Then I will most definitely change that so people arent confused.

 

Thanks!

Sorry for all the RR LR stuff, it's tire change season so I've been writing that on snow tires day after day. haha.

Rub brake grease into the piston hole (and on the piston?)

 

> I just put in on the piston, but it won't hurt to be on both sides. Take your time when trying to get the rubber boot back over the piston cuz you don't want to rip that boot.

 

Use turkey baster to remove the old fluid (probably not all of it, just most of it right, to prevent air from getting in the line?

 

> I didn't even have to use a Turkey baster, I just bled the lines until the res was getting close to being low then topped it up with fresh fluid, which didnt take that much effort actually.

I'm always weary of putting grease anywhere near the rubber on brake calipers, brake lube or not, it can still cause the rubber to expand and cause bad things. I use just some brake fluid as lubricant when I put the pistons back into the caliper. Also make sure the piston bore is smooth, not pitted or scored. I've used JB Weld to fill in some small pitting before on a set of '68 Buick Riviera calipers as there are no aftermarket replacements for the housings. Haven't had any issues doing it that way.

 

Oh and when it comes to bleeding, get a friend. It makes it so much easier. Have them push down the peddle and hold it, while you open the bleeder screw, then tighten it back up and have them release. Do this until the fluid changes color and no more air comes out. Best to use a hose that fits onto the bleeder and a small clear glass jar with some fluid in it. Put the end of the hose on the bleeder, the other into the fluid in the container and as you open the bleeder, the fluid will be forced through the tube and you can see the bubbles inside the container.

Still bugging mom to give me the money to fix my car... but I did take the cap off (after cleaning it) to see what was up with my brake fluid...

It looked dirty...

 

and so here you guys can take a look:

 

 

Mom goes "oh crap, you need a whole brake system flush if thats how that looks"

 

Isnt that what Im doing? Like when I flush all 4 brakes, will it not flush the system? what about the hill holder and e-brake?

Edited April 22, 201114 yr by 92_rugby_subie
sorry for the language. changed it.

Ew, that's nasty!!

 

It'll be easy to flush that! Nasty coloured fluid will come out, then all of a sudde it'll come out nice and clear. Then you'll know you have clean fluid.

Hill holder will just make it take longer to bleed... I'm so glad I don't have that stupid system on my car.

 

Parking brake is mechanical, so nothing to bleed there.

Gonna bleed the brakes.

 

Freed up the piston, it turns now, so I backed it off pretty far and Im going to bleed the brakes (beginning on the Right Rear) and see if I cant get complete clear fluid and see if that helps.

Where is the piston in this picture? Is it the ring? If it is, how would I remove it?

 

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5230/5816731299_d92f16db10_b.jpg

 

It was definitely siezed up, as when I jacked the car up, I couldn't rotate the wheel. It looks shiny and fine though. Weird.

 

Anyone? Help? Tips? Answers? Advice?

Its not a ring, its the piston, but I guess, yes the "shiny" part of that would be the piston...

 

But someone will chime in, if not, refer to your repair manual or FSM and it should tell you there.

I just rebuilt a caliper last night and it wasn't hard at all. The most difficult part was getting the piston back in the rubber boot without damaging it. If you are going that route, remove the e-brake cable then the brake line (14mm) then take the caliper to the bench (heres where a vice is handy) and pump the ebrake lever over and over by hand until the piston eventually pops off of the 'bolt' inside, once near the top, just unscrew it by hand. Then peel the rubber boot off and the piston comes right out....no small parts or anything inside. Theres a threaded part inside the piston that mounts onto the 'bolt' of the cailper but thats it, nothing to lose or break in there. Clean up the inside with brake cleaner and rags (steel wool if its really bad) then grease the piston back up with the synthetic brake grease and screw the piston back into the caliper. Resinstall caliper and bleed. I just did this bleed order and it worked for me: drivers side front, passenger rear, passenger front, drivers rear....not sure if thats the proper sequence but it worked for me last night.

 

Dean

 

 

This seems to explain it the best on how to remove the caliper.

Hmm, thanks, I should be able to do that no problem.

 

One more question, i found the bottom bolt on the caliper fine and removed it, but the top (pivot point) doesn't seem to have a bolt. Here's a pic. Any ideas as to where it could be? Thething that looks like a bolt head in the picture doesn't have the squared off (or hexed off?) sides that a bolt would have, its just round.

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/5816847771_0b23ce4b8c_b.jpg

 

Thanks so much!

Edited June 10, 201114 yr by NameTaken

theres two bolts... umm either 17mm or 14mm that remove the whole caliper... id take them off and remove the whole thing, that is what I did, but I didnt get to remove my whole caliper, I just unbolted it, turned the piston back into its boot 100% and then bled the nasty fluid out and so far its been going great

There isn't a top bolt. Just slide the caliper off the slide.

 

If the slide is stuck, then that sucks. I just dealt with that...

There isn't a top bolt. Just slide the caliper off the slide.

 

If the slide is stuck, then that sucks. I just dealt with that...

 

Yup the top one is a 'slide pin'. Just undo the bottom bolt, then swivel the whole caliper upwards, so it rotates on that top slide pin and once it (the caliper) has cleared the rotor, you will be able to 'slide it off' the pin. Sometime helps to release the bleeder valve here if its stuck, otherwise you might have to pry the caliper upwards with something. I find that with severely worn down pads releasing the bleeder valve helps a lot - but then you have to bleed if you do release the valve.

You should always open the bleeder before compressing a caliper. If there's rust in the caliper you don't want to force it back into the system. This is more for ABS cars, but still, good practice.

 

When you do pads that's a great time to bleed brakes anyway. If the pads need replacing, your brake fluid does too.