2005 Honda CRV Brake Calipers Overhaul and Brake Bleed
01-21-2013, 07:28 AM
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2005 Honda CRV Brake Calipers Overhaul and Brake Bleed
My rear brake calipers on my CRV were seized up, due to water getting past the dust seal and rusting the piston and bore.
I decided that I would overhaul the calipers so I duly removed them from the vehicle (carefully NOT noting that the bleed nipple is upwards on the caliper!). I cleaned the piston of rust and purchased an outrageously expensive set of seals from Honda Spares. Reassembling the caliper and piston on these NISSIN calipers is an absolute horror seating the piston seal inside the Cylinder bore is OK if a little messy but the dust cap has to be fitted before the piston can be reinserted. The only way I found to do this after fiddling for about 2 hours was to apply my airline to the fluid in hole on the back of the piston and then whilst the air is blowing feed the piston (suitably lubricated) into the dust seal. When the position is right the seal will expand like a bellows and slide up the piston. The seal then has to be pulled up the rest of the way along the piston and the piston fed carefully into the bore. Once the technique is perfected it really does make it easy. One should pull the piston gently out and apply plenty of sealant between the top of the bore and the piston seal skirt.
Hopefully there will be no further ingress of water - though I do question the sanity of the designer who arranged for the dust seal seat/retainer to be inside the bore rather than retained by some external clip.
You will note that I commented on the nipple position. This was because when I refitted the calipers I fittted the calipers with the Nipple at the lowest point (achieved by fitting the LH caliper on the right and the RH caliper on the left). I did not think this would make any difference UNTIL I found it impossible to bleed the brakes!
In hindsight (the only kind of wisdom) it is obvious why they can't be bled, but this oversight resulted in clamping hoses, Master Cylinder checks etc.
This is my first posting in this forum and I hope someone finds it useful. If it insults to many peoples intelligence and states the obvious, I apologise.
Don
I decided that I would overhaul the calipers so I duly removed them from the vehicle (carefully NOT noting that the bleed nipple is upwards on the caliper!). I cleaned the piston of rust and purchased an outrageously expensive set of seals from Honda Spares. Reassembling the caliper and piston on these NISSIN calipers is an absolute horror seating the piston seal inside the Cylinder bore is OK if a little messy but the dust cap has to be fitted before the piston can be reinserted. The only way I found to do this after fiddling for about 2 hours was to apply my airline to the fluid in hole on the back of the piston and then whilst the air is blowing feed the piston (suitably lubricated) into the dust seal. When the position is right the seal will expand like a bellows and slide up the piston. The seal then has to be pulled up the rest of the way along the piston and the piston fed carefully into the bore. Once the technique is perfected it really does make it easy. One should pull the piston gently out and apply plenty of sealant between the top of the bore and the piston seal skirt.
Hopefully there will be no further ingress of water - though I do question the sanity of the designer who arranged for the dust seal seat/retainer to be inside the bore rather than retained by some external clip.
You will note that I commented on the nipple position. This was because when I refitted the calipers I fittted the calipers with the Nipple at the lowest point (achieved by fitting the LH caliper on the right and the RH caliper on the left). I did not think this would make any difference UNTIL I found it impossible to bleed the brakes!
In hindsight (the only kind of wisdom) it is obvious why they can't be bled, but this oversight resulted in clamping hoses, Master Cylinder checks etc.This is my first posting in this forum and I hope someone finds it useful. If it insults to many peoples intelligence and states the obvious, I apologise.
Don
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