Battling bleeder valves on calipers. Possible fix.

[Ole Eggers]

Hey guys

Just watched a couple shows with our favorite guy Eric and watched the battle with bleeder valves.

I find that penetrating oil does squat to corroded aluminum. It can´t really dissolve the corrosion like it can with rust.

I use contact cleaner for electrical equipment instead. Most of them penetrates and dissolves corrosion on aluminum much better than any penetrating oil does.

First, grab a wirebrush made of stainless steel instead of a regular random wirebrush.( Wirebrushes leaves a tiny bit of iron residue when used and that will lead to further corrosion along the line) Next, use the contact cleaner and let it soak for around 10 min. Then use it again to flush away any dissolved corrosion and get even further in.

Tap the bleedervalve vertically with a hammer a couple times and it should now come loose.

I hope this will help some of you and excuse me, if I messed up English a bit writing this.

Topic

[EricTheCarGuy]

Cool. I’ll have to try that. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Ole Eggers]

No problem Eric.

I use the same method when struggling with doorlocks that is stuck. Most are made with an aluminum housing and cylinder.

The stainless wirebrush is also recommended if you intend to glue, solder or weld aluminum. It can mean the difference between success and failure. I learned that when selling glues and epoxy products for metal repairs.

[Dave]

In the rust belt area I usually have to heat and quench a few times.
I heard of a mixture of automatic transmission fluid and acetone is superior to penetrating fluid.
I haven’t tried it yet. (keep flames away once applied)
I found that the heat helps the penetrant to seep and breaks up the corrosion.

[Author]

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