Hi there. I have been trying to track down a brake problem on a 1993 Honda Civic EX. I have bled it about 3 times so far, rebuilt the rear drum cylinder, replaced the rotors, and most recently, replaced the booster and master cylinder.

Today, while I was doing my final bleed, (RR - LF - LR -RF as per the manual) of the brakes, I found that when I got to the RF (the last wheel I did), I could NOT get rid of the bubbles. In fact, the fluid came out milky white, it looked like the fluid was contaminated wtih water. I went through about 1 bottle of brake fluid on that wheel alone, topping off the reservoir about 5 times, but still the same milky white fluid came out.

I followed the brake line from the cylinder to the caliper and I could not find any obvious leaks anywhere.

Any idea what could cause this? My car is parked for now until I can figure what's going on with the brakes. Please help!

 

Are you doing this two man operation or by yourself? I find that bleeding the brakes is a bitch when yuo're alone.

 

I'm using two people. Done it many many times before with no problems.

 

strange.

I have bled before and noticed if you have the bleedscrew out too far you are letting air past the threads back into the caliper... so barely unscrew the bleedscrew so there s some resisitance on the brake pedal.

man, milky fluid? WTF is that?
it was fine with all the other calipers?
bizarre...

 

With all due respect guys, I've done this many many times before.
I race an MR2 and none of the guys I race with has any clue what could cause this.
I double checked the lines and hoses yesterday, and they were good.
I did however, notice that the boot oever the piston was torn and the piston was rusted, so I ordered a new caliper to see if this will do the trick. I will keep you all posted. Thanks for the ideas, tho.

 

Ok..I replaced the caliper b/c I noticed a tear in the boot.
This solved my problem.

 

So any idea what the milky stuff was?

 

Im sure it was water/condensation mixed with brake fluid.

 

Like he siad, I think it was water/condensation along with bubbles coming in from the broken the gap that the hole in the piston boot created.

 

where is that shawnhayes?