[s-cars] Front Brake calipers not releasing.....Master Cylinder?

[Jim Fleischer]

Hi Tom,

I've got a buddy who concocted a pressure bleeder for his Volvos......used 
it the first time I bled them, and seemed to work okay.  It was a little 
frustrating to mess with, so I flushed the system the old-fashioned way the 
second and third times and seemed to get a stronger bleed.  Pedal feel is 
like it was before the ruptured rear line put this ball into motion.

This is my first brake job on the "S" without adult supervision, but I have 
done them in the past on some Fords of years past......I've spectated on a 
couple of Audi brake jobs before.  I'm running VW/Audi DOT 4 fluid through 
the system, as that is what was in there before.  I've gone with all oem 
lines, rotors and pads for the reason that if I screwed something up, it 
would be pretty obvious to me, or so I thought.

When looking at the old pads, it looks like this may have been a problem for 
some time, as there is some uneven wear in the pads on the right rear, and 
front left.  There also had been some "hot spots" on the rotors (that's what 
the machinist said.)  Maybe the MC had been acting up for awhile, and until 
I replaced everything, it was somewhat unnoticeable.

Brake light does come on for between 20-30 seconds before it shuts off, and 
has done that for about a year.  That has not changed throughout this 
process.

Thanks for the help everyone!

Best regards,

Jim Fleischer


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Green" <trgreen at comcast.net>
To: "Scarlist" <s-car-list at audifans.com>; "Jim Fleischer" <jim at almgt.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 6:15 AM
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Front Brake calipers not releasing.....Master 
Cylinder?


> >
> All symptoms point to the master cylinder, Jim.
>
> You did not mention how you were bleeding the brakes.  Do you have a
> power bleeder now?  If so, what kind?
>
> I believe you are experienced at brake work, and fully understand this
> question,but have you verified that the correct fluid is in each system?
>
> Tom
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:45:27 -0600
>> From: "Jim Fleischer" <jim at almgt.com>
>> Subject: Re: [s-cars] Front Brake calipers not releasing.....Master
>> Cylinder?
>> To: "Lee Levitt" <lee at wheelman.com>
>> Cc: s-car-list at audifans.com
>> Message-ID: <DFA9E02A978D4817AE02080AE70742A0 at 421Capitol>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
>> reply-type=response
>>
>> The part #'s matched up front and rear, and the shape of the pads were
>> identical to what I took off.......they fit fine until the first  brake 
>> pedal
>> test.....then they just stay there.  I took the car out again after 
>> bleeding
>> the whole system, twice......after a very short drive, I checked all  the
>> corners and it looks like I've got issues at all four calipers, as  all 
>> the
>> rotors were hot......the fronts are just making more noise than the
>> rears.....hopefully the master cylinder will do the trick.
>>
>> thanks for the tip, though....
>>
>> Jim
>
>
>