Was getting rear brakes changed today and they said my right rear caliper was stuck and they were unable to turn the piston back in. Has anyone else had this problem or was there something else to try.

Thanks

 

i had a similar problem, ended up completely taking the caliper off, cleaning it up, and had to take a pair of channel-locks to it to get it to turn... just be careful not to tear that rubber seal, and try not to mar up the edge of the piston head with those channel locks!

 

When I changed the rear pads on my X Type, I had a caliper that didn't want to cooperate. I got a disc brake tool set from Harbor Freight, and, that solved my problem. This set enables you to both press and turn the piston in at the same time. THe tool persuaded the piston to turn itself in.

Regards:
Oldengineer

 

yes, you must press and turn at the same time. just turning gets you nowhere, just pressing with a clamp gets you a broken caliper. Rather than using channel locks (no offense chilltj) - if you have the rear caliper adapter for a socket wrench, take the caliper off, put it in a vice, and turn it with the proper tool after cleaning. You should be able to get more torque on it with a socket than pliars and won't marr the piston.

Was this a dealer or independent shop? If an independent, was it a foreign car specialist (assuming you live in the U.S.) or a chain tire store?

If the dealer says it's crap, it's crap. You could try to find a rebuild kit and refurbish your caliper yourself, or just buy a reman caliper and be done with it.

If a good cleaning and the right tools and technique don't work, my choice would be to replace rather than rebuild.

 

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the replies. My mechanic is a Jag mechanic for almost 40 years. He had said he had never had one do this before so I wasn't sure if it was a common problem. He took the caliper off, cleaned, put in the vice, channel locks and all, nothing would work, and tried his spinner tool first. Looks like I will be dropping the bill for a new caliper. It's supprising to me how much more expensive rear calipers are than fronts.
I have always done my own brakes, but have never done the spin back type before and didn't want to try with my lack of spare time right now, I'm glad I didn't try it.

thanks,

 

Hmm. No it's not what I would call a "common" problem, but not totally unexpected. It happens from time to time on any car. Its usually worse if you live in an area that gets snow. Really its a good thing that it will be replaced, it probably has not been working correctly for some time. I'm a little leary to trust a caliper after it has an episode of sticking under its belt already.

So you'll be out some $, but you'll gain some safety. Chalk it up to regular maintenance costs.

 

X-type rear calipers freeze up all the time. For some reason, particularly on the left side. We have rebuilt units cheap.

http://www.motorcarsltd.com/RBC23A.html

http://www.motorcarsltd.com/RBC23B.html

 

Thanks, I will be sure to check you site next time. My mechanic already has ordered one from one of his suppliers for $100, heck of a lot better than the $513 the Jag dealership wants.

 

I have had 2 bad calipers on my car, one from each side. The one was stuck when I bought the car and the place I bought the car from simply gave me the new caliper as they wanted to install it before they sold it but I told them that I wanted some time with the car and I would be more than happy to do that for them. The other one siezed shortly there after (6 months). In both cases, it was the e-brake portion of the caliper that froze. The brakes worked just fine. So, hearing a caliper freeze up, does not surprise me with my track record so far with the rear calipers.

 

A bit advice to consider, would be to purge/bleed out all of the old Brake fluid at least every two years..nine out of ten caliper failures as described above, is due to moisture contaminated brake fluid rusting the internals of the Calipers..which is natural for this to happen, because DOT 3 or 4 fluid have a natural affinity to absorb moisture out of the air...Then of course, water being heavier than the fluid, will settle to the lowest points of the brake system...the Calipers.

 

What's the proper way to bleed out brakes - my left side caliper is locking on me after installing new pads -

 

Juan, you should bleed the brakes in the following order:

Left rear
Right rear
Left front
Right front

I find using some 9/32" clear tygon tubing (about 4 feet long) makes the job really easy to do as the tubing fits right over the bleed nipple and then you use a little bit of masking tape to hold the tubing to the top of the wheel well and then let it hang down into a collection facility. This will give you plenty of room to have a column of fluid so as you release the pedal, it is going to suck nothing but fluid back into the caliper. It also allows you to see when the new fluid reaches the caliper as you will see the fluid go from a darker green color to almost clear.

If you have more questions, let me know.