Driver's Side Caliper Sticking

17315 Views 31 Replies 12 Participants Last post by redhat, Sep 27, 2013

ROADSTER

Discussion Starter · Sep 24, 2013

3

Hello All,

I noticed my brakes dragging and also saw that my driver's side rear wheel was much dirtier than the others. I pulled the wheels off and found that the driver's side rear brakes don't release when the parking brake is disengaged.

The cable moves, but for some reason the "arm" (pictured in the 2nd photo in red) is stuck. I tapped it with a hammer in the direction of the yellow arrow in the 3rd picture and it released, moving approximately a half inch. Does anyone know what would cause it to stick? Any ideas on how to fix it?

Thanks

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1 - 20 of 32 Posts

WDHewson

· #2 · Sep 24, 2013

These Honda brakes are junk.

Even my 1977 Honda Civic had lousy high maintenance brakes.

Back to Toyotas for me, just for these lousy brakes.

RickBlaine

· #3 · Sep 24, 2013

WDHewson said:
These Honda brakes are junk.

Even my 1977 Honda Civic had lousy high maintenance brakes.

Back to Toyotas for me, just for these lousy brakes.

???
Thank you for your informative and helpful post.:banana:

BTW, I used to bullseye womprats in my T-16 back home, and they weren't bigger than 2 meters.

RickBlaine

· #4 · Sep 25, 2013

ROADSTER:

Clean it and lube it.

Good for you for pulling the wheels off of your new ride and getting ready for winter. I have noticed that SOME Chicago-area members have problems with the rear brakes. More than the rear brakes of members in cities that don't dump 2 tons of road salt on every intersection every single week during wintertime.

It is a good idea to simply pull your brakes every spring, clean, and re-lube everything including the slide pins.

I suspect that a quick disassemble, cleaning, and re-install (using new brake lube such as sil-glyde) of your existing brake set up will cure your problem. Our parking brake is "mechanical", so lube is needed there- road salt eats it away. I don't think your cable is frozen, I think it may be the point which it attaches to the caliper needs cleaning and lube.

Would be good to remove rotors, pads and check that the caliper's piston itself is not frozen stuck.

When I pulled my rear brakes in May (after a two-year hiatus) my rear brakes were this/close to failure. No lube, uneven wear, etc....From now on, I work on my own brakes.

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ROADSTER

Discussion Starter · #5 · Sep 25, 2013

RickBlaine said:
ROADSTER: Good for you for pulling the wheels off of your new ride and getting ready for winter. I have noticed that SOME Chicago-area members have problems with the rear brakes. More than the rear brakes of our brothers in cities that don't dump 2 tons of road salt on every intersection every single week during wintertime.

I've been doing several brake jobs on Accords this year, including my own. I concluded that it is a good idea to simply pull your brakes every spring, clean, and re-lube.

I suspect that a quick disassemble, cleaning, and re-install (using new brake lube such as sil-glyde) of your existing brake set up will cure your problem. Our parking brake is "mechanical", so lube is needed there. I don't think your cable is frozen, I think it may be the point which it attaches to the caliper needs cleaning and lube.

Would be good to remove rotors, pads and check that the caliper's piston itself is not frozen stuck.

When I pulled my rear brakes in May (after a two-year hiatus) my rear brakes were this/close to failure. No lube, uneven wear, etc....From now on, I work on my own brakes.

Thanks RickBlaine. Cable is definitely not stuck. It moves, the arm doesn't. I don't suppose there is a step by step thread with pictures that shows the disassemble and cleaning you referred to?

(K)

· #6 · Sep 25, 2013

That whole mechanism should be lubed up. Ideally you would disassemble and rebuild the caliper. For now, keep the moving parts lubed up over the next few days to see if it gets better. If not, definitely time for a rebuild. My $.02 is that you might as well get new rotors and pads since you're doing a caliper rebuild...and since you're doing a rebuild you might ad well paint the calipers. But if you're getting new stopping hardware, you might as well get nice pads...and since you're getting nice pads you might as well get nice rotors. Since I'm on the topic of getting nice rotors, you might as well spend the extra cash and get the larger diameter Pilot rotors and caliper relocation brackets. And this is why I'm always broke.

