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A long time ago I had my brake line replaced by a local mechanic. Well after that the pedal felt spongy so I went to go bleed the line and it turns out that the bleeder screw is rusted in and stripped. This leads me to believe that the mechanic never bled the brakes after replacing the line. For the longest time I've tried to spray some liquid wrench tyepe stuff and wiggle it loose with vice grips but to no avail.
Does anyone know a good way to get these out?
If not, I might have to tear apart the caliper, drill that screw out and tap the hole. Which is fine, but its a lot of work.
Are they stock calipers? If so, just replace them. New ones from AZ or like stores are only $15 or so so it's a cheap fix and you won't waste your time, it's not worth all the effort to make them right.
I don't think you should go through the hassle of drilling and tapping the hole for a new bleeder if this one won't come out, unless you have some pricey caliper that you don't want to replace or something. You'd have to spend a lot of time flushing out the caliper's fluid passages to make sure no metal shavings were inside.
If the screw is in there that tight, there is a good chance it will break if you apply too much force...but there's not much you can do about that. They aren't very strong metal and they are hollow, so if it breaks, it breaks. Frustrating, though.
Well I was un aware of the price of a new caliper at the time, thats why I considered that solution. I don't like to cut corners, but I don't like to spend money uneccesarily. They are just the stock rear calipers so I shall find a replacement one. What's weird is out of all four calipers, the driver side rear is the only one with the rusted bleeder screw.
Edit: It seems the only price I can find for a brake caliper is ~$70.
Last edited by Douchermann; 10-29-2006 at 01:26 AM.
Loaded calipers from Autozone were about $70 each last time I was there, you can get a bare one for less but its such a hassle to assemble the whole thing. I say you need a bigger pair of vice grips.
before you go horsing on this screw with bigger vice grips, spray the hell out of it with PB Blaster. that stuff has never failed me. it's like $5 for a can at any parts store. it eats the rust. spray it on, let it sit for like 5-10 and then get the vice grips.
Loaded calipers from Autozone were about $70 each last time I was there, you can get a bare one for less but its such a hassle to assemble the whole thing. I say you need a bigger pair of vice grips.
$70????.... I doubt they're that much. I just looked at AutoZone.com - Get in the Zone! and a front caliper is $9.99 (R), $10.96 (L) with a $11 core charge. I'm tellin ya, just go get another one. By the time you let the PB Blaster sit and try to remove the screw, you can have a new one installed...not worth the trouble on stock iron calipers, they're just too cheap.
. Nothing to lose really.
