Tried replacing my own brake pads and ended up stranded at a gas station in Toledo

I was doing a brake job on my 2010 Honda Civic last Saturday in my driveway. Got the pads swapped fine but when I went to bleed the lines, I stripped the bleeder valve on the rear caliper. Had to drive to a gas station with almost no brakes to borrow tools and ended up calling a mobile mechanic to finish the job. Cost me $85 extra for his help, which pretty much wiped out my savings from doing it myself. Has anyone else run into stripped bleeder valves and found a good way to avoid it?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameronwest1mo agoMost Upvoted

Did you use a 6-point box wrench or just a regular 12-point one on that bleeder? I GUARANTEE that's what caused it to strip, those cheap combination wrenches round off soft brass bleeder valves EVERY time. I learned this the hard way on my old Subaru, rounded one off and had to extract it with a bolt extractor kit. You gotta use a 6-point flare nut wrench for bleeder valves, it grips the flats way better. Also always hit them with PB Blaster first and let it soak for 10-15 minutes before turning anything. Did the mobile mechanic say anything about what type of wrench he used to get it out?

perez.thea1mo ago

Did you use penetrating oil on those bleeder valves before you turned them? I've had the same thing happen on an old Ford Focus - now I always hit them with PB Blaster the night before and use a proper flare nut wrench, cheap wrenches are just asking for trouble.