RickBlaine

· #7 · Sep 25, 2013

3

Diagram:
http://www.hondapartsunlimited.com/...exl/5-speed-automatic/chassis/rear-brake-disk

Front Brakes, HOW-To, from member "princess":
http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5457&highlight=7th+gen+brake+job

Go to post #58 for pdf's from Princess on how to do front, AND rear brakes. And please remember to thank her- she has helped thousands of people here.

HOW TO DO REAR BRAKES ON 7th GEN (with pics):
http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/showthread.php?t=15545

Hit us up with questions.....I'm doing my neighbor's 2007 Accord brakes, all four, this Friday morning. Went to Brakemotive's website (based here in Chicago) and bought all four rotors and ceramic pads for $145 delivered.

Last but NOT least....video: Search for "Eric the Car Guy"- either his website or on YouTube, and he will show you how to do Honda brakes. Some members don't care for him, but I think he kicks arse!

And like (K) said, paint those calipers! Here be mine (I pulled them and painted the brackets silver and the calipers black):

and

These are your friends!

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ROADSTER

Discussion Starter · #8 · Sep 25, 2013

Thank you both. All your info is greatly appreciated! I'll keep you posted.

Drew03Accord

· #9 · Sep 25, 2013

ROADSTER said:
Thanks RickBlaine. Cable is definitely not stuck. It moves, the arm doesn't. I don't suppose there is a step by step thread with pictures that shows the disassemble and cleaning you referred to?

Roadster, those two bolts which are compressing the rubber boots in your first pic. Those are the slide pins. Take them out, rub them down with steel wool then grease them with good quality caliper lube as Rick said. That is the single most important step you can take to prevent caliper lock ups.

gwiffer

· #10 · Sep 25, 2013

Are you guys using the sil-glyde or ceramic extreme (permatex) on the slide pins?

RickBlaine

· #11 · Sep 25, 2013

@gwiffer: Both...for my mad scientist experiment, I used sil-glyde on the top slider pins, and the purple permatex ceramic brake lube on the bottom pins. I also used the purple stuff on all the hardware (bolts, shims, back of brake pads, and parking brake contact points.)

Next May when I pull them to remove Chicago's road salt, I will take detailed photos and report back my experiences. So far, so good. I want it to go through a winter and see what happens.

I suspect that the trend to more "open" wheels lately is contributing to more rust/corrosion on our rear brake systems. Would be interested to hear from guys running steelies to hear their experiences.

2006accord4

· #12 · Sep 25, 2013

WDHewson said:
These Honda brakes are junk.

Even my 1977 Honda Civic had lousy high maintenance brakes.

Back to Toyotas for me, just for these lousy brakes.

I feel ya. My Honda is a magnet for bird krap. Back to BMWs for me.

ROADSTER

Discussion Starter · #13 · Sep 26, 2013

3

Thanks again everyone for all your help. RickBlaine, I agree with you--Eric the Car Guy was a great help to me as well. I watched his complete rear brake job video twice.

I ended up having to replace the driver's side rear caliper. I don't believe anything short of rebuilding the caliper would have fixed the fact that the cam for the parking brake would not disengage without the help of a hammer.

Rotor and pads were OK, so I left them for now and will most likely change the rotors and pads in the spring. Removed the caliper and saw that the boot for the piston was damaged. Not sure what effect this had on the operation of the brakes (feel free to weigh in), but either way, at that point I was already committed to changing the caliper out.

Everything was smooth sailing until I got to the point where I had to connect the parking brake cable to the new caliper. That was tough. After about 25 mins of playing around with it, I got it in. The bleeding of the brakes was another pain, but in the end it all worked out great. Brakes work perfectly! Last picture is the finished product.

