On my 1998 I was putting my new crown extended lines on and it was going alright until I went to bleed my brakes and my front passant bleeder rounded out. I mean why the **** are the front and rear bleeder valves different sizes? So anyway, what do I do now? I can't drive it due to no brakes and after it started slipping and rounded a little I tried vice grips high only made it worse. I'm thinking I'm gonna get some of the wrenches made for this... Any advice on how to fix the problem?

can take a smaller deep socket and bang it on there and see if it will remove/secure so you can get yourself a new one.


put line wrenches in your tool box man.

lots of pb blaster and a toy size pipe wrench.

if that doesn't work, or it snaps off the bleeder, get a new caliper.

Thanks guys, I'm gonna go out today and get a new bleeder valve. And if that breaks(ha, breaks brakes) how much are new calipers?

So, the bolt just keeps rounding. I tried a 6 sided wrench meant for it, a crescent wrench, pipe wrench and vice grips. Is there anything else I can try before I have to replace the caliper?

If you couldn't get it off with vice grips...
You might be doing it wrong.

Well, they just slip and round it over. Even with the use pb blaster I might add.

You should be able to adjust the vice grips (we are talking true vice grips right, not the Chinese stuff) tight enough to snap the bleeder off if it won't turn. Heat doesn't hurt either.

You might look at a pair of vice-grips with a different style of jaw.

Mail order calipers are ~$30-50.

Obvious lesson here is that bleeders need to be nicely snugged up, no more. Speed bleeders come with some anti-seize applied. I love those things and have them all around but don't recall if anti-seize is recommended for installation of standard bleeders.

Stop dicking around with rusty bleeder screws and just replace the calipers.

This is what I'm starting to think. Is it as easy to get the ones with pads and everything in them and just bolt them in and run the brake line into them?

Pretty much. Just make sure the bleeders are pointing up.

You mean that the bleeders are on the top side of the caliper?

Yes. Above the midline. If they are below, they are installed on the wrong side of the vehicle.

If all you did was replace the hose, its possible to bleed that side from the banjo bolt. Its not the right way to do it but it might buy you some time before you can fix it right. Unless you messed with the caliper by compressing it and squirting all the fluid out of it, it probably has hardly any air in it and a bleed at the banjo bolt might work.