Servicing Brake Calipers of my 2015 Ecoboost

[ItBeStefYo]

Right so I'm trying my hand at doing some of my own servicing, so I have a brake disc and pad replacement and while I'm doing that, I'm planning to completely service the brake caliper aswell as painting it. Got a few questions for anyone who has experience doing the same thing.

Is it feasible to completely disconnect the brake line to the caliper so it'll be easy to de-rust and paint the caliper? I was planning on plugging it somehow and I am of course going to bleed the brakes after I'm finished.

Cheers anons

[dezwez]

Hi yes its possible you will need a hose clamp near the calliper and you must keep everything clean you can get the hose clamps of e bay

[Ian Lanc]

When you say 'service the calliper'... do you mean renew pistons & seals ? At a good guess there's nothing wrong with them, other than filthed up ? Seems wasted money if you renew the parts, don't think I've ever come across any fords from an 07 plates that suffers from leaking pistons, maybe a good brushing & cleaning is all that is needed and repaint.

[ItBeStefYo]

9 hours ago, Ian Lanc said:

When you say 'service the calliper'... do you mean renew pistons & seals ? At a good guess there's nothing wrong with them, other than filthed up ? Seems wasted money if you renew the parts, don't think I've ever come across any fords from an 07 plates that suffers from leaking pistons, maybe a good brushing & cleaning is all that is needed and repaint.

I just mean go over it with a dremel tool, remove rust, clean it and lube up the piston again.

I didn't think it was very safe clamping the brake line... I heard of using some plastic on top of the brake fluid resevoir then putting the cap back on to create a vacuum so as to lose as little brake fluid as possible, anyone done that?

[Tdci-Peter]

52 minutes ago, ItBeStefYo said:

I didn't think it was very safe clamping the brake line... I heard of using some plastic on top of the brake fluid resevoir then putting the cap back on to create a vacuum so as to lose as little brake fluid as possible, anyone done that?

Clamping brake lines has been done for many years, and is a standard method. That said, as an engineer, I feel that squashing a high pressure, steel re-inforced hose completely flat gives me the heebie jeebies! I did it once, using a clamp with well rounded clamp bars, but then bought some adapters that I can use instead. Female brake line unions are quite easy to get & cheap, just need some way to block up the other end. Epoxy resin, body filler, a rubber bung, even just soft plastic, they will all work well enough.

Adapters like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brake-Pipe-Nut-Fittings-Metric-Imperial-Unf-Copper-Pipe-Brass-Tubing-3-16-M10M12/352693123253?hash=item521e25f8b5:m:mG-A1ySMFY2wGWhc23IWn0w

(M10 is the most common size, but check your car first)

You would need to lose a fair bit of fluid before appreciable vacuum built up in the reservoir to stop further loss.

One bit of advice: Check you can undo the bleed nipples before re-fitting the calipers. Undoing corroded in bleed nipples on a work bench, in a vice, gives a smaller chance of snapping them off than fiddling about in an awkward position under the car. A tee bar wrench is best, to put a pure torque onto a stuck fitting, with no side force. Plus time and persistence, as opposed to brute force and blind optimism!

When you say a Dremel tool, I assume you mean just a wire brush, not a grinding disk or burr. Calipers are a very highly stressed part, and you don't want to be removing anything more than light surface corrosion.

 

[ItBeStefYo]

20 minutes ago, Tdci-Peter said:

Clamping brake lines has been done for many years, and is a standard method. That said, as an engineer, I feel that squashing a high pressure, steel re-inforced hose completely flat gives me the heebie jeebies! I did it once, using a clamp with well rounded clamp bars, but then bought some adapters that I can use instead. Female brake line unions are quite easy to get & cheap, just need some way to block up the other end. Epoxy resin, body filler, a rubber bung, even just soft plastic, they will all work well enough.

Adapters like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brake-Pipe-Nut-Fittings-Metric-Imperial-Unf-Copper-Pipe-Brass-Tubing-3-16-M10M12/352693123253?hash=item521e25f8b5:m:mG-A1ySMFY2wGWhc23IWn0w

(M10 is the most common size, but check your car first)

You would need to lose a fair bit of fluid before appreciable vacuum built up in the reservoir to stop further loss.

One bit of advice: Check you can undo the bleed nipples before re-fitting the calipers. Undoing corroded in bleed nipples on a work bench, in a vice, gives a smaller chance of snapping them off than fiddling about in an awkward position under the car. A tee bar wrench is best, to put a pure torque onto a stuck fitting, with no side force. Plus time and persistence, as opposed to brute force and blind optimism!

When you say a Dremel tool, I assume you mean just a wire brush, not a grinding disk or burr. Calipers are a very highly stressed part, and you don't want to be removing anything more than light surface corrosion.

 

I do have these lying about that I could see if they fit the end of the brake line but not sure how useful they'll be.

Gotcha, Yeah just a wire brush to remove some surface rust. I was wondering about pushing the caliper piston back in, should the bleed nipple be open when doing so?

[Tizer]

8 hours ago, ItBeStefYo said:

I didn't think it was very safe clamping the brake line... I heard of using some plastic on top of the brake fluid resevoir then putting the cap back on to create a vacuum so as to lose as little brake fluid as possible, anyone done that?

I have used that technique successfully several times with thin polythene doubled up but it is not guaranteed to work and you can only do one side at a time because you will loose the vacuum if you undo another line.

Why not clamp the flexible hose near the calliper.  

[Tdci-Peter]

10 hours ago, ItBeStefYo said:

I was wondering about pushing the caliper piston back in, should the bleed nipple be open when doing so?

According to Haynes, there is a risk of "flipping" the seals in the master cylinder when pushing back pistons. I suspect this is somewhat apocryphal, it may happen on very rare occasions with some types of brake system. If the pistons are pushed back quickly using a powerful tool, it would be a much bigger risk. I always push them back by hand, maybe with a little leverage from a screwdriver if needed, and slowly. Including back brakes, where I have a tool just to turn the piston to wind it back, but I have to apply the actual push back force, so can not apply too much.  I leave the bleed nipples closed to avoid the need to bleed the brakes after every brake service, which I do annually, to clean, grease & de-rust the brakes & disks.

There is no significant pressure in the brake lines (unless some drongo hits the brake pedal of course!), so a close fitting plastic cap would work ok. I tried insulating tape once (unplanned operation, done in a hurry!), that failed, I came back to find fluid dripping out onto the drive. Doing things in a hurry always takes longer, I find!

[nicam49]

I found a solution and that was to buy some brake line fittings (they're cheap as chips) and I pushed a tap washer in one end of a coupler, which I then screwed onto the open brake pipe I'd unscrewed the brake hose from. Seals it a treat. If you're going to fit new pads and disk then you're going to have to retract the piston. Do  NOT do this without clamping the hose and opening the nipple first. What could happen is the seals in the master cylinder could flip and cause you a major headache. (I know, I was that soldier)  tdci-Peter beat me to it, but it really does happen. I ended up sourcing a replacement master cylinder,.. I found it impossible to replace the mc seals even tho' Bigg Red sell 'em. 

[Tizer]

15 hours ago, ItBeStefYo said:

I was wondering about pushing the caliper piston back in, should the bleed nipple be open when doing so?

I have been doing the same as @nicam49 since the days when certain Vauxhalls were notorious for flipping their seals.

I also fit a one person rubber bleeding tube to the nipple, the type with a sealed end and a slit up its length and have never needed to bleed the brakes after pushing a calliper back. The added bonus id that there is a bit of fresher fluid next to the calliper.