Changing a rear caliper on the 182 - couple of questions.

[Kristophh]

Hello,

I've never changed a caliper or bled the brakes before, not been driving for long so I'm trying to learn to make things a bit cheaper.

My rear o/s caliper had seized and I've got a replacement being delivered tomorrow.

My main question really is will the whole system need bleeding? I haven't bled them in a year of ownership.

If they do, how is it best to do this? I have a fiend who's offered a hand and has a bleeding kit.

I've read you shouldn't drain it completely without topping it up as you go? So is it a case of pouring in as you pump the brakes. Then move to the next caliper, repeat?


Any advice would be great!

Thanks.

 

[mikeh]

Put a plastic bag over the reservoir and put the cap back on or a elastic band or something, remove the caliper and pipe and simply refit and bleed.

A full reservoir should be plenty to bleed the brakes without refilling, but I'd go down to Halfords or similar and pickup an EZ-Bleed - it makes the job ridiculously easy.

Just fill up the ezbleed bottle with fluid, connect to the reservoir and a tyre valve and then open each bleed valve starting from the rear opposite to the reservoir until the fluid runs clear.

Chances are you'll only need to do the caliper you've replaced.

 

[Kristophh]

Yeah, it's an EZ Bleed I'll be borrowing.

So I'll clamp the brake hose, remove the caliper, re-attach, bleed with the kit.

One thing I'm unsure about is the handbrake cable. Is that fairly straight forward to remove and reattach to the caliper?

 

[mikeh]

I think it just hooks into the arm IIRC.

I've never been a fan of clamps, so tend to use the method of sealing the reservoir to stop fluid loss.