how much brake fluid does the front caliper hold?

[fenixus]

how much brake fluid does the front caliper hold?

sorry for such a question, but tomorrow planning on replacing front caliper on my V6 with a remanufactured (Cardone) units. as far as I know they come empty, so I guess I will have to pre-fill them before I install the hose to avoid some major bleeding afterwards.

also, what can be used to fill calipers? all I can find now is some ridicolously small (1 mL) syringe LOL , wondering how many squeezes that would be to make it full LOL

[ghettosled]

maybe ive always been doing this wrong, but ive never pre-filled calipers before installing them. i just install them then bleed the system.

[71Corolla]

Compress the caliper all the way before you install it. Then when bleeding, a couple of times let the caliper extend, compress it, then let it extend again. Doing this a few times will make sure you get all the air out.

[fenixus]

thanks guys.it's the first time I will be swapping calipers, so had no idea if they should be pre-filled or not... no site/instructions actually makes it clear about the best approach.

ghettosled, so I should just swap them (will compress the pistons on new ones) and then bleed as usual until no air comes out, right?

71corolla, you mean to unbolt the caliper and compress it again like in the middle of bleeding or after it's been all done to compress it one more time and re-bleed? I don't want to over-complicate it if unnecessary.

[71Corolla]

I mean connect the brake line, but don't install the caliper on the bracket. Then during the bleeding process, close the bleeder and let the cylinder extend then compress it, do this a couple of times. Then you can bolt everything up. This forces the air out of the caliper, otherwise sometimes it can get trapped and won't come out no matter how much fluid you put through the system.

[JohnGD]

There is very little space between the piston and the bore. The problem maybe air trapped in between so if you're concerned do what 71 says; otherwise just bolt on the rebuilt and vacuum bleed. The advantage of vacuum over pressure bleeding is that vacuum causes air bubbles to expand and will be easier to purge. As mentioned in earlier threads, after clearing of all bubbles I'd do a "reverse flush" by pushing in the piston.

Are you changing the hoses too? If so then pull the stop light fuse, depress and hold the brake pedal to prevent the brake fluid from leaking out of the MC. Otherwise quickly plug the banjo with a rubber plug (Home Depot has them in various sizes or get a pack of assorted sizes from the parts store). Then use MityVac to pull new brake fluid into the caliper. I'm not sure if tilting the caliper really helps to purge either (done that).

[pmesfun]

Originally Posted by fenixus

how much brake fluid does the front caliper hold?

sorry for such a question, but tomorrow planning on replacing front caliper on my V6 with a remanufactured (Cardone) units. as far as I know they come empty, so I guess I will have to pre-fill them before I install the hose to avoid some major bleeding afterwards.

also, what can be used to fill calipers? all I can find now is some ridicolously small (1 mL) syringe LOL , wondering how many squeezes that would be to make it full LOL

Not alot at all, I replaced the LF caliper on my friend's 01 Tacoma yesterday. HUGE Mofo, 4-piston caliper and at first it was short stream of fluid, short dripping and done. Ours was also a Cardone reman from Oreilly, we actually got it for more than free, his dad knows the owner, returned the core, made $17 bucks.

Anyways, no need to prefill, swap pads, new hardware if it came with it, bolt it up, new washers on both sides of the brake hose. Fill up the reservoir, put a wrench on the bleeder valve, connect a hose, open, have someone pump the brakes. It took about 15 pumps for us.

[fenixus]

Ashamed to admit, but I cannot afford more parts currently and chose to stay with old hoses (2002 can't be thaaat old yet, they look good still). considering the amount of brake fluid I flushed through them (I think we speaking gallons by now haha) they should be fairly clean inside too.

new OEM brake hoses are MF'ing expensive ... the front pair is like $100-120 that's more than 2 rebuilt calipers with hardware (total $80)!
... and after reading some threads I will not buy aftermarket brake hoses... I'd rather stay with old OEM ones.

I am going only to put a plastic wrap under MC cap to prevent fluid leakage from opened hose while swapping caliper(s). then bleeding. will almost 2 small bottles do the trick?
open bottle fluid is fresh (the other small bottle is still sealed) as a few days ago I was bleeding (ended up flushing)brakes on wife's car.

