The Bleeding Brakes
Time for the new puzzler. The new, old puzzler, as many of them are these days.
Okay here it is.
This was a real life situation. This actually happened to this customer years ago.
He had a 1982 Jeep CJ-7, and it had sticky front brake calipers. It was causing a problem.
So, he decided that he was going to rebuild them himself.
He bought the rebuilding kits for both front wheels and proceeded to rebuild the calipers by himself. The rebuilding kits included all the necessary o-rings, dust boots, as well as new steel pistons to complete the job.
He proceeded to rebuild both of these front calipers and was feeling good about it. He had no spare parts left over, and was satisfied that he did the rebuild job correctly. In fact, he thought his work was flawless.
However, when he finished the job, he couldn't seem to bleed the brakes properly. The pedal went to the floor as if there were air trapped in the system.
He must have bled a gallon of brake fluid through the system, to no avail. But there were no leaks.
Finally, he takes the Jeep to a shop, and using their professional equipment, they bleed them. But it doesn't help.
Finally, the shop says, "You need a new master cylinder."
The shop replaces the master cylinder three times, to no avail. They check the lines, they check the rear brakes, everything is in perfect condition. And then, they give up.
This goes on and on. After five days, three more masters cylinders, and many more gallons of brake fluid. He takes the thing to the Jeep dealer.
They bleed the brakes. They put in master cylinders. They do all this. And finally, someone figures it out, and it costs no money to get it fixed.
And the puzzler is, what did they do? What did the one brilliant Jeep mechanic notice that solved the issue?
