How much, and where to get?
 

Kay, had a rather horrible experience last night involving a rancid burning smell and my brake pedal sinking to the floor, so I took it in to get looked at. Lo and behold, the rear brake calipers are rusted into a partially 'on' position and as such are using up the pads and heating up my brake system. Figures.

Price quote was 400-something to replace the calipers and pads on both sides. And 700-something to do that plus rotors. I'm no dummy, and I've done disc brake replacement before (though not on ABS cars), so I would like to avoid this insanely hefty price tag. I know I can get replacement rotors for a good price, but my rotors actually seem fine. I can get OEM pads cheap too, so that's not a problem either.

But where could I get rear brake calipers, and how much? Hopefully less than $125...?:o

NAPA has prices from $52-84 per each...these are remanufactured...either way wherever you get you new ones make sure you trade the old ones in because they are worth a core value!!! My question now is...di you actually see for yourself that they were rusted? The pistons (is that what they're called?)may have run out of grease and without that lube this could have made them "stuck" anyway the link below is for calipers at napa. I went to their site because they have locations nationwide so I figure wherever you are there is prolly one close by and if they don't have them in stock they usually don't take a long ass time to ship.:D



http://napaonline.com/masterpages/NO...Rear&VehCode=Y

Also the replacement is super easy so let me know if you need any info on that. Even for a first timer it shouldn't take more than 2 hours tops!

Yes, I did inspect them myself and yes, they are quite rusted. It's pretty nasty. Thanks for the info. There's a Napa place not too far from here... I'd just have to take a different car.:rolleyes:

You are having a string of problems. My sympathies. But, you want to know that rusted calipers don't account for your pedal going to the floor. That would be a leak. Either external and you're losing fuild, or internal in the master cylinder, no fuild lost.

Rusted calipers account for brakes being constantly on which accounts for heat building up in my brake system. After driving it a while, that'd make the fluid heat up... and fluid boiling does account for pedal going to the floor. And that's backed up by my brakes working fine right now, after the whole system has cooled overnight. Just driving it to Midas made the burning smell begin to return.

If you say so.

All right, but I didn't find any leaking brake fluid upon inspection, and does a leak in the line account for rancid burning smell? Where should I be looking for a leak, then? Why has my brake feel returned to normal overnight?

Unless a steel line is rusted, a rubber line cracked or a connection is not tight (or needs a new gasket because someone reused the old one) external leaks are rare. But, if you have one the fluid in the reservior will drop.

I don't recall ever smelling burning brake fluid, but when it evaporates it smells a little sweet.

The rancid burning smell is probably the brake linings. What's likely happening is that your piston is working when you apply pressure, but not releasing when you stop braking. Heat will build up until enough pad material wears away to create clearance between the pad and rotor, each time you use the brake. Some pads smell worse than others.

Most of the heat is concentrated in the rotor. Pads are insulators, so almost all the heat transferred to the caliper is by raditaion. Under normal driving conditions this heat is enough to weaken, warp and scorch the rotors, but not enough to boil your fluid.

I don't have any direct experience with this, but I do recall Darrel Waltrip (NASCAR) describing that boiling fluid would lock-up the brakes and I'm willing to take his word for it.

This is more likely to happen if it's been a while since the brakes have been bled. If so than there is surely some water in the fluid, when it heats, the water turns to steam, and there goes you pedal to the floor...

So when you replace the caliper, rather than just bleed enough to get the air out, it will be a good time to completely flush the lines.

Okay, I'll go with that because it sounds true enough. That is, they don't return to normal operating position.

But the fluid level has not dropped. Guy even came back and asked me if I added more fluid in after I felt the pedal sink, which I had not. I've got normal levels.

Air pocket? Could the problems actually be unrelated? As in, yes the rear brakes aren't returning to a neutral position but that isn't why I lost brake pedal response?

And if so... well, while my brakes sticking makes a bad smell and isn't good for the pads and rotors, it's losing my brake pedal and response which has me worried the most. I want to get that taken care of. If fixing the calipers fixes that, so be it. If not, I'm not gonna be a happy camper. Suggestions? :confused:

EDIT: Didn't see Hocrest's post before typing this. Will definitely check this one out, as I don't think brake fluid replacement was part of the flush treatment I gave the car a while back. Thanks.

If the fluid was hot enough to boil, it should be replaced now anyway. Good luck. :)

4 drilled and slotted rotors plus 8 pads:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Subar...03417073QQrdZ1

I have something similiar on my car, from ebay, irotors, and they are working quite well. pads are a little dusty, but i can live with that.

Here's what i have:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Subar...02768467QQrdZ1

No, I've already found a great source for brake rotors and pads for my car, that's not an issue. But thanks anyway.

Replacing fluid later, hopefully getting some stuff more thoroughly inspected.

You might want to check on the bearings as well. Extreme heat from a constantly engaged brake can boil the grease and make it useless.