Low Brake Fluid 2009 Ford Taurus

[engineer20]

Here are some more pictures. I cwent back to the caliper place with the spring, which you see, but he said he can't attach it without the bracket which is still on the ebrake. This was taken at night, so it might not be clear, but I had an led flashlight to light up the area.

How do you take that bracket off so I can go back to the caliper palce for him to completely assemble it so that I can finally put the caliper on the car? And on the side is an AAP "wearever" but really oem caliper, as it's a bosch with a fordmotorcompany seal on it, so it's an original core, which is good. I gbought it as backup and also to further understand how the caliper is assembled and plan to return it if this remanned caliper works, it's from a place called Quality Caliper, in I believe, Ferndale, MI.

 

[engineer20]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
Wow! E20 has my renewed respect! New coil spring and all in that picture! That rotor looks terrible. How long has it been sitting?

been sitting since near the date of the first post, so at least half a month.
It originally was silver, believe it or now, which is why I asked the rust question earlier today. Will it come off as I brake? Or did it form because of the rain (been rainy this past month). I was curiious hhow it formed so quickly, should I resurface it? The front ones which I resurfaced at belle tire (to my regret, I'll go to oreilly's, much cheaper next time and pretty professional though you have to take it off, but if you can do a caliper job, you can take a rotor off) in august of this year and it's already rusty! It wasn't rusty a while ago but since letting it sit outside, it's been rusty, but the car usually is garaged, but i put it on the driveway so it woulnd't interfere and also so I could have a better view during the DAY when I hoped to work on the car as the natural light is still much better than an artificial garage light. I parked it outside for the natural lighting while working on the car, hopefully, during the day. it took a while for me to figure thigns out and my phone has had issues, but i'm off work for a week so I have lots of time on my hands to sort things out.

 

[engineer20]

I should probably turn the engine on tonight so the battery doesn't die. I am concerned that having been sitting outside for so long, the rotors got rusty and they battery will die.

 

[mk378]

Originally Posted By: engineer20
why I asked the rust question earlier today. Will it come off as I brake? Or did it form because of the rain (been rainy this past month).

That makes no sense. How rust forms has nothing to do with how it might be removed. Is this really how your brain works when you read something too? You really have no chance of comprehending basic physical phenomena enough to repair a car.
P.S. any competent person would go out to the car and look at the other back wheel to see how the parts go together.

 

[engineer20]

http://www.autozone.com/test-scan-and-sp...-tool/2363_0_0/

How is the disc brake cube tool compared to the disc brake tool set with the vice like thing and the disk? That I loaned to get the piston in, but if you buy it, it's expensive, wheraes this brake cube is inexpensive, does it work well or similarly or not really, the press/vice/clmapn thing in the set is better and is what traditioanlly has been used? Thanks.

http://www.autozone.com/test-scan-and-sp...questid=6512759

He uses spark plug pliers to get that bracket off,w hich I still didn't remove yet and need to remove so the caliper place can assemble it and so that I can put my caliper back on, but what other tools can be used? Would regular pliers or groove joint pliers work, or should I get spark plug pliers? near 5:50, he uses it and mentions how that's hard, and that's where I'm at now, and I need to get that off.

https://youtu.be/NX9qoZCLMQk

 

[mk378]

You don't need to detach the cable from the bracket. Just bolt your old bracket (with cable attached) to your new or rebuilt caliper.

Also a new or rebuilt caliper will arrive with the piston already fully retracted. If you need to, the "cube" tool is fine for driving the piston back in, but even it can be overkill for the amateur mechanic who seldom works on brakes. I usually just use needlenose pliers.

The pictures contain a little green clue which may be why E20 has such a hard time organizing his thoughts.

 

[artbuc]

Originally Posted By: mk378
The pictures contain a little green clue which may be why E20 has such a hard time organizing his thoughts.


Where's Waldo? Please tell me more...what is the clue?

 

[Tosh]

Is it a booger?

 

[engineer20]

the remanned caliper or my original which i brought to a reammning place was still lkeaing, he claimed it was the hose
i just gave up, decided to buy an advanced auto carquest wearever caliper, which is remanned but looks new and has the fordmotorcompany original seal to it, with a new bracket, with a speedperks, so i guess i wasted the 35 dollars on the reman and will turn my old one in as the core, as long as the caliper doesn't continue to leak.

anyways, i bought a new oem brake hose as well, but it was from 2013, it's new but it was manufactured in 2013, is that ok?

and now I want to focus ont he torque strut mount and change that out. where is that and is it hard to replace, or not really?and i'll do the spark plugs next as well as the serpentine belt(s). There are apparently 2 for the car, I need to replace both, but what about the tensioner, is it recommended I replace the serpentine belt tensioner as well? The car has 95k, can I wait a little longer on the serp belt or should I do it now and should I do the water pump with it, as I just did it on the camry, the belt is way down below, so I'd have to do it down below, right? Does anybody have a routing diagram to it for this engine, which I learned was called the hurricane engine, or something like that.

