Hi all,

I changed driver caliper today on my caravan because it was seizing up. I tried to compress the piston and it wouldn't budge so I condemned the caliper and got a new one.

When I tried to bleed the caliper it sure didn't seem to bleed out very well at all. The replacement one was fully compressed when installed it so maybe there wasn't much to bleed.

I did a post mortem tear down on the old caliper, and the piston/bore sure seemed to be in pretty good shape, much better than I expected.

If this caliper starts acting up like the old one and seizing up, where should I look next? I almost feel like there's a restriction within the line somewhere since even with the bleeder open/hose disconnected, the peddle was still pretty stiff.

I don't think I have ABS since there is no ABS light when starting up.

 

Replace the hose that connects to the caliper. Same thing happened on one of our fleet vans. The caliper kept locking up even when it was replaced. Turned out to be that hose.

 

good to know thx. I'll monitor it and if I have the issue again I'll swap that hose. I still have the old (ruined) pads/rotor on there so otehr than a bit of down time while I wait for things to unstick, there isn't much more damage to be done.

It also looks like my master has been leaking (paint is all bubbled up around the brake booster). I think I may have overfilled it but still something to monitor.

Thanks for the advice on the rubber hose, was it just full of crud?

 

I didn't do the job but yeah, it was full of in-compressible crap.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if that is the case here then. The caliper had some goop in it, and the brake system on this vehicle was not well maintained (fluid changes and what not)