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Arkainzeye

· #14 · Sep 26, 2013

This happened to me two times last year. Drivers rear... I cleaned it and pushed it back in.. then 4 months later it did it again! I replaced it with a napa unit and its been 10 months and all is well..

ROADSTER

Discussion Starter · #15 · Sep 26, 2013

Another question for you veteran brake changers:

Eric the Car Guy said in his video that anti-seize should be put on the pads in the spots marked in red in the attached picture. My mechanic friend told me I should put the caliper lube in those spots, not the anti-seize. Obviously Eric is a mechanic as well. Which is correct?

Also, does anyone know what the torque specs are for the caliper retaining bolts, parking brake bolt, etc?

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RickBlaine

· #16 · Sep 26, 2013

Sometimes, unfortunately, we use different terms interchangeably when we should not. You want "lube" in those spots- and that is lube that won't wash away in rain or road salt, won't burn off when heated by constant braking in stop-n-go traffic, and be able to continuously allow those brake pads to glide together to slow down the rotor.

Products such as sil-glyde and hi-temp brake lube do the job. By its very nature, brake lube is "anti-seize".

Anti-seize labeled stuff CAN work (and usually does), but was not designed to be hit with rain water and the occasional road salt. So this is why sometimes members from the southern US will say that they use anti-seize on the back and edges of brake pads with no trouble.

If you wanted to "waste" a day this winter then check out "Bob is the Oil Guy" website:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1863200#Post1863200

SSMV6

· #17 · Sep 26, 2013

Roadster, be prepared to do the passenger side as well. Mine failed within 6 months of each other (95k miles or so). Like you, I didn't bother to spend the time to rebuild it and bought new calipers instead. Didn't have a problem for the next 30k miles when I traded in my car.

Silicone brake lube is better since it's designed for the harsh environments. Anti-seize may cake up over time depending on the type of anti-seize you use.

RickBlaine

· #18 · Sep 26, 2013

And yeah, I agree based on your excellent photos- that caliper needed a rebuild or to be replaced with a re-manufactured unit (as SSMV6 said- watch the other side!) When a brake caliper's piston boot seal is cracked, it means the piston seal (you can't see it unless you remove the piston) will quickly fail and then allow brake fluid to be exposed to air and water. THAT can lead to the ABS failing.

You were prudent and did well. When you see a damaged boot- you must rebuild or replace. These are brakes, after all.

I like Eric the Car Guy because he does not edit out WHEN THINGS GO WRONG, lol. It's real world wrenching.

Did you use Honda brake fluid or did you go aftermarket?

BTW- those are very good photos. What camera you using?

ROADSTER

Discussion Starter · #19 · Sep 26, 2013

Arkainzeye said:
This happened to me two times last year. Drivers rear... I cleaned it and pushed it back in.. then 4 months later it did it again! I replaced it with a napa unit and its been 10 months and all is well..

Your caliper was sticking? Was the parking brake assembly at the caliper sticking also?

ROADSTER

Discussion Starter · #20 · Sep 26, 2013

RickBlaine said:
And yeah, I agree based on your excellent photos- that caliper needed a rebuild or to be replaced with a re-manufactured unit (as SSMV6 said- watch the other side!) When a brake caliper's piston boot seal is cracked, it means the piston seal (you can't see it unless you remove the piston) will quickly fail and then allow brake fluid to be exposed to air and water. THAT can lead to the ABS failing.

You were prudent and did well. When you see a damaged boot- you must rebuild or replace. These are brakes, after all.

I like Eric the Car Guy because he does not edit out WHEN THINGS GO WRONG, lol. It's real world wrenching.

Did you use Honda brake fluid or did you go aftermarket?

BTW- those are very good photos. What camera you using?

I used AutoZone Super Heavy Duty DOT 3 fluid, which I hope was OK. Also, I'm using the camera on my phone which is an "old school" iPhone 4 (from 2010). It's super convenient because I just email the photos to myself, then I access them on my desktop for uploading here.

Also, I edited one of my posts earlier and added a question: does anyone know the torque specs of the various brake assembly hardware?

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