good day all

 

its been a long time...

 

l'm visiting a a friend and naturaly her car needs work....

it's a 96 legacy l

 

driver side brake caliper is stuck

(has been for a while judging by the diferential wear on the pads

 

don't have a shop at my disposal here --

how do l un-stick the piston?

or do l just replace it?

 

thanks

goat

Edited January 5, 201610 yr by goat

The simple way with the simplest tool set needed (and quickest too): replace caliper, pads, and rotor and be done with it. Who knows what wear issues you have with that rotor and you can probably buy a new one cheaper than getting it turned.

that's what l figured...

prefer to rebuild things -- rather than just replace

but not this time

rotor looks fine...

 

thanks

goat

have you pysically taken it apart? 

it's usually the slides that are stuck - not the piston. 

clean and regrease the slides with high quality grease like SilGlyde, it's 100X better than the regular permatex stuff. 

 

if it's the piston you have a couple options:

 

1. unbolt the caliper from the caliper bracket

pump the brake pedal...starting lightly then harder and see if you can get any piston movement via the hydraulic pressure of the brake system

if it moves - then compress/extend/compress/extend

 

2. alternately you can just push the brake pedal until the piston comes all the way out of the caliper - fluid and all. 

then rebuild it - rebuild kits are like $3 - $10 and include a new seal for the piston. 

real simple. 

if the piston is rusty it'll need replaced

 

3.  get another caliper.

yeah l took it apart

the slides are ok

 

piston won't comprest...

 

haven't tried pumping it out

cuz this is the only car available for driving to the auto parts store...

 

guess I'll buy a caliper

and a rebuild kit

return the one l don't use

 

thanks

goat

if something goes wonky you can drive the car with just the emergency/parking brake.  CYA legal disclaimer - i don't recommend it because it's unsafe, probably illegal, etc. 

but i've done it a bunch of times - choose time of day and route appropriately and i haven't had a problem.

gross Gary

like your style

done that before as well

most notably in a school buss...

 

but the car in question is at the top of a long and steep and rutted and windy dirt road

and it's been raining for days...

 

anyway --

l got the piston out

and could have rebuilt it

but the useless employes at the Mckrankin

franchise

couldn't find or didn't have a rebuild kit

 

and the seal got damaged in the extraction

 

so there's a new caliper on there

(and the other side got its sliders greased -- which it needed badly)

 

did l mention it was raining

and l was in a dirt (that is mud) drive way

what fun

 

thanks for the help

goat