sticking caliper, boiling noises from 20vt head

[Paul Heneghan]

>From: Brett Dikeman <quattro at pdikeman.ne.mediaone.net>
>Subject: sticking caliper, boiling noises from 20vt head

>a)my driver's side rear caliper is sticking.  Greg @ AutoFirme just 
>recently diagnosed as bad cables, and replaced them and adjusted the 
>rear proportioning valve.  He was obviously incorrect.

Maybe not.  I've had problems with rear calipers twice.  On both occassions,
one of the cables had seized whereupon the caliper parking brake mech had
rusted and the pad carrier had also rusted.  Lots of dismantling (not easy
as everything was very rusty) wire brushing, cleaning, lubricating and a new
cable got it all going again.

On an old Jetta I had years ago, the front caliper rusted up with symptoms
close to what you described - sometimes OK, sometimes obviously braking with
out the pedal being pressed - loads of heat being given off.  It only took a
couple of hours to remove it from the car, dismantle it and file all the
rust (and a lot of chrome plating) off the piston, and it worked fine until
I got the replacement a few days later.

Are you replacing your brake fluid every two years? (I'm not one to talk,
but that's what's recommended - brakefluid is hygroscopic and the
fluid/water mixture seems to be quite corrosive.

Have a nice Sunday!

Paul


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