Caliper leak

[mcditalia]

I forgot to open the master reservoir and after i took out the front pads to inspect them i pushed on the cylinder bores to retract them back into the bores and got brake fluid shooting out all over. Looks like fluid came out of the cylinder bores and also at a weep hole on the caliper. Did i just ruin the seals and get air into the system?

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

There's no weep hole on a caliper. Best check again.

Opening the master cylinder would not have made a difference.

 

[mcditalia]

Could swear it was also coming out of what looked like a weep hole, but then again it could have been from the leaking cylinders. Either way, if I'm getting fluid shooting out while I'm pushing in the cylinders then safe to assume their toast? I cant figure out if i did something wrong or if the seals were just shot, but i had no leaks that i could notice prior. Weird.

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

Possibly the pistons became cocked in their bores while you pushed them back. This, combined with old brittle seals might have allowed a leak.

 

[Midnight 99]

Time to either rebuild the caliper or replace it. The seals are bad. The only exit hole on a caliper is the bleeder. This would be a good time to replace both sides.

 

[mcditalia]

Thats what I'm going to do. Replace both. Thanks for the responses.

 

[Hib Halverson]

There is no "weep hole". Likely what you are seeing is brake fluid coming out of a torn outer piston dust boot. Flud fluid to be trapped between the piston seal and the dust boot, the piston seal has failed and that's likely due to the caliper piston bore being pitted or rusted or both.

Take one caliper apart. If you find the bore is pitted and rusted, scrap all the calipers, not just two of them, and replace them with new ones or send your calipers to a rebuilder and have them fitted with stainless steel sleeves.

When you install the new or sleeved calipers flush the entire brake system with fresh fluid.

 

[mcditalia]

Thanks hib. Ill take the calipers apart and inspect. I know the rears are newer than my fronts.