My car is a 2007 Honda fit (manual trans). Front disks, rear drums.

I've been meaning to clean up my front calipers because the outside paint is worn and there are spots with surface corrosion. I«n preparation for this, I was working on freeing the bleeder screws that were pretty much all stuck. I managed to free them and was rotating them a half turn back and forth (without touching the brake pedal) to clean the threads so I could do my repair later.

Here were it gets nasty: I put on the wheels to go for a drive and I feel the pedal sink so I know something is up. I put the car on stands and I notice the front wheel is soaked in brake fluid! For some reason, although I closed the bleeder finger tight, it obviously wasn't closed enough, so i quickly go to bleed the brakes and before I start, I was able to poor about 1/3 of the small bottles of honda dot3 into the master cylinder so I fear that I might have gotten air in there.

My pedal now has more travel than usual and pumping the brakes doesn't reduce the travel of the pedal like before. I'm guessing this means I have air in my system perhaps even in the master cylinder...

What can I do? Is a bench bleed the only way? I don't think I ran the MC dry since I could only put less than 1/2 a small bottle of Honda DOT3 in there after pressing the brakes less than 10 times with the front left valve open. I've seen people on youtube run a hose from the valve all the way into the MC. Is this the solution for stiffening up the brake travel before I bleed in sequence at the wheels? Please help!

 

 

you only need to bench bleed when the master cylinder is brand new.

what makes you think "finger tight" is an appropriate torque for the bleeder screw? it needs to be TIGHT.

and what makes you think opening the bleeder screw and closing it a half turn wont get air in there?

you obviously put air in the system.

it just needs a regular bleed.

find a friend and do a two person method. it simple and effective and takes 10 minutes of the other persons time if you set it up right.

and i dont ever recommend a vcuum bleeder, it will just suck air thru the threads of the bleeder and into the caliper. youll never get a full bleed.

 

The reason I chose finger tight is because of the functioning of the bleed screw. It works by exposing a hole so making it very tight doesn't offer any extra sealing like a drain bolt and crush washer. I don't have the torque specs at hand but I'm pretty sure it's below 15 lb ft. There must be gunk in there for it not to be sealing properly with a good finger tightness. Then again, describing torque in words is impossible.

If the brake pedal is not being touched, there should be an airtight vacuum in the lines so the amount of air drawn in by opening and closing should be minimal. I think most of the air was drawn in because of the improper closing of the bleed screw. Perhaps there is a little bit of back pressure that sucks in air when opening and closing the bleed screws, I'll give you that.

My brakes are working OK now and I think that a regular bleed should do the trick. Problem is, I'm not getting any fluid coming out of the front left bleed screw, even at more than a half turn. Rather than go crazy trying to clean everything, and changing the bleed screws, I'm just gonna order a pair of reman front calipers and be done with it and then do a regular bleed at the wheels.

Thanks for your suggestions! I really didn't want to have to pay a mechanic to do a bench bleed or introduce air high up in the system by removing the MC. Can you recommend a good technique to avoid getting air in the system when the banjo bolt is disconnected? Of course I will bleed after the replacement but I'd like to avoid getting too much air in there.

 

thats an incorrect view of the function of the bleed screw. there is definitely a conical seat that seals the caliper, its not the threads. and its not just about "exposing the hole". once you open that seal, you are exposing the caliper to air. you must bleed the caliper to remove the air.

no of course you dont "gorilla" torque anything. but its definitely not finger tight. you snug it down with a wrench.

"finger tight" commonly refers to not using any tools. that would not be enough to torque the bleed screw or any bolt really.

which banjo bolt? the brake line? you need to bleed like normal. its nothing special.

the only "special tool" recommended is using either a flare nut wrench or full 6 sided box end 10mm. using an open ended 10mm wrench is a certainty of stripping the bolt.

if youre not getting any fluid coming out of the caliper, and you definitely have the bleed screw cracked open, there is a blockage somewhere you need to figure out. work your way backwards and troubleshoot it. how to fix it depends on where it is.

but i suspect you havent opened the bleed screw enough.

 

 

If the banjo is disconnected, there is no way to prevent air getting in.
The new caliper is also full of air.
So any attempt at trying to keep it devoid of air is futile.

Best way is to be efficient. Leave the hose connected until you're ready to transfer the banjo onto the new caliper.


Don't do anything insane like pinching the rubber hose with pliers. You wouldn't like it if someone pinched your hose with pliers, boy-o.

BUT...your existing calipers are likely fine.

Bleed the brakes properly....all of them. Use a bottle and vac hose to make a 1 man bleeder.

Do fits have ABS? If you got air in the MC, you'll need to bleed the ABS unit as well.

Just bleed the brakes properly first. See where it takes you. Open the bleeder enough to get fluid moving....don't over think it. Do this with the engine running to make it easier and more effective.

 

 

You can also:
open 1 bleeder.
push the pedal down
wedge the pedal down with a peice of wood against the seat

No more drips. The MC piston is blocking the port

Unfortunately...you might damage the master cylinder seals by pushing the pedal to the floor.

You could also use a bolt and SMOOTH faced flange nut to tighten onto the banjo (use the sealing washers) to seal the fluid from dripping.

I usually source used OEM calipers from a sunshine state (eBay) and then clean/re-finish those. Then make the swap quickly.

3 options. eh?

 

i dont understand the need to protect the banjo bolt or the opening once you remove the brake line.

theres no preventing air from entering the caliper. any air is excess air.

you just bleed it completely when youre done and buttoned up like normal.

 

He says he needs to leave the lines disconnected for 24+hrs.

He needs a way to keep all the fluid from draining. If that happened, it would be a massive headache

 

I see the problem presented now, I guess I didn't see it because I don't think that could happen.

If the MC is closed, all the fluid could not drain out. There will always be a positive pressure from outside vs a negative internal pressure or vacuum. That and surface tension inside the lines will not completely drain it.

I've left my brake lines open, it didn't happen. So that's why I don't get the worry.

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Because you have power brakes when the car is on.

I think what you're talking about doing is going to cause a lot of issues.

I would just buy a different set of calipers to aid in your refinishing. Its much easier to do with calipers that are not rusted.

Refinish them on the side - clean them with a nylon brush so u dont strip the zinc coating. Mask and paint them. Then swap them over onto your car.

Refinishing a rusted caliper doesn't last long. And (no offense), it seems like you're not 100% sure what you're doing with the bleeder screws.

What you're describing doing are the famous first steps towards selling the car because you've introduced a frustrating amount of issues.

 

[QUOTE=B serious;51670794
I think what you're talking about doing is going to cause a lot of issues.

I would just buy a different set of calipers to aid in your refinishing. Its much easier to do with calipers that are not rusted.

And (no offense), it seems like you're not 100% sure what you're doing with the bleeder screws.

What you're describing doing are the famous first steps towards selling the car because you've introduced a frustrating amount of issues.[/QUOTE]

No offense taken! You are 100% right: I have little experience doing a brake overhaul and saving a few $ is not worth the hassle of having problems and a temporarily unusable car (since it's my only car). I was on the fence about ordering some powder coated reman calipers and you've convinced me to order them and just make my life easier. I also ordered a 6 point box wrench to help with hard to turn bleed screws to avoid stripping them.

You've been a great help and probably saved me a big headache down the line. Can't thank you enough. Thanks to also to the other posters for your precious advice. Cheers