My X2 caliper is leaking at the banjo bolt. Everything looks ok, but I’m not really sure how the bolt works. I assume the 2 copper washers are crush washers and help form a seal? But, should the hole in the banjo bolt align with the hole in the banjo itself? I would have assumed so, but then how are you able to adjust the angle of the hose (which I have done) which would put the holes out of alignment with each other.

Hopefully I just need to realign the banjo and bolt, or at worst get a new crush washer.

The banjo has a recessed area so the fluid can get to the hole regardless of its position

The banjo should be tight not lined up with the hole in the banjo otherwise it will leak

What he said ^. There’s no need to line the holes up.
You can anneal copper washers easily.
Hook it on a piece of steel wire.
Hang it over the flame on a gas cooker until it’s glowing dull red.
Immediately drop it in cold water.
It will go a sort of orangy red colour and be a lot softer, making it seal better.

Or you could just buy new ones.

Thanks guys. I should have worked out there’s a channel in the banjo, but didnt realise it should be deliberately un-aligned.

Have you tried checking if the banjo bolt attaching bolt is tight? It could have worked loose?

Also take a close look at the caliper body where the bolt screws in, they have been known to crack if overtightened.

Thanks again. I’m having a lot of trouble bleeding this today, much more than usual for Hope’s, maybe there is a crack somewhere. Going to bleed from the calliper upwards tomorrow, if that doesnt work, maybe send back to Hope for warranty. Gives me an excuse not to ride in the mud and rain!

I bought a Boxxer mount M4 caliper by accident and had to file down the tabs to fit my Psylos. Used a small piece of inner tube patch as a seal between the banjo and the caliper body as I filed a bit too much off.

Been like that for 3 years and no problems. Bit of a bodge, but it works!

do not bleed upwards, there are tapered seals in the master cylinder that dont agree with fluid being pushed the wrong way past them. only bleed from the master cyl end. there is a ‘how to’ vid on Hopetech.com

Really, never heard that before. I’ve often bled that way with no issues (but the conventional way works too).

Brianblessed, can you explain that ?
Pushing the pistons back in to the caliper to take new pads forces the fluid the wrong way up the hose and back in to the master cylinder.
Bleeding the brakes from the bottom up does exactly the same thing.

Anyway….back to my original issue.

I managed to get my hands on 2 M6 copper washers over the weekend, but still no good. Then I tried using the banjo bolt and washers from the front brake (which works fine), but still no good (luckily the front brake is still ok when I reinstalled).

So, I’m left thinking that it must be an issue with the calliper or the actual banjo. I guess I could have cross threaded the banjo bolt into the calliper, but then again, I’ve never undone it before.

I’m going to try a bit more filing, and maybe some plumbers tape around the bolt. But to be honest, I can get a new calliper for $50, so not sure how much effort to put into this…

Plumbers tape round the thread won’t help.
Tape is only for sealing tapered threads. Banjos are sealed by the copper washers.
You’ve already swapped the bolts and fitted new washers, can you swap the calipers front to back ? That will tell you if it’s the banjo or the caliper.
My guess is that either the banjo or caliper mating faces are not machined square or are damaged, or the caliper is cracked.