Hello, recently the brake pedal has been feeling spongy and I noticed a wet spot from the passenger rear tire. Today I decided to investigate and noticed a leak where the parking brake cable bracket and rear caliper mate.

Is there a seal that needs to be replaced or do I need to change out the entire rear caliper? I'm curious if this is a common failure item.

Thanks so much.

 

It's not a common failure if posts on this forum are anything to go by. You really need to identify where the leak is first. Rear calipers are not all that expensive if you have to put a new one on. As I recall they are aluminium, and I had to replace one when I had a 2003 car due to piston seizure. At the rear there is an arm for the hand brake and this will have a seal as the handbrake uses the normal brake pads for its application.

 

Please just quickly check that it is not the flexible brake hose leaking and running down there; for some inexplicable reason, there have been several occasions whereby the rear passenger side (L/H/D) hose has burst (please see attached)?

 

Thanks Frasher and Ray! It's definitely coming from the parking brake bracket/caliper area. I order a new caliper today and hopefully have it on soon.. I saw there are special bleeding when installing new calipers. Thanks again.

 

ESRay's first photo shows the hydraulic line and also the handbrake lever at the back of the caliper. Make sure you check the hydraulic line too, before rushing off and spending money. Assess twice, spend once.

 

Yes I double check and it was the caliper so I changed it out and no more leaks but I notice the pads and rotors need a changing, so I ordered rotors/pads.

question on the rear pads.. they have these butterfly looking springs on the top ( are they anti rattle springs?) .. to install the pads back on the rear just simply place the pads in the caliper mounting bracket and then place the caliper over the pads and push down to compress the springs , then install the two caliper to mounting bracket bolts? Reason I ask.. after putting the old pads back on and going for a test drive I heard pretty bad grinding noise when I applied the brakes.. I figured I did something wrong..

thanks so much everyone !

 

Did you put the old pads back in exactly the same position they were in before dismantling ? It sounds as if they are hitting the rust lip that builds up on the outer edge of the disc. I think it might be prudent to take the caliper off again and inspect, but your new discs and pads may have arrived by then !

 

Mmm not sure if I placed the pads exactly on the same way.. There is definitely a noticeable rust lip on the old rotor.. good news is that the new rotors and pads arrived today! I’ll have them on soon.. I’ll assuming those butterfly spring on the pads were as I described..

on a side note I was just riding by in Palm Springs and saw three x350s!! They looked great amongst all the fancy cars

 

Make sure you screw the pistons back in before you install the new pads. The rear pistons on the XJ don't just press in like most. Look up the procedure in the RAVE.

 

Thanks Everyone. I installed the new rear pads/rotors (yes used the special tool to screw in caliper piston), plus bled all the brakes. The firmness definitely is better, but I was hoping just a bit more. I noticed the front brakes also were pretty worn, so I order new front rotors/pads and will install this weekend. Good thing is the leak is gone!

 

Update: New Front brakes (rotors/pads) are in and the braking even better, but brake feel still feels a bit soft. I'll going to re-bleed the brakes and hopefully back to 100%