Broken Bleed Screw (with rant)
 

Nothing torques my shorts (in relationship to my truck) than taking it in for service, then discovering later that another repair is required for a component that was involved in the last repair.

Case-in-point....

Had new brakes installed this past summer. I had 8K miles on the new brakes when a noise prompted me to take it back in before the warranty on the repair expired. Turns out it was a minor issue (which they fixed) but I was also presented with a list of recommended repairs to the tune of nearly $2000.

Say what?!

Aside from wanting to install new upper and lower ball joints (typical... I get that everywhere I go), a new master cylinder and a new tie-rod, they wanted $261 to replace a broken bleeder screw on the passenger-side rear caliper.

I was pissed! Mostly because six months ago, I watched the tech bleed all four brakes right there on the lift. The bleeder seemed to be fine then!!

When I asked the manager if he planned on repairing it, I just got a look and was told that, "a rock probably hit it and broke it off."

Now, if you're not familiar with where the bleeder screw is, it's positioned in a fairly well out of the way spot on the backside of the caliper assembly. It's not hanging down or in some perilous position.

Anyway, I assume this should be a fairly easy repair?

Extract the old bleeder, put in a new one, refill the reservoir and bleed the brakes.

Am I missing anything? Heck, I probably don't even need to jack it up! The truck that is...

Just doing a bit of googling for the part... does anyone know if "speed bleeders" are available for 2003 Dakota?

I'm sure speed bleeders are available just go to www.autozone.com and check. Replacing them are easy. But depending how bad it is it may be hard to extract. If it is "Broken" you would loose all you fluid. It may just be bent.

Wow thats a typical shop trying to rob people.

Those bleeder screws are really soft. The nut portion can be rounded off extremely easy. The tech working on the truck probably rounded it off and then decided they wanted to charge you for it.

They're like a dollar at autozone. If it's rounded off, a pair of vice grips may be in order. If you still can't get it out, heat it up. Then it will come out. Trust me, I've had to do this more than one time.

Yeah, it's not rounded off, the nibb is broken clean off... flush with the caliper.

I figured I'll have to drill and use an extraction bit to get the old one outta there.

I'm curious. Does it looks like someone cut it off? Maybe some tried to grind it off or Cut it off with a hacksaw or something?

I'm really curious. How are you not losing brake fluid?

Well you can either A. get a new bleeder at auto zone which are like 3.00 only cause you have to get the multi pack with like 4 different sizes or B. you can get a whole new caliper which mine on my dak was 29.99 Which either route is still cheaper than 261.00

Hey guys,

I didn't get close enough to see if it had been hacked off, ground down or what but what's left is fairly flush with the caliper.

I guess the screw is in far enough (and tight enough?) so that no fluid is leaking out, but now that you've mentioned it, I think I'll double-check.

Amazingly, I finally found a dealership to give me some info. There are two corresponding part numbers for these things and they are specific (so I'm told) to the rear caliper(s)... because "most" Dak's came with a front disc/rear drum setup and not the 4-wheel discs?? (That's that the parts guy at the dealer told me). I have the 4-wheel disc setup. Anyway... here it is.

Part Num: 5093343AA -or- 5179732AA
Also used on '05 - 08 Grand Cherokee and Commander

I'm thinking of installing a set of the "speed bleeder" screws. Anyone have opinions for or against?

I don't know anything about speed bleeders, so I can't help you there, but if it were me I would just go for a new caliper instead of trying to drill and remove the snapped off bleeder. The thoughts of drilling and possibly contaminating the caliper would be enough to make me take the easy way out. As far as why no fluid leaks out is because it broke off with it closed. The bleeder is just a long tube it doesn't mater if it is broke off as long as the end is still bottemed out in the caliper keeping it sealed.

Yeah I remembered that after I posted... Had a brain fart moment.