this included "caliper bleed nipples frozen - requires specialist skills".T911UK said:
Er. . . ok I'll take it to one.
I had the same problem on my 996C4S late last year, one had sheared off as it was corroded 85% of its circumference, I spent a day with an 11mm Hexagon socket and ratchet, it was definitely better with a socket rather than a ring spanner with some WD40. Just easing the nipples back and forth about 15 Deg to start with then a bit more. All the remaining 7 eased off. The one that was rotted was so rusted in we had drill a bigger hole in it and used a gas torch to get it to move with an easy out. Induction would not work on it! Good luck with it. [
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Hi Ray - no, I'm just saying that my indy would have just got on and solved what is a normal expected part of bleeding brakes on a classic car without even mentioning it to me. PCs (or some of them) say they want to attract classic owners back so I'd expect them to take in their stride the freeing off of a bleed nipple.Ray said:
The full story is that I decided to give a PCs a second chance (having had a bad experience just after acquiring my 993 12 years ago) mainly because my indy was concerned about me driving as far as him with a particular issue (the PC is much closer). I was also tempted by the "Classic register" (which comes with an oil service). So I booked it in for the up coming service (24k) including brake fluid change and I was given a "free health check". I honestly found this very useful, but the "requires specialist skills" on something basic made me laugh and reminded me that my indy is 70 years old and the PC mechanic looks about same age as my car!
So far the rest of the experience of the PC has been good* and I've already booked it in for further work.
* Except being "kept up to date". After initial, very fast, diagnosis I was then left in dark and had to pester them when promised return phone calls didn't emerge (e.g. I twice was promised calls back "first thing tomorrow" but had to call them at 5pm to get an update - which I suspect had been available for a while but had not been passed on).
les richards
Member
Aren't they different metals? The heat should make them expand at different rates and break the seal between the two. I would have thought regular application of gentle heat, doses of a freeing agent (WD40 or similar?) and the correct spanner for brake nipples would eventually do the trick.
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