I can't believe you (or I ) did that!!!!

**SABL** · 07-27-2008, 11:41 AM

OK, time to "fess up" on your (or someone else's 'muck up')...pardon my french and hope I don't get tossed from the forum for my vocabulary. Who has happened to make a real "stoopid" blunder? I'll show you mine if you will show me yours.....Am I getting juvenile or what? Yep, I have gotten to the age where I can justifiably humiliate myself and the rest of the family.

Years ago, my son decided (due to cost) to eliminate the custom braking system on his Explorer.... the customization was done by a reputable racing enterprise but proved to be defective and very deficient. We won't get into the name of the company but the caliper mounts were prone to breakage which caused the caliper to "swing" into the custom wheels and actually cut a groove into those nice expensive wheels....not good.

After acquiring the components to revert the "Exploder" (as my son called it) back to factory specs he proceeded to install the brackets and calipers...things were going just great! Getting kinda late but we're gonna go ahead and bleed the brake lines by flashlight. Nope, he wouldn't wait til tomorrow....it had to be done right now. C'mon dad, pump the pedal so's I can get the air out of the system. Sure, sounds easy enough....dad can handle that...as long as it is not MY arms the brake fluid is running down.

After some time dad's leg is getting kinda tired and we ARE getting rather low on our supply of brake fluid and not getting any good results. The pedal is just not right........

I'll tell ya what...... I'm gonna hold you in suspense....While typing this post (if you can call it typing......hunt and peck....yanno?) I changed my mind about the revelation of what happened. I'm going to let YOU, the readers and posters to tell me what was wrong.

SABL

BUDFAN8 · 07-27-2008, 05:53 PM

alright i guess ill take a crack at it since noone else has.

by your post i can guess he is getting fluid at the caliper by yall running out of fluid. assumeing you are not letting up on the pedal before he closes the bleeder, and that he has tried to bleed both sides to get pedal im thinking both calipers are on (i hope the rotors were in position too). doing it with a flash light makes me think there was a leak at an untightened fitting but not my guess.

my guess is didnt install pads.... i know not a very good guess but i tried.

BUDFAN8 · 07-27-2008, 06:09 PM

heres my cant believe i did that.

i traded an 82 chevy for a 91 ford even because the ford had a bad tranny. i bought a used tranny removed the old one installed the other one and had a bad front leak ( i was told the tranny leaked out of the front and did put in a new front seal) so i take it back out take the pump cover off and find a floating piece of metal so i replaced the metal ring put in new pump gaskets and another new front seal put it back in test it and %^$%^*%^&!!!!!!! still leaks. so now i get another tranny to install it but the little keeper for the linkage is in too far i cant get it out so in my rageing fit i take a 3 pound hammer to the tranny i just took out. still didnt get the keeper out and fabracated my own linkage (worked perfect) installed other tranny with new front seal and again ^%%^^&()*%!!!!!!!!!!!! its leaking out of the front.

now royally pissed off i try to figure out my problem hmmmmm why is it still leaking?
after takeing it out again i search for problems then realize only thing i done the same all the times was put the torque converter in (looked brand new so i used it instead of the others) and there was my downfall. after very close examination there was an eighth of an inch that wasnt welded and when the converter spun it let out fluid.

there are 2 morals here 1 looks can be deceiveing and 2 dont throw a fit and take a hammer to something ( that lesson is learned the hard way 200 out of pocket and the there was nothing wrong with the tranny)

Bud.

**SABL** · 07-27-2008, 07:29 PM

Hey Bud,

I do know the feeling.....and sometimes things do get past quality control at the OEM plant or the remanufacturing plant. Ain't it fun pulling automatic trannies??? I've had lots of "grins and giggles" with a few of them....my favorite "NOT" is Ford's E40D, you don't want to mess with that monster any more than you have to.

The rebuild on an E40D is my "miscue" and I will tell that story at a later time. But I think what my kid did is funnier.....

OK, I did not give enough info in the start of this thread and it is unfair to the readers so I will add to the story:

The old calipers, mounts and rotors were removed (sold later on Ebay). We purchased preloaded rebuilt calipers from our usual source along with new rotors. Went to a salvage yard and bought the mounts along with used calipers.....gotta have cores yanno? The core charge can be $$$$ depending in what part you have to get.

All components were replaced while I was somewhere else.....prolly drinking a foamy bottle of "soda pop" and tinkering. Then it came time for the two man part of the brake job with dad at the pedal and the kid at the bleeder valves. Well, the kid says he's getting nothing but brake fluid......not a lick of air anywhere. Dad says he's (my kid) full o' crap because he (dad) isn't getting a "good pedal" and the "Exploder" is not going on the road until it has braking power.

