Strange Brake Bleeding

[TRmoment]

I rebuilt my rear brakes and bled the rear part of system with no issues. Moved up to bleed the the fronts; front right caliper bled as normal.

Now, I am trying to bleed the front left, I get a nice stream of solid fluid (no bubbles) but then I keep getting a small "burst" of air just at the point when my wife gets the pedal to the floor. At first I was excited because getting air bubbles out is, as you know, satisfying. Unfortunately, it happened again, then again, and so on. It seems to happen at the bottom of every stroke just at the point where the wife yells "Floor!" Only on the front left caliper.

I am using the PDWA tool (thank you Phil) that has been discussed many times on this site.

Any thoughts or ideas?

[poolboy]

Kind of sounds like the bleeder valve is not sealing when you tell her to lift the pedal and it's sucking in air.
Do you have a replacement...not the wife..just the bleeder.

[TRmoment]

Ha-ha.
That's a logical thought Ken. But, if that were the case, wouldn't it leak brake fluid all the the time?
Just to be sure, this is my procedure:

Wife puts pressure on brake pedal
I crack bleeder valve
Wife slowly pushes pedal to floor then yells "Floor"
I close bleeder valve and say "Closed"
Wife removes her foot from the pedal
Repeat

Sound OK?


Also, for clarity, I am revising my statement from post #1: "Now, I am trying to bleed the front left I get a nice stream of solid fluid (no bubbles) but then I keep getting a small "burst" of air just at the point when my wife gets the pedal to the floor."

[poolboy]

Procedure sounds OK...if it worked on the other 3.

[TRmoment]

True.
Just thought I'd put it out there. It's one of those things that "I've always done it that way" but you never know, could be a better way.

[poolboy]

I went with "speed bleeders" a few years ago.

[Charlie(74)]

+1 on the speed-bleeders

[skootch13]

I think I heard of people putting grease on the bleeder threads when this happens? Or did I invent that?

[Mike K]

Yes greasing the bleeders with red rubber grease as used in our hydraulics is always a good idea to prevent air leaks past the threads when bleeding.

[TRmoment]

OK, speed bleeders are something I've wondered about for a while now; sounds like something worth trying.
There are several sources out there offering the speed bleeders, any particular recommendations? Some quick research showed some also recommending the "speed bag". Any thoughts on that?

I'll get some red rubber grease as well.

I don't see the bleeders listed on the Moss site.

[poolboy]

Moss may eventually get around to selling them.
They aren't listed in the originators online catalog for the TRiumph cars; but they do have them..you have to call and tell them the year of your TR6

http://speedbleeder.com/size.htm

[46er]

OK, speed bleeders are something I've wondered about for a while now; sounds like something worth trying.
There are several sources out there offering the speed bleeders, any particular recommendations? Some quick research showed some also recommending the "speed bag". Any thoughts on that?

I'll get some red rubber grease as well.

I don't see the bleeders listed on the Moss site.

I used the Kirby site to get the sizes, they no longer sell, and go to the site Ken posted to buy.

https://kirbysbrakebleeders.ecrater.com/filter.php?tc=1&cid=2116751&keywords=&from=&to=&sort=relevance

[TRmoment]

Thank you Ken and Ralph, I'm looking them up now.

[46er]

If you order from them include the small bottle of sealer.

[TRmoment]

46er: I assume that the sealer you refer to negates the need for the red grease?

If anyone happens to know what size the bleeder valve for the HVDA conversion kit that uses a Quartermaster hydraulic throw out bearing is, I'd love to get a speed bleeder for that as well.

[TRmoment]

I spoke with Whitney from Speed Bleeder on Wednesday. She was very nice and extremely helpful; the kind of customer service that makes you want to do business with the company. My new bleeders shipped out the same day as my order without the typical exorbitant shipping costs so many companies have resorted to these days. Refreshing. She even spent time trying to help me locate the bleeder valve size for the HVDA Quartermaster throw-out bearing to no avail. After speaking with her, I tried calling Quartermaster directly but the person I spoke with was not able to help me. The best he could do is tell me that they use a #3 bleeder which must be some sort of "internal" reference as that provided no sizing dimensions.

If anyone happens to know what size the bleeder valve for the HVDA conversion kit that uses the Quartermaster hydraulic throw out bearing (#721100) is, I'd love to get a speed bleeder for that as well. Otherwise, my only recourse will be to remove the bleeder currently on the car and measure it (diameter and pitch).

Whitney also mentioned the sealant that they apply to their bleeders before shipping. She said that sealant is good for about 7-8 bleeding sessions before it needs "refreshing". Does anyone have an opinion about whether I should add the red grease as well? Or, is the the sealant alone sufficient?

Hopefully, my brake speed bleeders will arrive later today.

[46er]

I just used their sealer and never had an issue with air leaks. Perhaps the HVDA kit is metric? I had that issue when I ordered for my 4 pot front calipers, speedbleeders got the right size for me.