is anchor a good brand for a torque strut mount, or should i go to the dealer for a torque strut moutn, and should I change all 3 mounts while I"m at it, and are the other 2 hard to do or is the torque strut mount the hardest to do?

for spark plugs, NGK iridiums, which are more expensive, or should I go with the oem motorcraft at only 6 dollars a plug? I got autolites ealier, but wont use the autolite xps, i dia a rebeate, got 20 dollars and bought those for way cheap, like 2 dolalrs for 2 plugs, so I actually made a profit, so even if I don't use them, I don't lose anything but heard they were bad, so should I use the NGKs or the motorcraft spark plugs? hopefully after I do these items, the car can drive till 180k and I can last another 90k before worrying about replacing these items.

archor vs motorcraft torque strut mounts?
what about serpentine belts? for us domestics, the parts at the dleaership aren't even that expensive! but i heard they might not be the best and some aftermarkets are better, would you go with a gates serp belt or a motorcraft serpentine belt?

and should I look into replacing the struts soon and dealership strusts or monroe? i heard monroe wasn't good, so what about gabriel?

 

[engineer20]

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/2638230/2

Should I replace the brake hose or no, and did the brake hose possibly lead to a leak? It was "new" from the dealer, in stock but it was manufactured in September of 2013, which is why I negotiated the price and brought it down to 12 dollars from 20.45, and I think the old caliper was leaking, not the hose, but I guess it doesn't hurt to change the hose out. There is also a carquest hose for 11.99, but I can use speedperks and buy it for 6.99. Is that better or worse than the oem? With the toyota, I hear oem is better, but with domestics, I hear the oem sometimes is cheap and isn't that great and an aftermarket would be similar or at least not worst and sometimes better.

I looked at the carquest wearever (factory direct order) but I looekd at it on another ford, not mine and it looked and felt the same as the oem dealership hose, BUT, I also saw an oreilly brake hose and that was 23.99 and it looked cheapaer/worse and the metal looked like it was of a lower grade, so how is the carquest wearever brake hose? decent, like oem, or way worse? and how long can I expect it to last?

 

[mk378]

Repair of any leak begins with a careful inspection to see which part(s) are not working as they should to hold the fluid in.

Not phoning and writing people who can't even see the car and asking them to guess what it might be.

 

[engineer20]

just put the new advanced auto reman caliper on, ready to turn my old one in, and bled the brakes (3 out of 4, since I rounded the screw on the front passenger when I bled it initiall a while ago when i reinstalled the one that was remanned for me at quality caliper (gave up on that, turning that in as the core later today).

 

[engineer20]

the new brake hose from the ford dealer didn't fit and wouldn't go on the tube nut on the brake line! So I was worried I broke or stripped the tube nut's threads, which whould mean a new brake line or cutting it off and using an adapter and flaring, which i don't know how to do and sounds like a pain
put the old (original) hose on, and i don't see any leaks from the hose right now, and I test drove it a few miles and it brakes like normal now, but i am worried the hose may leak, so i guess I'll exchange or defect out the hose the dealer gave me and install that, or is there no need to do that and my hose is ok if i'm not nogincing any leaks when i have the wheel off and have someone else press the brakes and don't see anything?

i also got a cube brake caliper piston tool from h friehgt, it works well with a ratchet, the regular toolset with the clamp thing and those diescs was a pain to use, this one worked well in retracting the old caliper (did it for practice, but the old one which i had remanned but still leaked, which i'm turning in today) was leaking when i braked or had someone else brake, i saw the drip, now, i don't, so maybe my hose is ok, but the old one was impossible to retract the piston or put it back, whereas the new one or the reman one from adnvace auto is pre pressed in, so all I needed to do was install it.

 

[mk378]

Car stops OK and no leaks visible, it is time to quit while you're ahead.

Keep an eye on the reservoir level in case there is a slow leak.

