Brakes are smokin'

Twice now I've gotten out of my disco2 and smelled the rear driver's side brakes burning and listened to them 'tinging' as they cool down. So this time I thought I'd take a look

I have never worked on brakes before so I'm immediately out of my depth.
I've had a good look around the web (usual suspects have helped) but I'm still undecided what the problem is (I'm pretty sure the caliper is seized) or what to do next.

I've taken some pictures (attached) for you to see the sorry state of my hubs and brakes.

The brakes seem to be clamped on (no room between the outer pad and disc - hand brake is off but may still be stuck I guess) - I cannot see the inner ones even with a torch.
There seems to be plenty of pad left (I've red-ringed one of the pics) and the disc seems to be in tolerance still over 12mm thick - though, I have to admit, it does look somewhat rusty!

The caliper seems to be covered in some sort of bubbly rust - is this usual?

If someone can suggest a plan of correction I'd appreciate it.

It's the calliper that has seized by the look of things,mine are rusty on my D1 but are releasing ok. I'm not sure whether you will be able to free it off if you take it apart and may need new callipers but would suggest it's done before they catch fire.

If you don't know what you are doing find someone who does, the brakes arn't hard to do if you know what your doing. It might just be the pads siezing in the caliper but its not uncommon for calipers to sieze, i would strongly recomend a brake fluid change when th problem is sorted out aswell, that disc and caliper have got realy hot.

Cheers guys.

I'm up for the work - but I just lack confidence due to not doing this before.

In the brake write-ups/howtos, the caliper is usually just set to one side or, at a push, squeezed to make way for the thicker pads.

Are there any d2 specific howtos for caliper maintenance/refurbishment/replacement?

It looks a mess, so off with the caliper, remove the pads, retract the piston with a G clamp if not seized, wire wire bush everything and re assemble using copper grease on the backs and edge of the pads and on the two slider bolts.. and as mentioned change the fluid.
If you find the piston is seize then that's another job to do.

Ok - I 'went for it' and took the caliper off.
Plenty of rust in the bit in the middle - I vacuumed everything I didn't like what I'd read about brake dust.

The pads look fine (pic attached) if not a little distressed looking?
The caliper seems a little worse for wear. The bit that slides in and out was full of rust - it seems pretty much fully in in this picture - has it unlocked in the removal? Or does it only stick this little out?

Looking at the seal, it looks like its not sealing anymore - is there a kit I can buy to replace this (assuming I don't need a whole new caliper)?

I'll take a wire brush and a clamp to the caliper and see what happens next.

The wire brushing and copious amounts of brake cleaner removed a lot of rust and dirt.
I used a cramp to squeeze the caliper back in - which it did, quite nicely.
I then put it all back together and it fitted quite smoothly - with the hub being turnable between the pads - nice!

Thanks everyone!

I skimped on the copper grease and the fluid change as I'm in a rush but I'm probably going to take her apart soon - to sort out that failing gaiter.

Is there a caliper refurbishment kit for these brakes?

TaDa said:

Ok - I 'went for it' and took the caliper off.
Plenty of rust in the bit in the middle - I vacuumed everything I didn't like what I'd read about brake dust.

The pads look fine (pic attached) if not a little distressed looking?
The caliper seems a little worse for wear. The bit that slides in and out was full of rust - it seems pretty much fully in in this picture - has it unlocked in the removal? Or does it only stick this little out?

Looking at the seal, it looks like its not sealing anymore - is there a kit I can buy to replace this (assuming I don't need a whole new caliper)?

I'll take a wire brush and a clamp to the caliper and see what happens next.

Click to expand...

Try focusing the camera on the caliper next time not the ground behind it :doh: , that piston will go further in, it looks like its quite rusty, dont just force it in what you need todo is get it further out, get some one to push the brake pedal for you, so you have about 15-20mm of the piston showing pull the dust cover (the rubber pit) back and inspect the piston. If its not to bad (no pitting) clean it lube it and push it back in. It may help to push it in and out a few times. clean the caliper and pads, a file is good for cleaning rust off of the caliper where the pads sit, be sure to only clean the rust off don't file the caliper away same with the pads. Copper greese pads and caliper and rebuild, blead brakes.

Do the caliper sliders still slide? would be a good idea to remove clean and greese them aswell.

Ok the piston is 'shot' you normally would push it back flush which you have to do with new pads, but with all that rust it would distroy the seal and there would still the possability it will jam again. But you now know was involved if you have to dismantle again.