My son calls his wife to come and give him a ride back home and I take a look at the front brakes while he's waiting. Everything is in place, no leaks or broken lines... it all looked good. Then I spotted it........and had a good laugh. Foamy soda pop can sometimes do that to a person.....make you laugh....yanno?

He did drive the vehicle home after about 30 more minutes of work....completely safe and the job was all done.

I'll let y'all know in the morning.

SABL

BUDFAN8 · 07-27-2008, 08:04 PM

bleeding from the line instead of the bleeder valve?

**SABL** · 07-28-2008, 03:57 PM

Sorry to keep you waiting....technical difficulties.

My son got the calipers mixed up and they were on the wrong side of the car. He had the right side on the left side and visa-versa. The bleeders were in the bottoms of the calipers which left lots of air in the piston bore.

I can't believe he did that......too funny if you ask me.

BUDFAN8 · 07-28-2008, 05:28 PM

HAHA didnt see that comin.

was he drinkin the boston lauger too?

Bud.

**SABL** · 07-29-2008, 06:01 PM

Heya Bud!!

Of all the people, I figured you would get a kick outa that little blooper. Everything looked great till you notice that the bleeder valves are facing down. I reminded the kid today ....he laughed and said he would rather forget it....I can't blame him. Thanks for playing along....seems like nobody else had the guts to take a guess.

I don't think he was into the Sam's but he does prefer the Budweiser line of products, sometimes it is quite amazing that we ever get anything done. Never do today something that you can put off till tomorrow.

SABL.....Marc

ebackhus · 07-30-2008, 05:17 PM

My only experience with bleeding a brake system was on my 1974 MG Midget. I'd manage the pedal while my dad watched the lines.

07-27-2008, 11:41 AM	#1 (permalink)
SABL Moderator Relaxation Room Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Galena, Ohio Posts: 1,225 OS: WinXP SP3	I can't believe you (or I ) did that!!!! OK, time to "fess up" on your (or someone else's 'muck up')...pardon my french and hope I don't get tossed from the forum for my vocabulary. Who has happened to make a real "stoopid" blunder? I'll show you mine if you will show me yours.....Am I getting juvenile or what? Yep, I have gotten to the age where I can justifiably humiliate myself and the rest of the family. Years ago, my son decided (due to cost) to eliminate the custom braking system on his Explorer.... the customization was done by a reputable racing enterprise but proved to be defective and very deficient. We won't get into the name of the company but the caliper mounts were prone to breakage which caused the caliper to "swing" into the custom wheels and actually cut a groove into those nice expensive wheels....not good. After acquiring the components to revert the "Exploder" (as my son called it) back to factory specs he proceeded to install the brackets and calipers...things were going just great! Getting kinda late but we're gonna go ahead and bleed the brake lines by flashlight. Nope, he wouldn't wait til tomorrow....it had to be done right now. C'mon dad, pump the pedal so's I can get the air out of the system. Sure, sounds easy enough....dad can handle that...as long as it is not MY arms the brake fluid is running down. After some time dad's leg is getting kinda tired and we ARE getting rather low on our supply of brake fluid and not getting any good results. The pedal is just not right........ I'll tell ya what...... I'm gonna hold you in suspense....While typing this post (if you can call it typing......hunt and peck....yanno?) I changed my mind about the revelation of what happened. I'm going to let YOU, the readers and posters to tell me what was wrong. SABL Last edited by Midnight Tech; 07-27-2008 at 01:20 PM. Reason: Minor correction - carry on

07-27-2008, 05:53 PM	#2 (permalink)
BUDFAN8 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 205 OS: XP	Re: I can't believe you (or I ) did that!!!! alright i guess ill take a crack at it since noone else has. by your post i can guess he is getting fluid at the caliper by yall running out of fluid. assumeing you are not letting up on the pedal before he closes the bleeder, and that he has tried to bleed both sides to get pedal im thinking both calipers are on (i hope the rotors were in position too). doing it with a flash light makes me think there was a leak at an untightened fitting but not my guess. my guess is didnt install pads.... i know not a very good guess but i tried.

