Rear caliper leak

I replaced both rear calipers. Left side was dragging the pads. Right side bleeder broke off. Now They are leaking at the banjo bolt. I have tried two different sets of the copper washers and they are still dripping. Any suggestions what to try next?

Are you using 2 copper washers each, one on each side? Install the bolt without one washer to see if the bolt tries to bottom before getting tight. If it leaves the line loose, add another washer for total of 3. The threads may not be deep enough or the bolts don't match the caliper. ?????

Jim,

Use new copper washers and torque to 32 ft/lbs. Sometimes you can get away with reusing the old ones but not often. If you are using new ones and it still leaks, then you gotta a problem. The only other thing I can think of is that the hose end isn't oriented properly.

John F.

Texasjohn55, I will check the depth of the caliper threads. Now I remember that there were three washers on the banjo bolts. I thought it was a PO goof and only replaced with two washer. Hopefully an easy fix.

I've never removed or replaced any more than two copper washers on any caliper. One on each side of the hose end block. If you are using the original banjo bolt and hose and only two copper washers came off when disassembled, there should be no reason to add more washers unless the replacement ones are thinner. I don't know why that would be unless you got the wrong replacement washers.

Just my 2 cents.

OK... I just re-read your post. I see that you said there were three washers on when you disassembled it. I still don't know why there would be three there. Sumpin ain't rite.

John F.

I'm with John F on this one. You don't have the end properly oriented onto the caliper. If you look at how the two faces are machined and the line is offset, you will see only one side will fit flush to the caliper face, and how the hole is oriented, it will only line up in one way and have the line pointing in the right direction..

Anneal the copper washers. Copper gets hard with time and is not soft enough to seal. Hang your old copper washers on a steel wire and heat them red hot then squelch them in water. Works for me.

OK, found that the banjo bolt was bottoming out. I used three washers, two on top of the brake hose block and one underneath it. Looks like that has solved the leak. The hose oriented correctly, I had already double-checked that.