To make a long story short, doing a rear brake overhaul on a rust-belt car has been much more work than one can imagine. While bleeding the system, I somehow messed up the bleeder screw on the ATE rear caliper. The conical tip looks slightly bent, and it won't thread and seat properly. Ugh.

Eager to get my daily driver back on the road, I called two local dealers to see if they had replacement bleeder screws in stock (unlikely), or could order them ASAP. One dealer asked strictly for my VIN, even when I said ATEs were not original to my car. She said my car had either Bendix or Teves. I said my car had neither... they have ATE. She said they can't have ATE, she doesn't know what the "ATE brand" is, and insisted that my car must have either Bendix or Teves. Apparently thinking outside the confines of the EPC was beyond her mental faculties.


Anyway, I see that Fastlane has ATE and FTE brand bleeder screws for ATE calipers. Has anybody used these replacement bleeder screws before? Do they fit these old ATE calipers?

I noticed that my old screw is relatively shorter, and fully threaded after the nut. (Pardon the weld on the cap -- that was my futile attempt at fixing the leak)


The replacement on Fastlane looks longer, and the hole and conical tip look slightly different to me.


Anyway, if anyone can verify that these work, I'd appreciate it. I'd hate to order and ship incompatible replacement screws.

Thanks.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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-1985 300TD - 324k mi on chassis. MB "Tauschaggregat" 617 motor + 4-speed conversion
Alaska Roadtrip 2009
-2002 E320 Wagon - 197k mi
-1998 E320 Wagon - 310k mi - retired

Ate and Teves are one in the same.

Continental Teves is the parent company; Ate is their brand name for brakes. A lot like GM and Buick.

Some parts stores have "open stock" hardware behind the counter. I would suggest taking your current valve to a store and see if they can match it.

You just blew my mind. I stand corrected. It's frustrating that there isn't consistency in the naming. Still, it's my fault for not knowing.

Am I correct to assume that ATE and Teves calipers are identical, with interchangeable parts? The only difference being the name stamped on the caliper?

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-1985 300TD - 324k mi on chassis. MB "Tauschaggregat" 617 motor + 4-speed conversion
Alaska Roadtrip 2009
-2002 E320 Wagon - 197k mi
-1998 E320 Wagon - 310k mi - retired

There are no "Teves" calipers. Teves makes "ATE" calipers. We commonly refer to the M/B calipers being "ATE" or "Bendix". Naturally, some clerk can refer to the ATE calipers by calling them anything she wants. If you're not aware of her terminology, it's not possible to purchase the part.


Also, there is nothing magical about the bleeder screw other than the taper on the nose. That's the part that seals the fluid in the caliper. The length of the thread and any other part of the screw is largely irrelevant.

ATE = Alfred Teves Engineering

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Beagle

Added to an old thread. Have resolved issue, but leave pics up for future reference.

What I found, was that both old and new bleeder screws are kinda sloppy in the caliper thread. Didn't seem right. So I found an M8 nut and tried them in that. Both still sloppy. So, no need for me to use the new bleed screw. Once I had a closer look, it seems that if there is any back pressure on the bleeder tube (such as too long a tube and dipping into fluid in coke bottle, then the fluid will leak around threads, And if fit is sloppy, then even more will leak out.

Written earlier:
When trying to bleed my rear brakes on 85 300D today, I noticed that the bleeder valve was a little sloppy in it's thread. If I opened it a small amount (say 1/8-1/4 turn) fluid came out of the threads. This with the about 5-10 psi on pressure bleeder and bleeder tube dipping into an inch or two of fluid.

I bought a couple of new generic bleeder valves. The size I asked for was M8x1.25x32mm long. The only ones they had were only 25mm long with a distance from inside face of hex to tip of 15mm. Question was - will they work or do I need longer or ATE specific bleeders? (I tried them and they did fit. Just screwed in further)

Existing Bleeder that leaks


Bleeder on new rebuilt front calipers (worked fine)


Bleeder purchased from Partsource (not tested)


Genuine Mercedes Bleed screw (same as my existing bleed screw)

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5

You have to make sure they are bottoming before the hex area of the bleeder contacts the caliper. This you can visually do. Or screw one in. No leaks under pressure and it is bottoming okay. I assume the seat bevel is universal.

That much obvious corrosion and you got the old one out without serious heat was luck. There was so much rust it seems to have reduced the bleeder thread diameter this made it loose fitting. That much rust on a bleeder and caliper might even be worse than east coast cars.

Actuallh, there is not much rust on those screws. I don't know why they look like that in pics. The screws were painted wit POR15 and recently doused with PBlaster.

As mentioned, the screws are just as loose when screwed into a new M8 nut. I may try some other bleeders in the same M8 nut and see if any are tighter. Otherwise, I will probably have to add a little pipe sealant.

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5

Teflon tape may help tighten up the fit a little. If you could clean up the internal threads so no brake fluid was present. I would probably use laquer thinner as it dries out so fast and is a good cleaner. Then I might consider using epoxy to glue it in.

Both pieces have to be spotlessly clean other than any rust. You do not want to remove that. Next time heat applied will destroy the epoxy to release the bleeder screw.

The diameter of the hole in the caliper is not large. So even at a brake fluid pressure of say three thousand pounds per square inch there may only be perhaps seventy pounds of force on the bleeder screw. I was also trying to remember the last time I had a bleeder screw loose like you have. I cannot remember one time. Are you positive you have the right metric thread on your bleeder?

There are two metric size threads for example. One is oriental or american metric and one german metric. They both thread in but one feels abnormally loose. I have run into this on the brake line end termination fittings. Allow though that I only do brakes for myself randomly. When I did have this issue I went and got the right ones.