# Free Quick Fix for All Leaking Hydralic MTB Brakes



## Tim McDroid (Jul 29, 2017)

My brakes are less than a year old 
Leaking mineral oil almost drove me crazy...Leaking at lever..leaky piston seal ..poor performing squeaky brakes..Everyday alcohol for rotors ...Sand brakes.bleed.
My Brakes would work good for one ride then rinse repeat the next day..
Sound Familar..
Within minutes of my recipe..brakes stop leaking and now after a week .....all is good.
.

A short Mechanical story..
My cailper piston were not leaking around piston seal..They were leaking where piston seal was touching caliper housing.
When I took caliper apart I noticed corrosion around metal insert for piston seal I litely sanded it smooth..My lever piston O ring leaking also..
So
Spend 2 to 400 bucks..I was expecting years from my expensive hydralic brakes.

......OR
@@@@
CARS..have leak sealent for engines trannys power steering radiator.Pour it in and little leaks sealed..

My Leaky hydralic MTB brake cure..
U need
1. Hydralic Bleed kit
2. FOX or Rock Shox Old air seal..(dense sticky rubber that handles air and oil)
3. DREMEL with Sanding Disk.
4. Paper
5.Razor Blade
6.Hydralic Bleed Kit

Procedure
......Sand air seal with dremel catching particles on piece of paper..1/4 of a spoon of rubber dust bits..No chunks as it will plug the brake ports

......Set up for full bleed..Funnels sringes bleeding block
.
..Pull top out of sringe add rubber dust bits 
ADD Mineral oil filling 3/4 ..Replace top of sringe..
Shake sringe then attach to caliper bleed port..
.... Wrench open bleed port push oil through brake line filling up cup at lever.
If black particles are not in cup use sringe to empty cup leave 1/4 full in cup ..reattach to caliper and repeat..
...Now close bleed port..Squeeze brake lever to bar open bled port then close bleed port.Release lever..Squeeze lever a few times tl it feels solid..Repeat this a few times...
My leaks stop instantly..Clean rotors pads etc.
Bed your brakes ..Bam Bam 

Lastly..I don't do big hill riding.So no big heat
My brakes were under a year old..So seals were in good shape.

Remember to clean pistons be4 adding new brakes as u will push dirt into brake fluid.

Lastly my top lever was leaking and I took it apart..There's a metal plate and I made a slight U bend so when screwed together more pressure was put on cylinder seal..Seem to work..

Ok long writey Sry.

To the companies making this stuff..

Access to new seal replacement for your brakes would be good..Trashing a new brake because of a 1 dollar piston seal is knutts Warrenty your product for 5 yrs or give us access to replacement parts for doityourselfers mtb fixers

Hope this saves you time and money and maddmess
Post your ideas .Noodles are great bike protectors .No scratchy the paint job 

Ill update over next 3 months ..
I ride a lot 2 to 5 hrs a day....
1 week later Brakes ate working fantastic no leaks.
Forks...
Also same powder 1/8 of spoon can be mixed with fork air chamber oil..If your losin travel caused by air seal allowing air from positive into negative .
That's working great also...

Don't be so negative the web is littered with leaky hydralic brakes .Bike maybe second hand or warrenty is up or your dealers are scammers..Try it or not and spend the money

Tim McDroid


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## phlegm (Jul 13, 2006)

[Edit - I thought I saw a reference to Shimano in your post. If so, below applies, and you needn't interact with the bike shop.]

You have a 2-year warranty:
https://bike.shimano.com/content/dam/productsite/shimano-northamerica/pdf/SAC%20Warranty.pdf


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## Tim McDroid (Jul 29, 2017)

*Warrenties*

Most MTB Stores in my area are like insurance companies....They make you sweat so they dont have to pay out...
Its riding season ..Will Shimano Uber Me new brakes for tommorrow....or is it a pile of madding hoops...
.Leaking brakes are a big issue for everyone..
Thx 4 info I will take a peek


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

wtf did I just read?

