Bleeding brakes
i can't get the nut (or whatever you call it) off the bleeder valve... 9mm is to small and 10mm is to big. I have tried every thing possible and now have rounded it off. What do I do? How will I bleed my lines? Thanks for all the help!
Break out your trusty Vise-Grips. But, before you try to turn the fitting, give it a good rap with hammer....Of course you will need to replace the fitting with a new one or a suitable used one. (The fitting cap is probably 3/8", right in the middle of your 9mm and 10mm wrenches.....Lotta younger members don't remember the British system of wrench sizes: 1/16, 1/8, 3/16, 1/4, 5/16, 11/32, etc., all in fractions of an inch. The only odd-ball was that 19/32" weirdo.)We used to have a handfull of wrenches to do all the jobs, but with the advent of the metric system we now need a million wrenches: Start with 4mm, 4.5mm, 5mm, 5.5mm, 6mm, 7mm, 8mm, 9mm, 10mm, 11mm.....19mm, 22mm and on and on.
Last edited by Kattumaram; Jan 10, 2011 at 08:01 PM.
Always use a box wrench on bleeder valves to keep from rounding them off. All newer Fords are from 9 - 13 mm metric.
Sounds like the bleeder was overtightened at one point or you have a corrosion weld.
PB blaster (let it sit) and vice grips set as tight as they will go (no dude, I mean really tight, so tight you have to use both hands to lock it) and a series of taps (not too hard) of a small hammer on the vice grips counter clockwise should do the trick. I had that problem once on a car and I know it is a true pain in the rear. I had used an open end wrench and rounded it off so after that fiasco, I bought a really nice set of metric box end wrenches and have not rounded anything off since.
Unless there is no other way, open end wrenches are nut killers.
Sounds like the bleeder was overtightened at one point or you have a corrosion weld.
PB blaster (let it sit) and vice grips set as tight as they will go (no dude, I mean really tight, so tight you have to use both hands to lock it) and a series of taps (not too hard) of a small hammer on the vice grips counter clockwise should do the trick. I had that problem once on a car and I know it is a true pain in the rear. I had used an open end wrench and rounded it off so after that fiasco, I bought a really nice set of metric box end wrenches and have not rounded anything off since.
Unless there is no other way, open end wrenches are nut killers.

