Exploding brake reservoir

[Rees4]

This happened to me yesterday whilst bleeding my brakes with new fluid after changing disc's and pads front and rear. Had purchased upgraded discs and pads allround and set about changing them with the help of a couple of mates who know wot they are doin. after fitting them we attachd the bleeding kit which runs off the pressure of your tire when 'BANG', the brake reservoir exploded and sent brake fluid all over me and the car. The bleed kit was capable of holding 20lb of pressure and the brakes were being bled at the time but the reservoir being 10yrs old now and may hav become brittle just blew open. After a manic few minutes of spraying wd40 and wipe'ing the fluid off we inspected the reservoir and a split had appeard about 2'' long at the back, just above the join. We then drained the rest of the fluid out of the system, put the wheel on and i proceeded to jet wash and wash the car down. The paint work seems to be ok but as my mate informed me that if it had been normal brake fluid not the dot 5.1 that we were using, my paintwork would of been stripped. So now ive got to purchase a new reservoir from a stealer probably and go through that 'bleeding' process again lol.

[imolas4uk]

yeah that will happen if you exceed 1 bar pressure when bleeding the brakes or clutch that way,best way to get the brake fluid off is lots of warm soapy water and it shouldn`t make any difference dot 4 or 5.1 ,just the good wash youve allready done should be good enough.stick on a new res and bleed it up all good

[MilkybarKid]

Same happened to me, i was a bit luckier as it only managed to spray itself onto the windscreen and a bit under the bonnet.

[MilkybarKid]

Oh and there are 2 different reservoirs for these mate, 1 had horiz feed/drain, the other is vertical, make sure they give you the right one

[bobbler]

The brake bleed kit IS capable of holding 20, but if you read the instructions again you will find that is the MAXIMUM rating and that you should be able to bleed most systems with around 5 to 10 PSI, its on like page 2 or something.
Reservoir is not rated to that high though, so even when you get a new one DO NOT try to bleed them at 20PSI, it will only split again.
I know exactly what has happened, because I did the exact same thing...with the same kit LOL. Let air out the tyre to around 20PSI, connected the thing to the res and BANG - brake fluid all over the windscreen and on the roof a bit, mad run around trying to find something to clean it off quick.

I bled mine just the other week with the same kit again now I have the replacement reservoir, bubbles cleared through easily enough at a rating of 7PSI no bother.
Gunsons EZ Bleeder

[MrV]

On the B5s, the brake fluid reservoir bottles always pop! Even with the VAG kit they still burst. I've got to do a brake fluid service on mine and by the look of it, the brake fluid hasn't been changed for a LONG time. I've already bought a new bottle