I've never had problems with leaky hydraulic brakes. And I've always had at least 1 set in rotation since 2003. Have had Magura, Shimano, and SRAM brakes. I have had problems, and leaking has never been one of them.

I have also had a good bit of stuff warrantied. Including Shimano brake parts. Yes, you have to wait a little bit. But Shimano is quite good with their warranty process.


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## euro-trash (Feb 9, 2008)

Tim McDroid said:


> Leaking brakes are a big issue for everyone..


I assure you they are not. Even if they were, home 'hacks' are not the answer.


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## One Pivot (Nov 20, 2009)

Holy Jesus! Yeah, don't do that to your brakes.

My slx brakes are leak free, and a few years old now.


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## EBG 18T (Dec 31, 2005)

Of all the brakes I have and have installed on builds I can only think of 1 that leaked and it was due to a damaged olive on a Hope SS line. It was install error on my part due to rushing pre-race. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


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## RAKC Ind (Jan 27, 2017)

Ya couldn't pay me to do that. Nice work on coming up with an off the wall solution that is at least working for the moment.

Shimano brakes have a 2 year warranty, problem solved there. The brakes that are on the bike are $150 for the set.

Only way all that would be leaking on one full set of brakes, SOMEONE put the wrong fluid in it. Aka someone put DOT fluid in Shimano brakes. Now if it was one piston or lever not all of it then I could see manufacturer defect, but the entire system, nope DOT fluid was put in it.

The issue being fixed was more likely the correct fluid being installed but lucky you, it worked for now. 

And truly, I wouldn't be calling myself a mechanic if I had to rely on bottles to fix leaks, they are a bandage that cause worse problems not long down the road. I am one, ASE Tech, have been for pushing 20 years and only ever used a bottle as a temp fix for someone who had little money and couldn't afford the repair. Only "bottles" of that nature we use are lubegaurd transmission additives and ones that are cleaning agents like seafoam.

Was an interesting thought process to try to replicate those products to fix brakes but there is a reason why nothing like that exists for brakes. It's insanely dangerous and not reliable.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


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## chazpat (Sep 23, 2006)

RAKC Ind said:


> Shimano brakes have a 2 year warranty, problem solved there.


I think the warrantee says something about being voided if you inject rubber dust bits into the system.

Buy hey, I give him some respect for putting all that effort in and I guess it is working for him, at least for now.


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## Tim McDroid (Jul 29, 2017)

Lots of Negativey
So 
Pockets full of money fixes anything..TRUE
MTB Industry prices are 600 percent mark up TRUE
Mtb tyres that mount with a manufactured wobble 50 percent of the time must be just bad luck..TRUE hmmm
The list goes on with the defects from poorly thought out products..Hydralic brakes are on top of that list..

I can buy front pads for my van for 18 dollars...
Little Chinese MTB brakes 50 dollars with finns

Most likely above posts work for shimano or mtb store and gobble up our money with "Why we shouldnt"

My post is for 80 perxent of mountain bikers on a budget or second hand bikes or not using life saving to fix a teenagers toy..

Tim McDcDroid.
P.S your brake line are full of debris even after changing brake fluid ..Cars trucks and now bikes..That's what seals the leaks.in older brakes
.A good mechanic Knows


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## RAKC Ind (Jan 27, 2017)

Tim McDroid said:


> Lots of Negativey
> So
> Pockets full of money fixes anything..TRUE
> MTB Industry prices are 600 percent mark up TRUE:. FALSE BY EPIC PROPORTIONS.
> ...


One word WARRANTY.

And no one that calls themselves a mechanic would think fixing brakes that way was the best way around paying out the nose FOR NOTHING WHEN THE ENTIRE SYSTEM CAN BE REPLACED FOR FREE UNDER WARRANTY. But seeing as how you avoided the warranty, I'm guessing you are the one that put DOT fluid in the brakes and killed them.

And you mention broke riders except what your bikes costs. Cost as much as both my bikes combined when I bought them. One used, one new. New one upgraded over time.

So your sounding a bit hypocritical and also like your trying to spread some false information like it's a meme on Facebook. Doesn't work here.