 

[engineer20]

i'll keep my eye out on the level, don't see a leak, the caliper place that remanned it probs just lied to me and didn't want to re-remanufacture it and he probably messed up with it, i installed the carquest wearever (question though, the brake bleeder screw is 10mm on the newly reman one) wheraes the original is 11mm, why is this? i'm guesing they retapped the hole?
but the hose ins't the issue
i will return/exchange the hose the dealershipo gave me as it didn't fit on the tube nut of the brake line (for a second, i was worried i stripped the threads on the tube nut, if that was the case, that'd be a huge pita, you can save the pita with a new brake line, or do the pita job and flare it.

i'll check the reservoir, but would it be good insurance to do the brake hose and replace it? or no need? as they should alst longer than 7 years?

also, the taurus has been sitting for a while now, and a rust spot developed near the rear bumper, above it and near the rear wheel wel, i didn't dremmel it, to my regret, i used sandpaper, sanded it down to bare metal, then painted it with duplicolor ford spray paint, and did several layers/coats, i coudln't find my automotovie rustoleum primer, so i dind' tuse primer and did like 10 coats of that paint, now it hsould be alll set?

when i was sanding it down, i noticed a black spot, which may be the "cancer cell" and the source of the rust, no matter how hard i tried, i wasn't able to sand that down! so i just painted over it, that shoulnd't be an issue, right as the black spot is tiny? i also sprayed rust reformer, a layear of that, which turns black, before i started painting over it, so i guess that was the "primer" in my case.

 

[engineer20]

because I had to bleed the brakes after I installed the taurus caliper (the reman from advanced auto, turned in my core), I had some leftover brake fluid. I nkow brake fluid is hydroscopic, so you dont' want it open/sitting for a long time or it goes bad, so to avoid waste, I did a "baster method" to change some of my camry's brake fluid. I saw the reservoir had this plastic "strainer" under the black rubber cap, and I oepend that to access the fulid underneath, the rest of the brake fluid. I bastered it out until the min line, then I added enough to top it off to the max line, so it wasn't that much fluid, and the brake fluid may still be old, so I'll bleed those brake for real when I'm doing some brake/suspension work next time to bleed the brakes, but the old brake fluid was green. is this normal? is oem toyota brake fluid green or something? i can post a picture later, but it was green fluid. The valvoline was clear, but I've also used carquest wearever dot 4 before and that fluid is usually yellowish/brown (normal or is that old fluid?) and walmart supertech is clear as well, but from my experiences, I'm guessing valvoline is the best brake fluid out there, but is green brake fluid normal or no? Thanks.

 

[engineer20]

changed the oil on the taurus yesterday with pennzoil platinum ultra black 5w20, the expensive kind at walmart, and filter. i also cut open the filter with my new dremmel tool, i see dremmels are more expensive thatn the rotary tools they still in auto parts stores, but is the dremmel better or worth it? i got mine, dremmel 3000 for 30 dollars, on clearnace at walmart, normal is about 60, and i saw it 's about 60 at meijer and h depot too, so i guess i got a good deal, except generic brand rotary tools are 20 dollars, so was it worth the premium? i used the dremmel to grind off the old nut on the camry ball joint, and yes, as people have wwarned, i did mess up the ball joint stud or the threads, but it doesn't matter, as i'm turning it in, but you should use a nut splitter apparently, next time, but I didn't have a nut splitter, the old balljoint wasn't property installed, so I had to cut the nut off, and harbor freight no longer sells a nut splitter, which is why I didn't get a nut splitter.
anyways, i bought a cheap 14.99 drillmaster brand angle grinder too, it's 4.5 inches with a 5/8 arbor, i thought it was 7/8 and most wheels are 7/8s. I bought a 5/8s one later at home depot but it was 4 incheds not 4.5, but smaller is ok, but is this a good one, or no? should I return it and rebuy an angle grinder with a 7/8 arbor from h freight since 7/8s is better, or is a 5/8 arbor fine as well? the next one up is 21.99 but if it's much better, i might as well get it, and it might be 7/8 arb size as well.
i heard 5/8s is outdated and they stopped using that.

 

[engineer20]

Would peenzoil black ultra be a really good oil? when I cut open the motorcraft, I saw it was a purpolator, and there was no torn media, so Im' not sure if that is still going on but I read about the purolator torn media a while ago. and though motorcraft is cheap, it was a good filter, with a good spring, and a good silicone adbv, and had many pleats, better than the quick lube filter(s) i've cut open in the past. but pennzoil black is a good oil, right,b etter than the silver or not really? and i plan to use the gold castrol eduge next time, the one that is more expensive thatn the black castrol edge, is the gold a lot better or not necessarily? Thanks.

 

[engineer20]

Need to do the spark plugs and serpentine belt (s) soon. There's a main serp belt as well as a smaller ps belt. The front spark plugs are easy but any advice on the rears? Any suggestions? Heard it was hard. Harder than on the camry since the belt is way under as well as the rear spark plugs. So I'll buy the best spark plugs so I don't have to do this again. Motorcrafts are 6 from the dealer. Ngk iridiims are better and last longer, right? Worth the investment since ifbi dont diy, the labor will be high or if I diy, it'll be a pita so either way, I want these to last so I dont need to do the job again for quite some time.

 

[artbuc]

Originally Posted By: engineer20
Heard it was hard.


You hear a lot of things. You must have good ears.