Hey guys, I think I know the answer but wanted to post before I spent the money on a caliper rebuild kit.

I came home the other night to a burning smell when I stepped out of my car. Looked at the rear left brake and it was smoking a little and obviously extremely hot. I picked up some new pads, had the rotors resurfaced, and bleed the system. No change.

So I think the caliper is sticking, but I could be wrong. Do you think a brake rebuild kit would fix this?

disk brakes by the way.


Thanks!

 

It could be the caliper but just to be sure, crack the bleeder screw on the back. If nothing comes out then its the caliper. If brake fluid squirts out then you have a brake line issue.

 

Good call, nothing shot out. I have never rebuilt calipers before, is this something I can do or does it require some sort of special tool?

 

To get it running again quickly, I would replace the caliper, then rebuild yours. You could sell it after you rebuild it, and will gain the knowledge without having your car out of commission.

 

Rebuilding calipers is not that bad actually, I've nver done one on a civic though so i cant give you a step by step with that one. The reason i've never rebuilt one is because remanufactured ones are fairly cheap.

 

Well to be honest rebuilding is my pretty much my only route unless I can find a wrecked vehicle.... this is actually for my nissan murano.

 

Well looks like you'll get some practice rebuilding calipers then. Just keep everything super clean and dont tear the seals on piston installation.

 

how does the fluid look like? because i had a similar problem with my moms corolla the drivers side would lock up and smell like burnt, plus it was extremely hot, it ended up being that the brake fluid was contaminated and it was causing the pad to lock up.