Final note, automotive brakes and the like, once first service is done and if schedule is followed debris in the fluid is 1/100th of what you just did. Your giving mechanics a bad name here.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


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## phlegm (Jul 13, 2006)

So many things to say here.

1. Your bike, OP, is $2700 US new - maybe 3500 CAD + tax? While not crazy compared to some bikes these days, it is certainly not inexpensive by any means. I'm having trouble rationalizing your cost ranting as a result.

2. Assuming stock, your bike has Shimano M615 (Deore) brakes. While not their top of the line, they should be bullet proof. 

3. We've touched on warranty again, which I'd agree is a bummer in the middle of riding season. However your post suggests this has been an issue since day one, and thus could have been sent in for warranty replacement over the winter.

4. Even if you hate the bike shop - and that's fine, some are better than others - there'd be nothing stopping me from getting my $3500 dollar bike fixed under warranty. It costs you nothing, so I'm unsure why you wouldn't avail yourself of that opportunity, especially if could be done over the winter - see #3.

5. I'd have to agree that the universal seal failures, and corrosion you cite suggests the use of DOT fluid in error. Your references to home auto repair also suggests you use that fluid. Any chance a winter tune up used DOT fluid? Might explain the reluctance for warranty repair - see #4.

I applaud your fix, and sharing it, but a couple of things in your reasoning don't make sense.

The anti-product ranting is probably unjustified too, as the only issues I've ever had with hydro brakes is the mess I make on bleeding, and sometimes a poor bleed (some air left), which is my fault.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

You can tell school is out.....


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## Lone Rager (Dec 13, 2013)

One way or the other, I would not call that a quick fix. TLDR


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## Osco (Apr 4, 2013)

Buwhahahaha what a thread !!

That was Funnay :~D


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## euro-trash (Feb 9, 2008)

I think he's a dentist putting out these 'tips' so he can buy yet another S-Works.


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## Fairbanks007 (Sep 5, 2009)

Harold said:


> wtf did I just read?
> 
> I've never had problems with leaky hydraulic brakes. And I've always had at least 1 set in rotation since 2003. Have had Magura, Shimano, and SRAM brakes. I have had problems, and leaking has never been one of them.
> 
> I have also had a good bit of stuff warrantied. Including Shimano brake parts. Yes, you have to wait a little bit. But Shimano is quite good with their warranty process.


^ +1 on this. I've been on hydraulic brakes since around 2001 or so, and I've never had a leak. Actually, including my Magura HS-33's probably back to '95 or so. No leaks.


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## macacomonita (2 d ago)

I have a two years old bike and I have this issue with one of the Promax F1 brake levers since day one me too and I didnt anything because it constantly leaks a very little fluid så every 6 month I fill it with some more drops (my easy fix but sometimes my fingers get really black/dirty!


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## louiesquared (6 mo ago)

Tim McDroid said:


> MTB Industry prices are 600 percent mark up TRUE


I call 100% BS. Show me your source for this.


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## cmg (Mar 13, 2012)

only time my Shimano brakes leaked, was because l broke the ceramic piston in the caliper.

Besides that leak l have never had a leak in all my Shimano brake systems, and l in no worry about so so things.......


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## slapheadmofo (Jun 9, 2006)

louiesquared said:


> I call 100% BS. Show me your source for this.


You're a few years late to the conversation. LOL


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## louiesquared (6 mo ago)

slapheadmofo said:


> You're a few years late to the conversation. LOL


Not sure if you are agreeing with me or the OP?


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## slapheadmofo (Jun 9, 2006)

louiesquared said:


> Not sure if you are agreeing with me or the OP?


Neither..
Just informing you that you're replying to a 5 year old thread and the OP hasn't been on this site since then.


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## louiesquared (6 mo ago)

slapheadmofo said:


> Neither..
> Just informing you that you're replying to a 5 year old thread and the OP hasn't been on this site since then.


Doh! I didn't even notice. Thanks for pointing it out. At least I'm not the one that resurrected it. LOL


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