Kids killed my rear brakes. Help!

sedodes · 10-26-2007, 05:44 PM

Hi again to those of you who remember my starter/sputter thread, hope you can provide more invaluable advice.

So after the starter install and subsequent sputter fix, I noticed a grinding in my front left brake. Not good considering that I changed the pads about a month or two ago. Pulled the tire and the rotor was heavily scored. Figured out the pins were sticking and not letting the brakes disengage. New pads come in tomorrow.

While I was at it I figured I might as well take a crack at fixing my rear brakes (which have never worked). After having the tires off and the brakes hanging loose, I went in for snack, bathroom, cigarette, etc. Not even 15 minutes later there's a knock on my door. It's the neighbor girl, the local nark. She tells me that the neighborhood kids were playing around in my garage and with my car and that it's leaking.

I'm a bit concerned and pissed, having the car up on stands and these being 5-8 year olds, so I run out to check what's up. I arrive to see a pool of what I assume is brake fluid and a little cylindrical piece of metal I recognize as the thing that applies pressure to the pad in the middle of it. I tried all manner of pushing and twisting the damn thing in to get it rethreaded, but no luck.

If anyone can help out it'd be much appreciated. I don't even know where to start on this.

tHe iLleSt RiCe · 10-26-2007, 05:50 PM

so did they cut the break line? sounds like the piston on the caliper fell out, but im not sure because your story is vague

bobbyisking · 10-26-2007, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tHe iLleSt RiCe

so did they cut the break line? sounds like the piston on the caliper fell out, but im not sure because your story is vague

that's what it sounds like to me, the piston fell out of the caliper. happened to my mom's van once, as i decided to take off both the fronts and tried to bleed one side with the other one apart, and same thing happened. u should be able to push the piston back into the caliper, might take a little bit of force and such, but it should go back in the same way it came out.

jen36 · 10-26-2007, 06:00 PM

heck naw onces the piston comes out you gotta buy a rebuild kit.. at least that was what i was told.. n e ways i tired to put it back together with a c clamp and it would not go in....so i just got new ones....

UK-SRi · 10-27-2007, 05:58 PM

The rears rotate in, not push.

Mike

jen36 · 10-27-2007, 06:16 PM

yeah well i was talking bout my front

Jaketips42 · 10-27-2007, 07:28 PM

Think of the people that rebuild calipers... Some guy with a big mustache and a bum leg.

Calipers are simple devices. Get a rebuild kit if you even that concerned.

squirlz · 10-27-2007, 09:05 PM

I would document what it took to fix it and send the parents of those kids a letter saying they owe this % of the bill. If they dont want to pay then take it to the police. This should not happen and the kids should be held responsible.

I would get a rebuild kit and try to fix the rear caliper.

JimR · 10-27-2007, 09:16 PM

One of the little dummies was pretending to drive the car, hit the brake pedal, and the piston popped out.

I think there's a snap ring in the caliper that is supposed to keep anything else from popping out.

There is a spring in there. Maybe try pushing the piston into the bore and twisting clockwise at the same time? If it is extremely stubborn to turn, it may need to be rebuilt, anyway.

sedodes · 10-27-2007, 10:22 PM

Okay, got it together with the help of an ABS caliper tool (the piston had fallen out). Autozone lent it to me for $35 and I get the money back when I bring back the tool. Problem solved, right? Wrong.

As far as the kids go, I had the responsible parties (with the agreement of their parents) make the mile-long trek to pick up the tool. It took me less time to put the brakes back together than it did for them to hoof it there and back. That's atonement enough for me

The rear brakes still don't work. They never did since I owned the car. The piston extended fine when the brake wasn't on, but now that it's all back together it's like there's not enough pressure to push the pads against the rotor.

Brake fluid is fine and the lines are bled. No leaks, either.

I might be mistaken since I don't really know much about cars, but the line that runs to the brakes that ISN'T brake fluid is part of the ABS mechanism, right? It's connected to an apparatus that's tensioned against a pretty hefty spring, and that whole thing is gummed up pretty good (had to smack it with a hammer to ***/engage the thing, the spring didn't even budge it back into place). If that's what's causing my brakes to wimp out, does anyone know how I can free up that thing?

JimR · 10-27-2007, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sedodes

I might be mistaken since I don't really know much about cars, but the line that runs to the brakes that ISN'T brake fluid is part of the ABS mechanism, right? It's connected to an apparatus that's tensioned against a pretty hefty spring, and that whole thing is gummed up pretty good (had to smack it with a hammer to ***/engage the thing, the spring didn't even budge it back into place). If that's what's causing my brakes to wimp out, does anyone know how I can free up that thing?

That is the emergency brake. The e-brake cable turns a lever attached to a notched cam bolt inside the caliper. The bolt pushes the piston out when you pull the e-brake lever.

The brakes will drag if the bolt/lever don't disengage. Could be a lubrication problem, maybe rust. I had this problem on my G20, and just got a rebuilt caliper to save time.

It might be worth it to just get rebuilt rear calipers for new seals and functional hardware all around.