Why are X hydraulics so hateful?

Everytime I used the suction method, I pulled air from around the bleed screw threads.
 
Teflon tape around the theads...
No offense please. But to me, when it comes to brake lines, that is the same as using silicone seal for gaskets. Not quite for me. The type of connections brake fittings have were not designed to be used with sealants like teflon tape. As I said, merely personal preference.
 
When X fiddlers finally have a mental breakdown, the doctors recommend plenty of rest and a year playing with 128s because they are so simple even one of us could work on one successfully.....except for maybe that clutch cable thing which actually is a known brain teaser. Good luck Court, let's see how many home made spacers you have to use to get the cable adjusted right.

Oh, you devil! None! Once I replaced my nearly worn-through pedal pivot with my "quick & dirty repair." ;)

128 Clutch Pedal Repair 3.jpg 128 Clutch Pedal Repair 6.jpg
 
It was a simple job, replace the leaking clutch slave cylinder with a new one. The old one worked great, the actuating nut was only half way on the actuating rod to the clutch arm. I lost very little fluid installing the new slave and two weeks later I'm still trying to get the clutch to work properly without having to push the pedal all the way into the carpet and that's with the adjusting nut all the way to the end of the rod. Yes, bled it four of five times and will have a buddy help me with a fifth. Driving the car seems to have the pedal getting better slowly. Why does it have to be such a bitch, every X owner I talk to has the same complaint.

This is a vent, not a request for helpful ideas.

I always find that you need to first crack open the hard line on the master, get the fluid flowing properly there and only then move onto the slave.

Cheers,
Dom.
 
Had the older daughter come over the other day for a two person clutch bleeding session. Simple, classic push down and hold, loosen bleed nipple, tighten, let up and pump, hold it, loosen bleed screw, etc etc. Went through one whole small bottle of brake fluid and for awhile got all those fizzy tiny bubbles again and again I thought that just air from around the bleed nipple thread but at some point they stopped. After that, the pedal had resistance the whole travel of the pedal and I knew we were done. I had the threaded adjuster nut all the way out to the end and honestly I could probably back it off some. Everything now works fine. And just so you know, I have neither the funky spring on the pedal or the one at the bellhousing for the actuating arm.

All is good for now.
 
Glad to hear, the simple two person method has always worked for me, with a similar use of fluid. The last time I also had my daughter, who was 10 at the time, as 'Chief el Pump-O" in the drivers seat. Never too young to start them!
 
Apparently in the olden days you had a boatload of kids to help you work the farm. Now you have them to help you with your computer/iPhone and to help with clutch/brake bleeding....works for me.
 
Humm, that gives me an idea; how about an app for smartphones to help with bleeding hydraulic systems?
 
The app is there, but nobody can afford the Bluetooth bleeder valves, Bluetooth electro-hydraulic pedal actuator, and Bluetooth reservoir monitor that go with it.;)
 
I'm waiting for electric calipers and electric clutch actuators.....which is horribly funny from a guy who hates to play with car electronics. I can see it now..."my X brakes don't work as well as my current car". Solution "check for bad grounds".
 
Electric emergency brakes are all over the place now. So far no electrically driven “drive by wire” calipers. They would definitely need to have some redundancy in the wiring and use a stepper motor or behave like microtimed ABS, fully on for a sequence of full on short applications...
 
I saw a electric solenoid that would make a nice electric emergency brake conversion. Strong enough to hold them well, but small enough to fit, and seemed it would be fairly easy to add in place of the hand ratcheting mechanism. It was a normally closed (retracted) unit, so power is only consumed when it is "off" (released). Guess that might still be an issue with the electrical systems on these cars though. And you would HAVE to use it at all times (when the engine is off) to avoid draining the battery.
 
Could you imagine all the chatter here if the roles were reversed and cars always had electric brakes and I proposed hydraulics. Chief scare would be WHAT IF YOU GOT A HOLE IN A BRAKE LINE.
 
Or "how could we possibly seal the piston in each caliper, maybe we should try mechanical brakes"

But you gotta admit, how cool would it be to have electric brakes where you can dial in how much "assist" you want and front to back brake bias and how touchy you wan the brake pedal to be. And then Carl would say I only play with cars with hydraulic brakes because I don't like electrons.
 
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