Nate's brake's don't work. Please help him.

When I did the valve stem, they were checking under my hood and gave me a report of all my fluid levels, then told me that I had the wrong registration stickers on my plates...

So I have to explicitly tell them what to check or they'll just check everything?

Thanks

 
Missing brake fluid is really bad. as we all said. It means you could completely lose your brakes.

 
Its the passenger side (rear) wheel cylinder.

Also, there's brake fluid in the brake shoe on that side.

Soooo, any way to salvage the shoe? VIP said they could, but I'm not so sure. Also, how long of a project is it to swap one wheel cylinder in?

 
If the shoe isn't worn bad or falling apart, probably just clean it in brake clean really well and it'll be fine.

As long as the fitting isn't stuck as hell the wheel cylinder shouldn't be too hard. If it is, just have to cut the line and re-flare it... drum brakes are just a general pain in the arse. All those stupid springs and lever things to line up and adjust right. Then you throw the e-brake on top of it all.

 
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So I have been thinking back on how everything went on all 3 of the wheel cylinders I have done.

Techniques without the tools made for the job:

Brake spoon = bent flathead screwdriver (look at the one in the video you showed us... has quite a bend on it)

Flare nut wrench = vise grips

if you ruin the nut you can just go back to the parts store and buy a premaid line... pull the line off the other end and make sure the nut is the same there... put line back on and crimp (at the end) so you don't loose a ton of fluid

put new line in

or reflare the line with a new flare nut if you can get a flaring tool (I don't have one)

If the nut happens to come free don't remove it completely... just loosen a couple turns... remove the two bolts holding the wc in.

Take new wc... pour some fluid in the line in hole... squeeze where the shoes hit with the bleeder open... this helps prime the wc so you don't have a ton of air in the system... don't pull on the sides

now unscrew the old wc and put the new one back on

reattach and procede bleeding brakes

REASSEMBLE EVERYTHING EXCEPT PUTTING THE TIRE ON

How to bleed brakes:

make sure all bleeders are closed

fill brake fluid resavoir to the full line

have the person in the car depress the pedal slowly and hold at bottom

open the bleeder on chosen wheel then close when flow stops(air or fluid, if air open for a second then close) close bleeder

the person in the car can let pressure off the pedal now

repeat until you get mostly fluid (remember to top off the brake fluid... as in check after 3 or 4 of these cycles)

once you have fluid the pedal can be pumped

3 or 4 slow pumps then hold as before

open bleeder and close when flow stops

repeat

your brakes are bled when no air is present in the fluid coming out of the line and the pedal feels stiff (like your parents vehicles should be)

 
Great post, armed with this a wc R&R should be a piece of cake. If not.... take it to a shop.

+1 rep point for you.

 
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Well if he doesn't do it by the 8th then it will get done that weekend. Probably need new shoes by that time depending on the severity of the leak. I went 2 weeks with a leak before being able to fix it, 2 weeks from when the problem was noticed.I'm guessing the leak has been there for a couple months. This soaks the shoes in fluid, eats the paint off them and makes a mess of things. I found my recipt from when I replaced the first wheel cylinder and put new shoes on my car. $28. And all the parts were in stock.

 
CoupedUpSubie said:
Well if he doesn't do it by the 8th then it will get done that weekend. Probably need new shoes by that time depending on the severity of the leak. I went 2 weeks with a leak before being able to fix it, 2 weeks from when the problem was noticed.I'm guessing the leak has been there for a couple months. This soaks the shoes in fluid, eats the paint off them and makes a mess of things. I found my recipt from when I replaced the first wheel cylinder and put new shoes on my car. $28. And all the parts were in stock.
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According to NAPA, it will be $35.15 for me with tax (shoes and cylinder).

And the Yarmouth store has the same shoes cheaper than both the Topsham and the Bath stores.

 
I'd only be saving $.95 going to advance in Brunswick, and the VIP in Yarmouth gets most of their parts from NAPA across the street from what I've seen.

 
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