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How to lube passenger side brake caliper - parking brake "lever" ?
Hey Guys,
Been having problems over the past few months with the parking brake sticking... Its only on the passenger side - it appears as the lever does not dis-engage on the caliper. If I go under there and tap it a few times with a ball-peen hammer it releases fine.
How can I effectively go about lubing this part? Do I have to take the whole brake assembly apart? Will lube even help or do I have something else going on?
I had this exact problem but my left rear caliper was sticking. Here's what I did:
Jack up rear of car and remove rear wheels.
Remove brake pads and put each in a ziplock or plastic bag, then reinstall pads on caliper and caliperon hub with disc (this will make sense later)
Douse the pivot area of the parking brake on the caliper with Wd40 or similar or penetrating oil.
Have a helper pull up on the parking brake and release. Use a prybar or long screwdriver to force the pivot mechanism back to fully release. Don't go at it with a hammer, hammers are hacks' tools.
Repeat pulling on parking brake lever and releasing, prying pivoting lever on caliper back up over and over while respraying with penetrating oil.
After about 5 minutes of repeating this nonsense the caliper's brake mechanism should be freely moving and no longer sticking.
If you're smart you'll spray down the other caliper's parking brake pivot to prevent sticking too.
Now go back and remove the brake pads from the caliper and remove the plastic bags from the calipers before reinstalling and torquing everything.
Reason for bags is because you DO NOT want your pads soaking in oil! This completely fixed my sticking parking brake. It was a free fix and saved lots of money and headaches. I'm 10k miles and 4 months problem free.
You are not spraying the caliper boot and piston, you're just lubing where the parking brake actuating pivot is. This is the metal lever with the return spring and parking brake cable connected to it.
Don't remove the spring on this actuating lever. Total pita to reinstall.
Last, do not actuate the lever or brake pedal with the caliper removed or brake pads removed. This will cause the piston to over extend and require the caliper to be rebuilt or replaced. This is why you can't just remove the pads and perform this procedure. You have to protect the pads and reinstall to ensure the caliper's piston does not pop out
You might want to check the parking brake cable. Right rear brakes wore out on mine and found the cable was rusted and sticking and not letting the brake release.
This is what i was looking for. Great! So it has been done. I'm going to give it a go and see what happens.
Mike
Originally Posted by ERIK06MCS
Just to reiterate a few important points,
You are not spraying the caliper boot and piston, you're just lubing where the parking brake actuating pivot is. This is the metal lever with the return spring and parking brake cable connected to it.
Don't remove the spring on this actuating lever. Total pita to reinstall.
Last, do not actuate the lever or brake pedal with the caliper removed or brake pads removed. This will cause the piston to over extend and require the caliper to be rebuilt or replaced. This is why you can't just remove the pads and perform this procedure. You have to protect the pads and reinstall to ensure the caliper's piston does not pop out
I use my parking brake every day and lubing the left rear caliper pivot ended up working for a few months before it started seizing again. I ended up replacing the left rear caliper just because I didn't want to keep lubing it, although when I replaced it I was still able to force the mechanism back into place and probably could've just lubed it again... Oh well.
Hopefully yours lasts a bit longer but our roads are way over salted up in Chicago..
I will try it on a slope then. Good to know The parking in front of my house has a very minor slope which doesn’t engage the handbrake automatically. When i am parked and i let the foot brake loose the car rolls a couple cm’s to the front and then you feel it being blocked by the gearbox. I learned that this is not good for the gearbox and therefore it is better to put it on the handbrake. Does this stoll hold up?
I take a spray can of lube and lift up the boot for the little cable in the back and hit it with spray once or twice a year, i do this to the front hood cables also. Then i move them back and forth so the grease/oil gets in there.
34406777400
We had 17 degree weather the other day here in HOTLANTA. Got into Scarlet, started her up, released the brake, let go of the clutch, she dragged out of the driveway. Brake was FROZEN... Went inside, got my water thermos, filled with HOT water and sprayed it on the caliper, that worked. Once it gets warmer, I'll get under her and lube her up.....
I will try it on a slope then. Good to know The parking in front of my house has a very minor slope which doesn’t engage the handbrake automatically. When i am parked and i let the foot brake loose the car rolls a couple cm’s to the front and then you feel it being blocked by the gearbox. I learned that this is not good for the gearbox and therefore it is better to put it on the handbrake. Does this stoll hold up?
You post is very confusing, and I don't know how to make sense of it. As you say gearbox, it only make sense to assume you have a manual transmission. On a really steep hill like in SF, the right way to park a car is turn the wheels so the inside wheel wedged against the curb; put the car in 1st if you park in uphill, and reverse if you park downhill (I say 1st or reverse make no difference unless you split hairs on which has the greater drive ratio); and set the manual hand brake as tight as you reasonably can. Triple redundancy.
It cause no harm to the gearbox and everything in the drivetrain - as long as you don't pull the transmission out from gear without depressing on the clutch. Even if you have a real automatic that has those catch paws, you should still put it in "Park". With the slush box I would almost agree putting heavy load on the catch paws can cause some wear so you just have to adjust the technique so not to load them.
In full disclosure, in my Porsche it has an electric parking brake. If you ask me what one thing I hate the most about the car that will be it. Its an idiot aid that Porsche should never put into a GT car.
Yes, it automatically help you with you hill start if you should not be licensed to drive a manual gearbox. But for someone that can hill start without using a manual handbrake it is insult and most disconcerting. Instead of just give enough "gas" and nurse the clutch, I have to give a lot of gas so the stupid driving aid will know to release the electric brake.
The parking in front of my house has a very minor slope which doesn’t engage the handbrake automatically. When i am parked and i let the foot brake loose the car rolls a couple cm’s to the front and then you feel it being blocked by the gearbox. I learned that this is not good for the gearbox and therefore it is better to put it on the handbrake. Does this stoll hold up?