You can get a service kit which includes a piston and seals and it's not a difficult job to do, it's all push fit... in theory, or the very easy but more expensive option is to replace the caliper.

The bottom line is now test your brakes if it pulls to one side there's still a prob with that caliper..

just had same prob on my disco, not worth caliper kit (in my opinion) calipers only 35 quid each at my local factors and pads 15, blokey who sold me em said he sells loads, must be soooooooo comon

greasemonkey142 said:

just had same prob on my disco, not worth caliper kit (in my opinion) calipers only 35 quid each at my local factors and pads 15, blokey who sold me em said he sells loads, must be soooooooo comon

Click to expand...

That's the best way, the way things are going now, repair is by replacing the item.

Just got back from the rush - the brakes are screaming hot

Tomorrow its going to be the same job again. This time I'll check that the piston goes out properly, clean and lube it and then push it in and repeat.
(Its difficult making this sentence not have second meanings)

Yes, I spotted the poor photography - the more observant will see my jack is working again

Part of this tale of woe is that I have temporarily mislaid my electronic library (I just migrated to linux) so I'm stuck without the proper reading material....

So, can I remove the complete piston without all the fluid escaping?
And how do I bleed the brakes? (I am such a novice!)

Sadly I need this car on Monday - and there're no motor factors going to be open tomorrow - the best I can hope is that Halfords will have the brake fluid - do I really need to flush the system and use 2 pints?

Some days working on your car can be so unrewarding

Thanks everyone - you're keeping my confidence up with suggestions - I'll be through this soon I hope!

TaDa said:

Just got back from the rush - the brakes are screaming hot

Tomorrow its going to be the same job again. This time I'll check that the piston goes out properly, clean and lube it and then push it in and repeat.
(Its difficult making this sentence not have second meanings)

Yes, I spotted the poor photography - the more observant will see my jack is working again

Part of this tale of woe is that I have temporarily mislaid my electronic library (I just migrated to linux) so I'm stuck without the proper reading material....

So, can I remove the complete piston without all the fluid escaping?
And how do I bleed the brakes? (I am such a novice!)

Sadly I need this car on Monday - and there're no motor factors going to be open tomorrow - the best I can hope is that Halfords will have the brake fluid - do I really need to flush the system and use 2 pints?

Some days working on your car can be so unrewarding

Thanks everyone - you're keeping my confidence up with suggestions - I'll be through this soon I hope!

Click to expand...

If you remove the piston you will get a lot of brake fluid come out, don't force the piston in as it will damage the seal, also if you are not confident in what you are doing don't strip the caliper, its not a hard job but you can damaged the seal quite easily.
Bleeding the brakes is a precortionary measure because you will have boiled the brake fluid in that caliper.
Bleading the brakes is a simple prosses of opening the blead nipple on the caliper putting a bit of hose on it, put the other end into a container (milk bottle) and get someone to press the brake pedal. Wth pipe and bottle ready open blead nipple press pedal down close blead nipple let pedal back up, make sure you dont run out of fluid in master cylinder.

I had no choice - I needed to drive the car this morning.
So I went for it. I took some pics but they were all out of focus - I blame the camera
Anyway, I took the caliper off and pressed the brake pedal a few times until the piston was nearly out, then I stuck some polythene around the brake master cylinder (as per the haynes manual), crimped the hose shut using a locking circlip plier and then took the caliper completely off.

I then tried to remove the piston - no chance and I don't have a foot pump that chat would screw in. So, deciding that this was a field repair, I put a bolt in the hole where the brake fluid goes, put the whole lot in a vice and tightened it

After a couple of ever longer bolts I finally got the piston out.

What a mess! It was covered in rust and when I cleaned that off, it was all pitted. Also, when I took the piston out, half of the seal stayed in the caliper the other half (the dust boot part) came with the piston.

This is a field repair so, I left the manky bit of seal in the caliper, cleaned everything in site with brake cleaner (and a wire brush and a knife!), copper greased the appropriate bits and put it all back together. Finally bled the brakes and took her for a spin.

Nice - she worked, no leaks from the brakes either.

I'm now faced with buying a caliper, piston etc etc but that can wait a bit.
Il need to give the rest of the brakes a checkover and then decide if its worth the time and money to put her right.

Assuming I leave the pipes alone - I'm thinking this is going to cost me £50+ a corner in parts alone - aarrgh!
I know I know - what price safety?

(I bought 5 litres of halfords universal dot4 lest I _had_ to flush - is this stuff ok or should I return it unopened and do the flush with something else?)