quote:
Originally posted by dickwells:
Since most of my life has been spent driving junk I had a lot of horrible problems with bleed nipples and line fittings.
It it ain't broke, don't fix it. Replacing clear, light brake fluid is as
likely to cause problems as prevent them. Any time you loosen a
bleed screw, remove it, clean it, and coat it with a silicone grease
before replacing. If the bleed screw doesn't turn with reasonable
effort using a 6 point socket, quit before you twist it off. Often they
can be broken loose by tapping with a hammer. It is better to distort
the outlet, than to twist it off. If a hammer doesn't do it, try heating
it with a torch and quenching it. Also works on line nuts too. In
some cases you may as well cut the old, rusty line off to give you a
good shot with the hammer.
I would leave the fluid in until you afraid the lines are rusted badly
enough the safest thing is to replace them. With the new lines,
again coat all the threads with silicone grease before assembling.
Brake fluid does need to be replaced eventually. I have seen old
stuff that the fluid turned to solid granules, but that may take 20
years or more. I would let it go at least 10 years.