Front Break Left Caliper

[thewright1]

Hi All,

Title Typo: I actually meant to say "Brake, not Break" typing too fast, moderator please fix if possible.

I appear to be having a slight brake fluid leak on my front brakes. I tried getting a shot of it, but these are the best I could do:





When I rub my finger around the bottom of the caliper, I have brake fluid on my finger. It kind of drips off on my tire (I didn't get a picture of that). Would someone be so kind to tell me how I can fix that?

[CatatonicBug]

Take the hose off, and replace the crush washer. While you're at it, if you're feeling ambitious you could take the caliper apart and be sure the piston isn't leaking too.

[Larrym]

Vital Fluids

I had a similar situation: brake fluid was leaking from somewhere and ended up dripping from the lowest point of the assembly.

I did take the caliper off (along with the other side for good measure..) and disassembled both units. Apparently I was the first owner to ever do this according to the gunk and goo I found.

I cleaned and reassembled the calipers plus new crush washers: no more leaks!!

Sadly I had to go back in to both calipers 4 months later and 1500 miles away from home in order to replace the brake pads: They had become contaminated by the original brake fluid leak and would continually make black patches on the rotor.

Just saying that hosing off the surface of the brake pads with BRAKLEEN didn't work out for me.

[fredintoon]

- - - I had to go back in to both calipers 4 months later and 1500 miles away from home in order to replace the brake pads: They had become contaminated by the original brake fluid leak and would continually make black patches on the rotor.
Just saying that hosing off the surface of the brake pads with BRAKLEEN didn't work out for me.

Hi Larry,
my front pads got fork oil on them when the fork seals died.
Grew a right forearm like Popeye's trying to stop with those pads.
Not Brakleen nor boiling in detergent on the stove nor a ride through the dishwasher on "pot-scrub" would degrease them so they'd work.

[Larrym]

Someday....

Drat!!

I kept'em anyways.......use them for paperweights/bookmarkers for my Clymers repair manual...

[petejw]

Id be pulling the calliper and cleaning it up,
you should be able to reuse the o ring,
when assembling put rubber grease or brake fluid on the
o ring , this will also help slide the piston back in, replace the
crush washers and definately replace the pads, once theyve
been contaminated, they will never work right.

[Ivan]

Judging by the oily look on the fork atop the caliper, I am going to add my vote to fork seals.

As Fred said, you'll never get them to stop right with soaked pads. Although he didn't try burning them clean with a torch, which I have heard works to some extent. The real problem is that the oil seeps in deep and when you are braking long enough to heat the whole pad the oil inside expands fast enough to internally crack the friction material and you will get it coming off in chunks. so, best to replace them instead of try to work with them.