I am having problems bleeding the front brakes of my TR6. Why am I
bleeding them at all, you may ask?
Well, when taking my TR6 in for its annual state inspection last week,
the inspector found that my right rear wheel cylinder was leaking.
Thus, I managed to rebuild the wheel cylinder, and it doesn't leak any
more. While I was doing brakes, though, I decided to replace the
front right brake hose, which had been cracked, and also refit the
master cylinder reservoir, which had been leaking slightly between the
M/C and the reservoir.
Everything is back together now, and I tried to bleed the brakes last
night. With my wifes help pushing on the pedal, I bled the rear
brakes with no problems. Moving on to the front brakes however, I
found that when opening the bleed nipple, nothing comes out, when my
wife presses on the brakes. Nothing; no air, no brake fluid, nothing.
I thought, well, maybe if I try the other front caliper first, maybe
this one will work once the system is mostly bled. But, the other
caliper gave the exact same behavior. (Or, lack thereof...) The
brakes *were* working fine a week ago, except that they were a little
soft, and the rear cylinder was leaking slightly. Does anybody have
any ideas as to what to do next? What do I suspect for problems? How
should I diagnose?
I've been considering disconnecting the hose from the caliper, and
seeing if I get fluid out the hose, when pressing the brake pedal. I
suppose that this would verify that the master cylinder is at least
getting through the lines to the front hose, to the entrance to the
caliper. If I were to do this, and find I *am* getting fluid, what
would I need to check next? If I am *not* getting fluid, what would I
need to do?
I'm kind of at a loss of what to do, since everything was working fine
with the front brakes (except for the cracked brake hose) last week.
the brakes were last bled by the previous owner, so I don't know if he
had problems bleeding the front brakes (or didn't actually bleed them
at all.)
All suggestions welcome!
--ken
Kenneth B. Streeter | EMAIL: streeter@sanders.com
Lockheed Sanders, PTP2-A001 | WWW: http://rassp.sanders.com/streeter/
65 River Road | Voice: (603) 885-9604
Hudson, NH 03051 | Fax: (603) 885-0631
|