On Thursday my local cheap mechanic replaced my front o/s wheel bearing for me which meant disconnecting the front brake caliper. My brakes are now really spongey when I first start the car in the morning and remain much softer than before throughout the day. I took the car back to him on Saturday and he said it wouldnt have anything to do with him disconnecting my front brake.

A friend of mine who's good with cars seems to think that my cheap mechanic should have removed the filler cap on the brake fluid reservoir (which he didnt) before removing the brake caliper and that the following probably happened: The piston was pulled back in order to remove the front brake caliper causing the brake fluid in the reservoir to rise, which in turn has blown the seals inside the master cylinder, just because the filler cap wasnt removed first!

My haynes manual says the opposite and that you should remove the cap, place a piece of polythene sheeting over the opening, then refit the cap to prevent excessive loss of brake fluid when the caliper is removed?

WHO IS RIGHT, MY FRIEND OR THE HAYNES MANUAL?...

Any ideas/advice/suggestions will be gratefully recieved?...

When you say disconnected, do you mean the caliper was unbolted from the upright, or it was unbolted as well as the brake flexi hose was removed? I'd guess he's took it right off (no idea why) and then has bled the brakes poorly, or again my assumption would be not at all!

L14MNP wrote:When you say disconnected, do you mean the caliper was unbolted from the upright, or it was unbolted as well as the brake flexi hose was removed? I'd guess he's took it right off (no idea why) and then has bled the brakes poorly, or again my assumption would be not at all!

He only unbolted the caliper from the upright and didnt remove the brake flexi hose so no need to bleed the system. I think its possible to replace the wheel bearing without having to detach the brake flexi hose, which is what he did. It feels as if I have an airlock but I dont see how as none of the brake fluid lubricating system has been detached either when I replaced my brake shoes or when the wheel bearing was done on Thursday!!