Originally Posted by JohnGD

There is very little space between the piston and the bore. The problem maybe air trapped in between so if you're concerned do what 71 says; otherwise just bolt on the rebuilt and vacuum bleed. The advantage of vacuum over pressure bleeding is that vacuum causes air bubbles to expand and will be easier to purge. As mentioned in earlier threads, after clearing of all bubbles I'd do a "reverse flush" by pushing in the piston.

Are you changing the hoses too? If so then pull the stop light fuse, depress and hold the brake pedal to prevent the brake fluid from leaking out of the MC. Otherwise quickly plug the banjo with a rubber plug (Home Depot has them in various sizes or get a pack of assorted sizes from the parts store). Then use MityVac to pull new brake fluid into the caliper. I'm not sure if tilting the caliper really helps to purge either (done that).

[fenixus]

good. I may take the easy route then and forget the pre-filling. will do however compress the piston one more time afterwards to make sure there's no air.

your friend must have gotten some good discount if he earned money after returning the core LOL !

Originally Posted by pmesfun

Not alot at all, I replaced the LF caliper on my friend's 01 Tacoma yesterday. HUGE Mofo, 4-piston caliper and at first it was short stream of fluid, short dripping and done. Ours was also a Cardone reman from Oreilly, we actually got it for more than free, his dad knows the owner, returned the core, made $17 bucks.

Anyways, no need to prefill, swap pads, new hardware if it came with it, bolt it up, new washers on both sides of the brake hose. Fill up the reservoir, put a wrench on the bleeder valve, connect a hose, open, have someone pump the brakes. It took about 15 pumps for us.

[JohnGD]

The plastic wrap method also works. It will slow the flow to a trickle, and you can fairly quickly place the hose onto the new caliper and then MityVac it. Each caliper should come with two new washers, so use those even if the old ones look fine.

Decide if you want the new calipers on the caliper brackets or not, and pay particular attention to hose routing and orientation. You wouldn't want to twist it. There should be a line or printing on the hoses to help with the alignment.

You may even be able to do both swaps with one 12 oz bottle. No shame to prioritize repairs, money gets tight even for countries.

[fenixus]

Thank you. that's a lot of details that help me picture the job, appreciated!

I think I will initially MityVac the new calipers on ground (they can stand with the hose up, especially easier if the brackets are bolted to them). Maybe as 71corolla said, I will allow to extend the piston (e.g. by pressing on brake pedal like 2 times) and then compress it back in and continue bleeding while bolted to steering knuckle.

I will make sure I am bolting the hoses right. It would be a disaster to end up with twisted lines, would have to redo the job

Originally Posted by JohnGD

The plastic wrap method also works. It will slow the flow to a trickle, and you can fairly quickly place the hose onto the new caliper and then MityVac it. Each caliper should come with two new washers, so use those even if the old ones look fine.

Decide if you want the new calipers on the caliper brackets or not, and pay particular attention to hose routing and orientation. You wouldn't want to twist it. There should be a line or printing on the hoses to help with the alignment.

You may even be able to do both swaps with one 12 oz bottle. No shame to prioritize repairs, money gets tight even for countries.

[pmesfun]

Your hoses should be fine, the hoses were good on his truck and it has 200k on original everything, suspension, steering, mounts etc. Except for plugs, filters, fluids, belts etc.

[fenixus]

^ glad to hear

I am at 127k miles and those hoses feel and look all right. also, the caliper pistons were found guilty for binding pads on rotors, after I loosened the bleeder valves no change, so calipers turned out bad and not backing off properly. so I hope staying with those hoses is a good choice.

on the other hand on wife's car (only 81k miles, year 2000) the brake hoses would rather need get replaced together with calipers as generally all original metal parts under car are totally rusted (including engine iron short block LOL ) and I can't imagine re-using them ... I think the end fitting on hoses would disintegrate (or not seal at all) after I took it all apart and tried putting back together.

my car is much better, rust is just beginning to eat it slowly

[Eye8Pussies]

to flush the ENTIRE system, you only need 1L of brake fluid....so if you're only doing the front caliper(s), you'll need much much less than that to bleed it

every time I did caliper swaps on my car, my mom's car, my dad's car, etc. etc. (usually due to a rusted and seized slider pin), it barely took 200ml or so to bleed them so that no air was left.


and similarly, I've never heard of anybody pre-filling a caliper either, since a caliper doesn't actually hold much fluid

[fenixus]

^ cool. will be doing this soon

just a side note. flushing take 1 Liter, bt bleeding it right sometimes takes more than that hehe