Rear caliper problem

5811 Views 15 Replies 8 Participants Last post by justcrx, Mar 25, 2005

crxfisher

Discussion Starter · Mar 20, 2005

I'm replacing my rear rotors and pads. I'm on the passenger rear one right now. Got the rotor on and turned the caliper piston in as far as it would go. Now when I put the new pads on and bolt everything back up, the wheel won't turn by hand. It's deadlocked. The parking brake is not on.

Now when I loosen the caliper bolts, I can turn it. It's acting like the piston isn't in far enough. So I tried pushing the piston in a littler more. It won't go any further. What's going on, and how can I fix it?

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daveb91

· #2 · Mar 20, 2005

Are you saying your pushing the piston in instead of turning it?

crxfisher

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 20, 2005

No, I turned it in. The rear pistons are turned in, while the fronts are actually pushed in.

Krix

· #4 · Mar 20, 2005

would the caliper "reset" its position and back off the rotor if you started the car up and hit the brakes a few times?

crxfisher

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 20, 2005

Actually, I just figured it out. When you turn the piston, you need to make sure it finishes in a perpindicular position. There is a little tab on the pad shim that has to go in the groove of the piston. Found it from an NSX site. Good info here: http://www.danoland.com/nsxgarage/brake ... rpads.html

This is the exact picture of what I'm talking about:

After lining that up right, it works perfectly. Imagine that.

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Lumpy53

· #6 · Mar 22, 2005

Ok on that subject. I was a idiot and didn't read my manual on the rear calipers and when I changed my right rear I pushed the piston in :shock: . When I got it all installed the parking brake won't work on that caliper but the normal brake works fine. How can I fix it? I would rather not change the caliper again because I spent alot of time painting it. How hard is it to rebuild it? And what did I probaly break?

GSRCRXsi

· #7 · Mar 22, 2005

you saying you pushed it straight in without turning it? was it hard to do that?

but the same thing happened on my integra when i replaced the brakes. i replaced the rotors and pads in the rear, and the calipers and pads in the front. bled the brakes, hopped in and the brakes worked fine but the ebrake didnt. i was thinking i had to adjust the cable, but i couldnt figure out why. i drove it around for a few miles and it just came back. i think it was because i had compressed the piston far enough back that the pads werent snug on the rotor, so when i pulled the ebrake it tightened them but not enough to stop the rotor.

so try driving around a little bit to get the caliper/pads and rotor set so you can get everything to have tighter tolerances.

Lumpy53

· #8 · Mar 22, 2005

GSRCRXsi said:
you saying you pushed it straight in without turning it? was it hard to do that?

but the same thing happened on my integra when i replaced the brakes. i replaced the rotors and pads in the rear, and the calipers and pads in the front. bled the brakes, hopped in and the brakes worked fine but the ebrake didnt. i was thinking i had to adjust the cable, but i couldnt figure out why. i drove it around for a few miles and it just came back. i think it was because i had compressed the piston far enough back that the pads werent snug on the rotor, so when i pulled the ebrake it tightened them but not enough to stop the rotor.

so try driving around a little bit to get the caliper/pads and rotor set so you can get everything to have tighter tolerances.

I've been driving it like that for almost 6 months now!

GSRCRXsi

· #9 · Mar 22, 2005

Lumpy53 said:
I've been driving it like that for almost 6 months now!

wow, lol. then its definitely not that. maybe check the ebrake cables and make sure they arent snapped, but if that proves to not be it then theres really nothing else to do but replace the caliper(s)

ollie

· #10 · Mar 23, 2005

There is a special service tool just for rear calipers.
I do believe that mine is from snap-on.
Man I gotta get in more often. I cant believe I missed this one.

stick

· #11 · Mar 23, 2005

ollie said:
There is a special service tool just for rear calipers.
I do believe that mine is from snap-on.
Man I gotta get in more often. I cant believe I missed this one.

Got a pic of it? Is it for turning the piston on the caliper?

GSRCRXsi

· #12 · Mar 23, 2005

buying a special tool for that would be the biggest waste of money ever. hell, even the HELMS says to just use pliers. personally i use wire strippers

Krix

· #13 · Mar 23, 2005

i have a set of broken needle nose i use. its in 2 pieces so i use one of the pieces to turn the rear piston

ollie

· #14 · Mar 24, 2005

GSRCRXsi said:
buying a special tool for that would be the biggest waste of money ever. hell, even the HELMS says to just use pliers. personally i use wire strippers

I disagree.
I bought mine for less than $50.00 and have used them several times.

Using pliers(for me)was the old way.....and a few bruised and squished fingers later I happily bought my first professional caliper tool.
Remember as you twist the piston back in you also have to push in.
That tool is sooooo much easier AND safer to use. IMO
...and the helms manual said specifically to use pliers? Maybe in a pinch,not as a standard procedure.

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GSRCRXsi

· #15 · Mar 24, 2005

im guessing its standard procedure. it makes absolutely no mention of the need for any special tool. and the helms is pretty clear when special tools are needed and even gives part numbers. but for this it just says to use pliers. and yes you do have to push, but barely. as long as you turn they go back like butter. i stand behind the fact that that tool is unnecessary. and for 50 bucks its totally not worth it. sure youve used it alot, but ive used pliers a lot too, lol.

justcrx

· #16 · Mar 25, 2005

sometimes the rear caliper piston is a pain in the ass to turn it back in, Honda, Mazda, Nissan...what i usually do is spray just a bit of WD-40 inside the dust boot and wait for it for a few seconds and turn it. It's much easier cuz if the boot is dry, the boot will turn with the piston.

Then by using a special caliper tool to turn it in (much cheaper and not that complicated at all, basically all u need is that socket, ratchet and a 3 inch extension. You can find it at autozone.) If you still cant turn the piston then use the tools by what ollie posted; if the piston still doesnt wanna go in, you'll need to rebuilt or replace the caliper.

Clean off the residure (sp) of the WD-40 with brake cleaner, wait until it dries up or u have air compressor, blow it dry, align the tab on the pad to the piston, then off you go.

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