Tektro Auriga Comp bleeding

robst3

Has anyone managed to bleed these suckers succesfully?

Mine came fitted to my 2008 Mongoose Amasa comp.

I've seen various place selling a bleed/service kit for the tektro brakes but it doesn't come with the outlet nipple that screws into the reservoir - anyone know where to get one from?

Thanks,

Rob

davildo

I've got Auriga pro.
I think they are the same to bleed but not sure, so you might have to check.
I've never used the screw adaptor thing, the one from the kit doesn't fit (well I couldn't make it fit).
I tried removing the top of the reservoir but that was a bit fiddly.
IIRC I ended up bleeding upwards, attaching the syringe to the caliper and then holding a tube in the hole on the reservoir.
It seemed to give me the best results.
I hope that makes sense.
Cheers.

robst3

thanks for the reply, I figured I could try that way but thought without the correct fitting on the reservoir the fluid might spill everywhere when I pushed it through? I guess not though if you had good results - will give it a go!

Thanks

davildo

You have to be a bit careful but if the tube is cut straight (so that it is flush in the hole) you can drain it straight into a bottle or something. I taped the other end of the tube into a 500ml plastic bottle so that I could hold the tube firmly in the hole.
You can then push the fluid into the caliper with the syringe with one hand, whilst holding the other tube against the reservoir.
Good luck. It took a bit of faffing but I got a good result in the end.

robst3

Thanks alot I will give that ago.

Also have to bleed the brakes on another bike which has Promax Q3s. They don't have a bleed nipple on the caliper or reservoir so no idea how i'm going to manage that!

davenice

Really stupid that it's so hard to get the bleed nipple, but it does seem to be!

I took the front brake (lever and caliper) off and took it to my LBS. They guy took it out back and produced the right nipple - cost £3.

I've bought some more of the plastic tubing from B&Q, too - I needed the 2nd size up from the smallest.

Also Halfords mineral oil (has to be mineral oil, not DOT brake fluid) is waaaay cheaper than the tektro stuff with the bleed kit. You're not meant to mix the types though - I've bought two tubs of Halfords stuff and will push a good lot through to flush out the original Tektro oil.

Note that apparently there's a bit of a problem with the reservoir holding air, Northwind describes how to avoid that here, a page or two down:
http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12601324

However I didn't do that when I bled my brakes, and they seem OK. I did have to put more oil in the system than the instructions suggested, to get a firm feel at the brake lever. To do that, I:
1. replace the bleed nipple cover at the lever end
2. squeeze reasonably hard on the oil syringe
3. while still squeezing, tighten the nut at the bleed port on the caliper
4. check if the lever feels firm enough
5. if not, undo the nut again and repeat 2 -> 4, squeezing harder this time!

Good luck, and report back if you follow Northwind's advice about loosening the reservoir cover - the only time I ever loosened mine, mineral oil started oozing out so I'm a bit reticent.

I also need replacement reservoir cap bolts (my brakes were 2nd hand and bolts already rounded) so if you find a source for them...!

Cheers,

Dave

Liam1611

I normally undo the top reservoir cap, use a syringe with a piece of clear plastic hose available from most Aquarium shops which connects to the bleed nipple, undo the bleed nipple and extract the existing oil from the system. Once empty, clean the syringe and re-fill with new oil. Attach to bleed nipple and feed into system, pumping the brake lever until you remove all the air bubbles.Once done re-fit the top reservoir cap and put a little more pressure onto the syringe so that it retains pressure in the system. Close bleed nipple and test the brakes, if the pads are too tight undo bleed nipple pull back on the syringe removing some of the mineral oil, if the brakes don't bite, untighten nipple and add a little more fluild, until you are satisfied with it. As the system is now "closed" no air can get in and you can adjust the feel until you are satisfied. Works for me. You can always download the instructions availabe here.

http://www.tektro.com/_english/03_suppo ... 205586.pdf

Regards

Liam

robst3

For anyone interested I found a bleed nipple and was able to bleed these succesfully.

What you need is the GT root bleed kit:

http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/mph_r ... d_kit.html

You can see the silver bleed nipple in the picture, that fits the bleed hole on the reservoir on pre '09 auriga comps.

The rubber tubing that comes with the kit is too big and doesn't fit the nipple or syringe securely enough (stupid...) so you need to find some from somewhere else (I got mine from some of those novelty straw glasses!)

Then I raised the caliper above the reservoir, put a plastic tab in between the pads and a bit of rubber hose on the nipple, attached the silver nipple to the reservoir and the syrings to the nipple and pushed the fluid through after opening the caliper nipple. Stopped when no more little bubbles came out, tightened the caliper nipple, put caliper below the reservoir, squeezed the syringe a bit more then took the nipple out of reservoir and reinstalled the screw into hole.

result - Nice sharp brakes with minimum lever travel!