Anyone ever repaired a stripped bleeder valve on a caliper?

I have a GLI brake conversion on my TDI, and one of the rear bleeder screws stripped. I am pretty certain I have a solution, however I would love to hear from someone who has actually done it themselves and had success (if that person is out there) thanks!

Did you strip the threads, or round off the hex? I don't intend to come across as too technical, but both problems are often referred to as "stripped."

Righto, sorry for not clarifying. There was galvanic corrosion between the caliper and the nipple threads. When I removed it part of the aluminum came out in the threads and damaged the remaining threads on the way out (threads in the caliper) it tightened up "ok" but after several sets of bleeding it finally rounded out and just spins. The upper portion of the threads in the caliper are gone, the lower (about half) are still in good shape. So I may just get a nipple that has threads further down toward the bleed hole, at least that's what I am going to try first. Just wanted to see if anyone had the same problem and see how they solved it. Worse comes to worse I will put a bolt in it, loosen it for some good old fashion gravity bleed, and just roll with it

There are bleeder screw repair kits available, but I've never used one.

I believe they get permanently inserted and contain two parts, a sleeve and new screw.

Here's one:



About $3.50 and made from brass. It doesn't get any easier...

you could also get your local garage to put a helicoil in. This is a new thread made from stainless , its better than the original in all cases.

Yes I have done helicoils before, that was another one of my options.

I really like the look of that brass 2 piece! I will have to see if I can get one

Thanks guys!

I didn't know about the bleeder screw repair kits. This past June I tried to chase the threads on my right rear caliper using a 9mm tap, but only made it worse. Took a walk to Auto Zone, twice for a reman caliper; but both were bad. I got a ride to O'reilly, and their reman caliper proved to be good. This took all afternoon. So I personally would not bother trying to fix the threads. I also have SS speed bleeders in all four calipers.

Tapping it would likely require a special bleeder tap in order to seat the screw properly - and you would need to insure your tap's end taper fit the screw profile.

The kit on the other hand needs nothing more than a threaded bore - just ensure you do it by the numbers (if it says drill with X size drill, use the exact one specified) and it should be simple, not a machinists task like a tapped and tapered seat.

Why throw away a perfectly good and safe caliper to save 5 minutes of labor and a $5 part?

SuburbanTDI: I went to advance auto today and got the 2 piece bleeder. Used some jb weld to seal it in really well. Worked great, just did 20 miles. Thanks for the suggestion!

If the piece was threaded in tight on the remaining lower threads then any additional 'help' from the JB won't make a difference.

JB itself wouldn't have held a plug under pressure long enough to even go around the block, but it's not a plug - it's a threaded fitting.

I really like SuburbanTDI's solution. I've never had this problem before, so I've never actually used one, but it looks like the outer piece has tapered pipe threads, which will seal it into the caliper with a little sealant; the inner threads and internal seat should take care of sealing the bleeder itself.

Other repair techniques (Heli-Coil, etc.) put the tapered seat for the bleeder at risk; this sucker allows you to drill the seat out and install a new one. Excellent!!!!!

The lower portion of the threads engaged well. I put some loc tite on the lower portion and sealed the very top part where it was stripped with jb weld. It worked like a charm.

Okay , then

the nut will be tight but will it seal the fluid ?