P38 Rear brake pad replacement

Hi everyone,
On replacing my brake pads on the rear wheels doing the usual cleaning everything up pushing piston back into caliper and syhoning off excess brake fluild from master so no spilage everything cool so far,everything sweet,pressing pedal to take up any slack,,,done,then why would i end up with less brake fluid in the master than when i started,i will have to top up with about 30ml,putting brand new pads in and taking out old pads which only had about 3mm left,just thought i would be left with excess brake fluid why is this, there are no leaks,thank you for and help.

you syphoned too much out?

you need to re bleed after shoveing pistons back in.Next time un do bleed nipple and do not shove fluid back through system.Servo wont like that.

Beast o Bodmin said:

you need to re bleed after shoveing pistons back in.Next time un do bleed nipple and do not shove fluid back through system.Servo wont like that.

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A novel idea but there really is no need to do that. As long as the pistons are retracted slowly there will be no damage to any mechanical component. The system is designed to have fluid flow in both directions. A rag around the filler is all that is needed to soak up any overflow of fluid. You can of course if you wish take a bit of fluid out with a large syringe but totally not required to do the job. A clean rag placed over and around the open filler point has served me well for over fourty years.

i got told ages ago about opening the bleed nipple when you push the pistons back on abs brakes, to stop any crap getting forced back to the abs block.
never tried it myself but i've never had any problems as long as i take my time pushing em back all's been ok up to now.

Just replaced my front and rear pads today. Bit of a job but happy with the results, except.....handbrake is still very high. pumped and pumped but still no joy. Anyhow, I used a rag to soak up any overspill from the reservoir when pushing the pistons back in. No sweat, worked a treat just like last time.

Handbrake is on the prop and not on the rear brake calipers like other cars

I've always placed a pipe on the nipple into a jar of clean fluid, then pushed pistons back and opened nipple to vent excess fluid out, maintain pressure on piston when retracted and do up nipple that way you don't introduce air in the system....

Done this on my:
Opel Manta
Jag XJ6
2x Range Rover Classics
3x P38's
L322
4x BMW 7'er
My sisters Focus
My Girlfriends Fiat 500 and her previous VW 2001 Beetle
My dads Vauxhall Astra
My mums previous Vauxhall Astra (before she lost her leg and stopped driving!)

Never had any issues....

same a ST on this one..