Re: 200 rear caliper problem

[Tom Nas <Tom@interes.nl>]

Peter Schulz <schulz@ed.ray.com> wrote:

>                                       Need a bit of help/advice.  I finally found why the brakes on the TQW
>                                       felt mushy..the rear brakes were not operating, due to the emergency
>                                       brake cam not releasing.  I sprayed the spring and cam on the calipers 
>                                       liberally with WD40, and the passenger rear seams to be working now,

>                                       However the driver's rear caliper is still sticking, even after WD40
>                                       and forced operation of the cam.  The good news is that the e-brake
>                                       lever, which once could be raised to the upper limit, now has less than
>                                       two inches of travel, and I don't appear to have a rusted emergency
>                                       brake.

>                                       I searched the qlist archives but could not find any tips on dealing 
>                                      with this problem, and bentley does not appear to go into any detail
>                                       in rebuiding the rear calipers on this issue, only covering piston and
>                                       seal replacement.

>                                      Could someone explain how the emergency brake closes the caliper, so
>                                      that
>                                       I have a better understanding of what is causing the binding, an whether
>                                       the caliper can be rebuilt or whether I should spring for a rebuilt
>                                       one...

 Sorry- not very helpful here, but my car ('87 90q) has the exact same
problem- parking brake is excellent, driver's side rear doesn't operate
on the back of the rotor. No problems with brake feel here, it tracks
pretty straight. However, the inside of the rotor is all rusted up now.
I fear that I'll have to replace the entire rear setup to get it to pass
the test next month...

Tom