Hi there,

We finished with the flexi brake hoses, we bled the system and everything seems fine, except that for the second day in the row the thread of the front bleeding valves is wet with the fluid. That is it seems to be leaking from the thread and not from the inside of the valve itself. They are quite tight, so much we are afraid to tighthen them more. The valves are renewed. Now we figured that possibly that is the fluid that was left in the thread and the valve socket after bleeding and now slowly leaks out, question is - is this normal, and if so how long will this last? The car is not driven, cause it awaits for the garages to open tomorrow to get tracking done, so it is leaking like this on a stand still...

Cheers,

Woj

This is not good, I suspect that there is some dirt fouling the seating of the nipples. If its coming out with only gravity assisting, it will not last under pressure.

Cheers

D

See what happens if someone stamps on the brake! If it doesn't make it worse and the fluid in the reservoir isn't going down, you're OK. If it leaks more, the only thing to try is new bleed nipples, as it'll be pretty clear that they're not seating properly.

Thing is, it's not leaking under the pressure at all, and now (a second check today) it seems the valves are dry, but it is difficult to say for sure, because it is raining, and I can't tell what is water and what is fluid.

We also suspected that the seating might be dirty, but (a) we did everything very carefully, (b) if there would be some leakage through the valve sitting the valve itself would leak through the nipple first, rather than through the thread. The other suspicious thing is that they both are wettish, which at least for me mostly eliminates the dirt in the sitting option. The valves are brand new, but not Fiat ones (look exactly the same though).

Cheers,

Woj

Needs further investigation, wait until the rain stops and recheck.

Cheers

D

Def sounds like theres a problem, I was thinking dirt/contamination before I read it was already posted.

If they are very tight and your scared to go further then maybe you have overtightened and damaged the thread. I think they are tappered aren't they? They shouldn't need lots of pressure to seal.

I'd do what haynes suggest now, and put cling film over the reservoir can and put the lid back on, take out the nipples, clean the thread with coton buds/ear wipes. Get a big syringe and force fluid into the caliper forcinng crap/dirt int he thread out.

For good measure, run a tap down the thread if you know what it is.


if it still leaks, and your have already replaced the nipples as it seems....your in for a capliper recon or new caliper

KRistian

Thanks guys for all the advice. The thread is defo not broken. It did not start to leak after we tightened it, it was leaking (very slowly) all the time and we kept tightening it bit by bit till we decided it is getting dangerous (my bro knows all about stiffnes of different materials and he made sure we are not going to brake anything). What I suspect right now is that since the nipples are not brand fiats, just some replacement, they simply do not fit the calipper sitting too well - it is enoung that the angle is sligthly off and there is not full contact with the sitting I guess.

In any case I will be visiting fiat tomorrow for a quick check and see where that gets me, there is no kidding with the brakes, I just have to get there safely...

(and yes, I do know what a tap is and I think I even have one with a good size )

Cheers,

Woj

I thought I would say what the end of the story was, for future reference for others. My gut feeling was right all along - there was nothing wrong with the nipples. I took the car to the garage and guys that know what they do replaced the nipples with brand Fiat ones, bled it, tested the brakes and everything was/is fine. Nevertheless, the holding rings of the rubber caps on the nipples were wet (not dripping wet) with liquid going out from the nipple thread. That stopped after three days. So obviously that were the remains of fluid left in the thread after bleeding.

One way or the other, braided hoses rock, although it will take me a while to get fully used to them - I locked my wheels unintentionally at least three times in one week, luckily at low speeds and on dry surface. Not sure how will this work on snow

Cheers,

Woj