Well, had a flat the other day, and discovered that my passenger side front caliper was locking up. You literally could not budge the tire, at all, when up on the jack. So, went poking around, had a look, and things were rather rusty, but all look reasonable.

Removed the caliper, inspected the pads. They have about 70% left, and don't look like they are bad. Rotor is clean, but, shows evidence of getting hot. (that, and I burnt my fingers on it while trying to pull the caliper....)

Spent some time getting the bleeder to break loose, put some pressure on the piston..... wouldn't budge with the bleeder closed, but, crack the bleeder, and it goes right in..... not all that much pressure required. So, replaced the soft line on that side, bled the system, and on a static test (sitting on a jackstand....) hit the brake pedal, rotor won't turn, let off, and it will. Great! Right? Well... not really.....

Went to get my front tires replaced. The passenger side was STILL hotter than what I thought it should be, and harder to turn than the drivers side. With the tire off, I couldn't get enough of a grip on the lugs to turn the rotor, still a tad warm..... with the tire on, it wasn't that difficult. Drivers side was cool to the touch, and turned easily. With, or without, the tire.

As far as I can tell, it didn't really take an inordinate amount of pressure to get the caliper piston to compress with the bleeder open, so, the caliper certainly isn't locked up in that sense, however...... I did discover that someone in the past has mixed brake fluids in the M/C..... there is 'stuff' floating in there, the consistency of snot. (sorry.....) I know this is indicative of mixing two incompatible fluids, my question becomes, will this also destroy all the seals in my brake system? Do I need to replace my calipers/wheel cylinder/master cylinder? Any other thoughts/suggestions?

I plan on thoroughly flushing the system in the VERY near future, but, if I need to replace a bunch of parts, I will hold off on the flush until I have the parts, and just flush the lines as I replace that particular part.

 

I have a couple vehicles that have this "snot" as well. No problems with my brakes, but I second your question on whether this is indeed evidence of combining incompatible fluids, and if it will damage the system in any way. (And what steps I should take to fix this.)

 

Suck all the fluid out of the MC. Add DOT4 And bleed the hell out of the system. No need to replace everything.

 

Cool. I have a couple quarts of fluid...... Hopefully that will also fix the 'sticky' caliper....

 

Suck it out, fill it, then remove the bleeders and let it really flow. Big time mess, but it might be worth it.

 

Mixing incompatible fluids does exactly what you're describing... now you have an excuse to buy a pressure bleeder!

 

Well, if he is married or has a girl friend. He already has one of those!

 

I like the way you guys think. Actually, my girlfriend (that might just as well be my wife...) LIKES tools... so, it isnt real hard to convince her that another one is necessary. In this case though... I suspect it will be her foot on the brake pedal. Either that, or the teenager. He IS useful once in a while.

 

When I had teenagers in the house, they were useful once a year: On April 15th.

 

I hear that...... He is very soon to be 18, so, of course, he knows it all, and I don't have a clue. I can hardly wait for his 'rude surprise' of finding out that he does NOT have all the answers. Should be fun. Hope he survives it.