07-27-2008, 06:09 PM	#3 (permalink)
BUDFAN8 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 205 OS: XP	Re: I can't believe you (or I ) did that!!!! heres my cant believe i did that. i traded an 82 chevy for a 91 ford even because the ford had a bad tranny. i bought a used tranny removed the old one installed the other one and had a bad front leak ( i was told the tranny leaked out of the front and did put in a new front seal) so i take it back out take the pump cover off and find a floating piece of metal so i replaced the metal ring put in new pump gaskets and another new front seal put it back in test it and %^$%^%^&!!!!!!! still leaks. so now i get another tranny to install it but the little keeper for the linkage is in too far i cant get it out so in my rageing fit i take a 3 pound hammer to the tranny i just took out. still didnt get the keeper out and fabracated my own linkage (worked perfect) installed other tranny with new front seal and again ^%%^^&()%!!!!!!!!!!!! its leaking out of the front. now royally pissed off i try to figure out my problem hmmmmm why is it still leaking? after takeing it out again i search for problems then realize only thing i done the same all the times was put the torque converter in (looked brand new so i used it instead of the others) and there was my downfall. after very close examination there was an eighth of an inch that wasnt welded and when the converter spun it let out fluid. there are 2 morals here 1 looks can be deceiveing and 2 dont throw a fit and take a hammer to something ( that lesson is learned the hard way 200 out of pocket and the there was nothing wrong with the tranny) Bud. Last edited by BUDFAN8; 07-27-2008 at 06:10 PM.

07-27-2008, 07:29 PM	#4 (permalink)
SABL Moderator Relaxation Room Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Galena, Ohio Posts: 1,225 OS: WinXP SP3	Re: I can't believe you (or I ) did that!!!! Hey Bud, I do know the feeling.....and sometimes things do get past quality control at the OEM plant or the remanufacturing plant. Ain't it fun pulling automatic trannies??? I've had lots of "grins and giggles" with a few of them....my favorite "NOT" is Ford's E40D, you don't want to mess with that monster any more than you have to. The rebuild on an E40D is my "miscue" and I will tell that story at a later time. But I think what my kid did is funnier..... OK, I did not give enough info in the start of this thread and it is unfair to the readers so I will add to the story: The old calipers, mounts and rotors were removed (sold later on Ebay). We purchased preloaded rebuilt calipers from our usual source along with new rotors. Went to a salvage yard and bought the mounts along with used calipers.....gotta have cores yanno? The core charge can be $$$$ depending in what part you have to get. All components were replaced while I was somewhere else.....prolly drinking a foamy bottle of "soda pop" and tinkering. Then it came time for the two man part of the brake job with dad at the pedal and the kid at the bleeder valves. Well, the kid says he's getting nothing but brake fluid......not a lick of air anywhere. Dad says he's (my kid) full o' crap because he (dad) isn't getting a "good pedal" and the "Exploder" is not going on the road until it has braking power. My son calls his wife to come and give him a ride back home and I take a look at the front brakes while he's waiting. Everything is in place, no leaks or broken lines... it all looked good. Then I spotted it........and had a good laugh. Foamy soda pop can sometimes do that to a person.....make you laugh....yanno? He did drive the vehicle home after about 30 more minutes of work....completely safe and the job was all done. I'll let y'all know in the morning. SABL

07-27-2008, 08:04 PM	#5 (permalink)
BUDFAN8 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 205 OS: XP	Re: I can't believe you (or I ) did that!!!! bleeding from the line instead of the bleeder valve?

07-28-2008, 03:57 PM	#6 (permalink)
SABL Moderator Relaxation Room Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Galena, Ohio Posts: 1,225 OS: WinXP SP3	Re: I can't believe you (or I ) did that!!!! Sorry to keep you waiting....technical difficulties. My son got the calipers mixed up and they were on the wrong side of the car. He had the right side on the left side and visa-versa. The bleeders were in the bottoms of the calipers which left lots of air in the piston bore. I can't believe he did that......too funny if you ask me.

07-28-2008, 05:28 PM	#7 (permalink)
BUDFAN8 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 205 OS: XP	Re: I can't believe you (or I ) did that!!!! HAHA didnt see that comin. was he drinkin the boston lauger too? Bud.

07-29-2008, 06:01 PM	#8 (permalink)
SABL Moderator Relaxation Room Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Galena, Ohio Posts: 1,225 OS: WinXP SP3	Re: I can't believe you (or I ) did that!!!! Heya Bud!! Of all the people, I figured you would get a kick outa that little blooper. Everything looked great till you notice that the bleeder valves are facing down. I reminded the kid today ....he laughed and said he would rather forget it....I can't blame him. Thanks for playing along....seems like nobody else had the guts to take a guess. I don't think he was into the Sam's but he does prefer the Budweiser line of products, sometimes it is quite amazing that we ever get anything done. Never do today something that you can put off till tomorrow. SABL.....Marc

07-30-2008, 05:17 PM	#9 (permalink)
ebackhus Manager, Design Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: SATX Posts: 14,262 OS: WinXP Pro SP3/Windows 7 RTM My System Blog Entries: 28	Re: I can't believe you (or I ) did that!!!! My only experience with bleeding a brake system was on my 1974 MG Midget. I'd manage the pedal while my dad watched the lines. __________________ ----------------------------- There are no dumb questions, unless a customer is asking them. Help in the fight against cancer and other serious illnesses.