I just replaced one rotor and both sets of pads on my front end. I had a hell of a time, like normal, getting the cylinders back into the calipers. I used a c-clamp, as well as opening the bleeder screw and cap on the reservoir. Even after having the piston all the way back in, I had to force the caliper onto the passenger side to fit over the new pads. The driver side caliper, when compressed, slid over the new pads freely. I got both side on, bled both of the calipers, and tried to move my car and had at least one wheel hanging up bad... And smoke and clutch burning smell pouring from under my hood.

Turned the car off propped the hood and let it sit for a half hour. I came back, jacked the front of the car and used a c-clamp on the driver side to compress the pads into the cylinder and in turn, the cylinder back into the caliper. The wheel spun freely after doing this. Then i applied the brakes, took my foot off and tried to spin the wheel again to no avail. I tried pushing the cylinder in and then applying the brake, did this 3 times and every time after braking the brake pedal became rock solid (no give), and the wheel completely locked up. Repeated the process on the passenger side with the same results.

I got the car from a friend a few months back, and didn't realize when I bought the car that the pads were almost non-existent from the start. So I went from almost no pads to brand new thick pads... I never had problems with my brakes sticking on this car, but it has sat for 3-4 months since i drove it regularly last. I'm thinking that while the cylinders on the caliper were so far out for so long, they probably rusted all the way around, and then I forced them back in to install the new pads, and that could be why they aren't moving freely back into the cylinders until I use the c-clamp.

I'm thinking there are a few options at this point. Take off each of the stuck calipers and press them out and clean any rust as much as i can... and push the cylinder in and out a few times to try and free them up. Replace all of the brake fluid in the lines by bleeding out the old and replacing with new. I need to do this anyways and it might be that some residue in the lines is keeping the fluid from returning to the master cylinder.

My question is has anyone run into this before? I searched and it seems that all of the time that a master cylinder goes bad the brakes get no pressure... And i have the exact opposite problem. The most logical explanations I can think of would be something blocking the lines, the caliper cylinders being rusty, or a bad master cylinder not allowing the fluid to return from the lines. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! I've gone through a lot with this car in the past four months and am very close to having it back on the road. Thanks!

 

I would check the slider pins first before worrying about the piston. Take the rubber boots off of the sliders on the caliper and grease them with caliper grease, if they are sticky at all.

Good luck..

 

the slider pins were free to move when i was putting the caliper on... I don't think this is the problem, but i will grease them up just to be sure.

 

thanks for input

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dragcar &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">throw that piece in the trash those cars r **** or sale it</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks for your input.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dragcar &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">throw that piece in the trash those cars r **** or sale it</TD></TR></TABLE>

Wow, he actually managed to put some sort of a sentence together.
This "sentence" did lack sense and proper punctuation, but it's a start...

 

[QUOTE=giddyup21]I just replaced one rotor and both sets of pads on my front
but it has sat for 3-4 months since i drove it regularly last. I'm thinking that while the cylinders on the caliper were so far out for so long, they probably rusted all the way around, and then I forced them back in to install the new pads, and that could be why they aren't moving freely back into the cylinders until I use the c-clamp.

you can clean caliper but if they are too fucked you might need to grind and resurface inside with a stone where damaged above where your cylinder stopped traveling. then grease the crap out of them. I don't think you ever need to really replace the calipers like mechanic's would like you too.

 

This is what I did to the passenger side (which I found out was much worse than the driver side) last night. Pressed the piston out, removed the caliper, resurfaced the piston and inside of caliper and replaced the rubber boot and ring. I think total with 2 sets of rubber, brake cleaner and grease it cost me $13 bucks at autozone, maybe an hour of time being meticulous with removing rust, and I have the supplies to do the other side tonight. Guess next time I'll test each brake right after I put it back together to avoid a miss diagnosis when things go wrong. Thanks for the help!

 

did they just have the rubber ring in stock?

 

they didn't have the reman caliper or the entire caliper rebuild kit in stock, but they did have the boot / piston ring "kit" in stock... which came with just the two rubber pieces. so i bought two of those kits at $2.99 a piece. Then bought the grease and brake cleaner... Only thing i was missing was the sliding pin boots but mine looked good still and i probably wouldn't have changed them anyway.