Leaking brake caliper

[Christoph]

On my 1997 Ford Explorer AWD with 4 wheel disk brakes, the left rear brake caliper seems to be leaking fluid from the piston area. My left rear rotor has cracked in a couple places towards the outside of the rotor and pieces are broken off it. So I’ll be replacing the rear pads and rotors. But my question is when I replace one caliper do I need to replace both of them or will only replacing the leaking one be ok? I know there are some things that you replace both of them on a car if you’re replacing one like struts, tires, etc. I didn’t know if brake calipers are the same way.

Topic

[Bill]

In my opinion in some instances replacing one caliper is ok accept when one caliper is leaking. The caliper has to be leaking for a reason. In your case it was probably caused by the damaged rotor. Usually they leak because of a split or damaged dust boot allowing contaminants to damage the piston or seal but old moisture laden brake fluid damages the caliper piston causing it to leak.

Make sure after you install the calipers that you flush lots of fresh brake fluid through the entire system

[Kevin Criswell]

Depends.

With as much damage as you are seeing, I would recommend both as the opposite caliper has been working harder to compensate for the bad one.

I have a tester that allows you to measure the force that each caliper is outputting and often make my decisions based on that test. But, since you likely don’t have one I would default to replacing both just to be on the safe side.

[Shaun Flichel]

replacing just the leaking one is OK. but if they are cheap enough for your vehicle and you want piece of mind, do both. make sure you clean the area around the leaky one really well to stop any contamination to the new pads

[Kevin Criswell]

[quote=”shaun” post=75432]replacing just the leaking one is OK. but if they are cheap enough for your vehicle and you want piece of mind, do both. make sure you clean the area around the leaky one really well to stop any contamination to the new pads[/quote]

What worries me shawn is that cracked rotor. Christoph, I would check the bracket and guides really really well. Rotor cracking and breaking in that manner usually suggests a hung caliper causing that rotor to drastically over heat.

[Shaun Flichel]

I agree, but the cracked rotor is on the side that’s leaking

[Kevin Criswell]

[quote=”shaun” post=75450]I agree, but the cracked rotor is on the side that’s leaking[/quote]

True, that’s why I suggested checking the bracket and guides really well. I would hate to have him replace the caliper and rotor just to break ’em again.

[Shaun Flichel]

definately make sure its working like its supposed to mechanically, and inspect for any other damaged parts

[EricTheCarGuy]

Parts usually break for a reason. See what you can do to track down the cause of the breakage so that it doesn’t happen again. As to your question about replacing both calipers, it’s not a bad idea to replace both but you only have to replace the one that’s leaking.

[Author]

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