Bought the bike used. Sram rival d1 components, seller had installed a new one piece handlebar and in the description said the bike just needed a front brake bleed. I took it into the shop and after a while they found this on the bleed port of the left side shifter. I don’t remember everything that was said about what the current issue is, but it was something about the bladder not holding the DOT fluid properly or the O-ring seal being poor and this causing leakage. Honestly just wondering why someone would do this and if the only option would be to replace the shifter? The mechanic seemed iffy about being able to fix it.
by DankDeanoo
4 Comments
Looks like they might have stripped the original screw, dremeled a line through it so they could get it out with a flat head screwdriver, and then just shoved whatever screw they had available to plug the hole. Sell it as “just needing a bleed”…. profit!
A prior bolt was very likely rounded, so they used a Dremel to cut a slot in the bolt to extract it with a flathead.
I wouldn’t really worry too much about it as long as the brake can nevertheless be bled. Assuming you got a decent price for the bike of course.
Just going after the title here… unlikely anyone here can tell you why it’s leaking without hand-on inspection or precise/concise information.
The original plug got stripped out and they cut a groove into it so that a flathead screwdriver could be used to get it out. It’s a common solution for stripped fasteners. Cutting into the body of the brifter is collateral damage.
I’ll bet if you get a torx and try to tighten that bleed port just a little you’ll find the whole thing, numbers and all, start turning.
It happened to me too, and I really didn’t think I over tightened it.
Now to open the bleed port you’ll need to jam pliers or something in those grooves while turning the torx.
Edit: similar to this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/bikewrench/comments/1ny6yoa/sram_bleed_port_stuck/