Yes, I know they aren’t the greatest brakes, but they’ll have to do for now!

1) Some oil leaks out of the lid of the reservoir, particularly on squeezing them but also when not. New seals etc. I am thinking, unless there’s something easier.

2) Replaced the pads yesterday. Wheels span fine at time, but after riding today both brakes are really dragging, less than one revolution when spun by hand. I assume there’s some procedure to sort this?

Cheers

1) My ‘lids’ are rusting, and starting to weep.
2) Check if the pistons are retracting evenly.

You will probably struggle to fix problem 2 before you fix problem 1 (I did). Unless the system is sealed properly (and it sounds like yours is not) the pistons will be slow to return. This assumes you pushed the pistons back in all the way?
If not, put the old pads back in. The use large flat head screwdriver to push pads and pistons all the way back into the bores. This should “reset”

Then weigh up the cost of an avid seal kit, plus bleeding vs a Shimano Deore. To be fair my Avids have been OK for four years of commuting. As soon as they die though I’m ditching them for another set of Shimano brakes.

I pushed the old pads in as hard as I could, but they didn’t seem to move much.

Sounds to me like the oil has expanded slightly, absorbed some water or something. Happened me on juicy 7s before. I just opened the bleed port on the lever a touch and pushed the pistons back, fitted new pads and worked fine.

Sounds like you’ve got too much fluid in the system tbh

Ok cheers, I’ll have a look at that

I have the same problems as the OP, slight leaks out of reservoir when pulling brakes hard, and I can’t seem to retract the pistons.

I have never bled them, they have never needed anything doing to them. However the bike they are on is very rarely used. Is that the problem? Are the pistons seizing? New brake time?

I had that on my Juicy’s – just ditched them for SLX. The reservoir cap was corroding but the brakes worked fine although the pistons did work badly

You say they’ve never needed doing, but I thought the fluid degrades over time and should be done at least once a year?

The fluid is DOT, it’s hygroscopic and should be replaced at some point.

It is however, very nasty stuff, so I’d watch out for getting it on your skin, or painted objects.

I used to quite like my J3’s, lots of power.

Good luck.

When pondering the advice re cost of seals, bleed kit etc vs cost of a new pair of brakes…

Suppose one had an eye on a new bike later in the year, a new bike that has a complete SLX drivetrain plus Elixir 1 brakes (Trek Stache), would a pair of SLX brakes now for a future swap, or Deore now and either swap them over onto new bike or just leave them, be the better option? Seems about a £50 difference.

Ditch – just replaced mine – which three different experienced MTB types independently told me were terrible – for a pair of Deores. They were on cheap at crc a couple of weeks back, not sure now…

I never replaced the fluid in my old Hope minis and never had a single problem.

Probably going to replace with new Deores but want to sell the Avids with an accurate description.

Could this be heat related, if water can get into the oil?

Only that I’ve just been out to the garage and 1) the wheels spin nicely again, and 2) no seepage from the reservoirs.