I had leakage at the brake bleed screws with a soft pedal. Bled the brakes, then replaced the screws. I noticed that all 4 bleeder screws were leaking. Thought I ruined them by over tightening, then got new screws and tightened with a torque wrench after bleeding.

Pedal felt great for a few days, then started to feel more mushy. I noticed that one of the calipers was leaking from the threads around the bleeder screw. My conclusion was that the seat inside the caliper was messed up, so I replaced all 4 calipers. After bleeding, the pedal was still soft, but did feel a little better. Since the new calipers are painted, it is not easy to tell if the bleed screws are leaking. However, when I wiped the blue shop paper towel under the bleeder screws, two of them had slight fluid seepage where I could see wetness on the towel. I made sure they were dry beforehand and the fluid was not from before.

When bleeding the brakes, I bled them with the two person method in the normal order. (rear first). Then drove down a hill with HDC. Then bled them again with the rave order and a switch to power bleed.

This method worked before, but now, it seems to have not removed all the air from the system. Am I doing something wrong, or do I have to bleed it again. And what do I do about the brake caliper screws that are leaking and causing air to get in.


tldr: Brake pedal soft and caliper bleed screws still leaking after replacing both calipers and bleed screws.

 

Silly question - do you have the calipers installed upside down? Bleed screw points up.

 

Yours seems to be a rare issue but worth pointing out the value of troubleshooting known bad using known good parts. New parts are not always known good. I know not everyone can keep spare truck around, but sometimes it might be good to consider using used parts to start with and then resell them if you decide you really need new parts.

 

Bled the brakes again two days ago, pedal feels much better, and has not gotten soft (yet). It seems like all four calipers sometimes have slight amounts of fluid around the bleeder screws that comes back later after wiping. Usually its 1-2 screws that have fluid and not always the same ones. I'm thinking maybe this is just residual fluid in the bleeder screws that is hard to get out, then slowly seeps out when I go over bumps? Only thing concerning is that the left rear caliper bleed screw seems to have more fluid seepage than the others. Can I tighten it to 10 ft lbs instead of 7? Or is that too much?

 

Should be fine. You can look up any torque based on thread size with a google search but even 10 seems low.

 

It’s not the thread I’m afraid of damaging it’s the seat in the caliper and the cone on the screw. When driving again, 3 of the calipers were dry and the left rear had an increased amount of fluid coming out. I’m going to try changing the bleeder screw and making it tighter. Do I have to bleed all the brakes again or just this line?

 

I think you’r eon the right track -- but might want to do yourself a favor and use a pressure bleeder. The pump-bleed method is for the birds IMO - annoying unless needed in a pinch roadside. I stopped doing that about 20 years ago on any of my cars.

PS -- Just like filling a cooling system. I only fill them using a vacuum filer. Results are way more consistent.

 

@evil_goat There is either a problem with the calipers or bleeders if it is leaking at the bleeder The cone at the end of the bleeder is what seals so if it leaking at the bleeder there is something wrong at the mating surfaces.

Are you sure it is not the lines they are the most common failure point