Wheel cylinder leaking, must it be change immediately?

CHR15

^^ Are you an ex Kwik Fit mechanic :j

anewman

The original shoes might be okay if there is no contamination and they have plenty of thickness left. It just looks more difficult to change rear shoes than it is, and you have to make sure grease *ONLY* goes on the pivot points on the backplate, and not on the shoe linings. The most difficult bits are likely to be separating the handbrake cables from the shoes, removing the old wheel cylinders, and bleeding the brakes once everything is refitted.

Yes they do need replacing, granted sometimes rear drums make almost zero brake effort, but once you have lost all your brake fluid the front ones won't be working either

The caps are dust seals, you can often catch a cylinder leak early by examining underneath them. I don't know if applying a screwdriver to the rear cylinder in such a manner would cause a leak but I wouldn't like to try. I am sure kwackfit's methods involve just spraying oil onto the desired area.

Hammyman

newbie007 wrote: »

Thanks for the fast replies guys. Seems like I either bite the bullet and get it replaced or sell and declare the fault to the new owner and get a lower price for it.

You cannot sell it knowing it has that fault without leaving yourself liable if the buyer had an accident as a result of the fault. The only way would be not to tell the buyer but then could you live with your conscience?

NiallB

Just don't do what I did if you're changing it yourself-

When you've changed the cylinder, REMEMBER TO PUT THE HUB BACK ON BEFORE YOU PUSH THE BRAKE PEDAL TO TEST YOUR WORK.

*pop*

*pop*

*squirt*

!!!!!!.......

:mad:

cyclonebri1

I can't actually believe you posted this in the 1st place. With your obvious ignorance of braking systems please don't try to fix it yourself. :eek:

As said several times the rubber seal keeps crap out not brake fluid in. The advice to change both cylinders and shoes is correct, take it.

mcjordi

yeah i would get it done asap as you could loose brakes without warning as happened to me. its not too bad of a job diy to do them tbh. the hardest part for me was pumping the brakes without a second person lol

mrdave2

The brakes on your car are really important!! (no surprises there!). Althought most of the braking is carried out by the front brakes and the rear are just 'a support act' they shouldnt be neglected. The brakes on all modern cars are split in to 2 hydraulic circuits. The left front and the right rear are connected and the right front and left rear. If one of these hydraulic circuits fail or become weak (by a leaking wheel cylinder as an example) then all of the brakes on that circuit are affected. It will mean that on that circuit you will have reduced braking efficency. So if the front do most of the braking they will then become weaker and imbalanced due to 1 of your cylinders leaking.

Please also accept the warning that changing a wheel cylinder is not a quick and easy job. They are a bit fiddly to do at the best of times, but what happens when something goes wrong?! I think it is worth while investing in a proffesional to carry out this repair.

anewman

mrdave2 wrote: »

Please also accept the warning that changing a wheel cylinder is not a quick and easy job. They are a bit fiddly to do at the best of times, but what happens when something goes wrong?! I think it is worth while investing in a proffesional to carry out this repair.

True it's not quick and easy, but it's not exactly highly challenging. The main likely problems are the brake pipe nut being seized, or the cylinder retaining bolts being seized and/or rounding off.

Rolandtheroadie

anewman wrote: »

True it's not quick and easy, but it's not exactly highly challenging. The main likely problems are the brake pipe nut being seized, or the cylinder retaining bolts being seized and/or rounding off.

I've fought tooth and nail with springs for rear shoes and had drums on and off repeatedly trying to set them up before getting it through the wee hole for the purpose (vauxhall).
Thats excluding any air lock/bleeding issues.
The siezed brake pipe nut could turn into a fractured/twisted brake pipe and the rounded retaining bolts will give the garage you eventually go to more of a headache (that you'll be paying for).

newbie007_2

I have decided best thing to do is to get these change, brake shoes & cylinders. Since I dont have the right tools or experience I decided it will go to the mechanic tomorrow or friday pending arrival of parts ordered. Had it been the front pads and discs I would of attempt to change it myself as its a simpler job and also I have the tools for it. £50 mechanic will charge me for labour.