New caliper bad?

[guitarfish]

Long one, I'll try and condense.

I've had to replace the left rear brake caliper on my '08 Prix a couple times in the last few years. The factory caliper wouldn't release when I applied the parking brake. Replaced it with a reman from AutoZone. About a year later, the AZ caliper was doing the same thing, so I replaced it again (warranty). While at it, I replaced the parking brake cable on that side, as it was not moving too easily either. Once this repair was done (18 mos ago) everything worked like a champ.

Well, son of gun if the AZ caliper isn't locked up again! Unbelievable. Put the e-brake on, release, and the wheel is LOCKED. Had to use a hammer to get the caliper to release.

ANYHOO - replaced the caliper again this week (warranty). Parking brake not seized anymore, But now I have a new problem - the brake pedal goes down WAY too far. I thought maybe I didn't bleed the brakes correctly, so I redid that tonight, no change.

OK, scratching my head here. Check this out - I spin the wheel with my hand and while it's spinning I run over and jump on the brake pedal. The pedal is way down, and the wheel continues to spin for about a second, than instantly stops.

It seems to me like something in the new caliper is bad. It's "popping" into action about a second late. Make sense? I'm thinking I should swap this caliper again.

[Tech II]

It's possible you have been replacing the calipers for nothing.....I think on this year vehicle, the caliper is not the e-brake....the e-brake is actually inside the rotor.....or rather, underneath the rotor.....

If the e-brake cable is attached to a lever in the backing plate, and NOT DIRECTLY TO THE CALIPER, that may be your problem......on this type of e-brake, there is a brake shoe that expands and grabs the inside of the rotor, similar to a drum setup....

one way to check this is, when you apply the e-brake and release it, if the rotor does not move, collapse the piston into the caliper....if the rotor still doesn't move, it's the e-brake mechanism under the rotor....

As for the low pedal, it could be air, a weak rubber brake line, the caliper, etc.

[guitarfish]

Originally Posted by Tech II

It's possible you have been replacing the calipers for nothing.....I think on this year vehicle, the caliper is not the e-brake....the e-brake is actually inside the rotor.....or rather, underneath the rotor.....

If the e-brake cable is attached to a lever in the backing plate, and NOT DIRECTLY TO THE CALIPER, that may be your problem......on this type of e-brake, there is a brake shoe that expands and grabs the inside of the rotor, similar to a drum setup....

one way to check this is, when you apply the e-brake and release it, if the rotor does not move, collapse the piston into the caliper....if the rotor still doesn't move, it's the e-brake mechanism under the rotor....

As for the low pedal, it could be air, a weak rubber brake line, the caliper, etc.

On this car, the e-brake cable is attached directly to the caliper, not the backing plate. Believe me, I've been changing calipers for good reason. The new ones I can move the eBrake mechanism by hand and it snaps back into place. On the bad ones, it's corroded so bad it hardly moves at all.

[Tech II]

OK, I just thought this had the drum design e-brake.....

[guitarfish]

Just thought I'd post back, yep, the new caliper was faulty. Swapped with another, all good now.