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I don’t know the year of the vehicle. I would suggest the free chiltons manual section that we offer. C8-)
It’s a 96 Grand Prix.. GM parking brake assemblies are pretty similar so principles that apply to one can apply to all of them, the year isn’t really needed and the Chiltons guide doesn’t help me at all. Gives me a breakdown of how to rebuild it with all new parts but I don’t have all new parts….I just have a parking brake that decides to hang up from time to time and I want to find out what parts of the parking brake actuating assy. I should remove, de-rust, lube, and reinstall.
That’s the style with the lever on the back side of the caliper to actuate the parking brake, right?
I wonder if it’s just better to buy a quality remanufactured caliper and be done with it. I’m sure you can rebuild it on your own, but I’d price it out and see if it’s worth your trouble.This isn’t for a GM caliper but it shows how he serviced a similar style VW rear caliper:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xAWK6Cj4Bkmorning,
the chilton manual under repair said to remove the rear wheels.put a lug nut to hold rotor in place. apply the parking break 3 times then release.
the parking break levers on both calipers should be against the stops of the caliper housings. if not check for binding of the cables.loosen/ tighten
the cables at the adjusters to get the left and right levers at there stops. good luck and keep us posted. C8-) Btw its probably the brake pad material
thats making them feel touchy. the e brake only comes into play when applied.if it was stuck your light should be on and you would be burning up your
rear brakes.Also not a GM caliper but this is how I service calipers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kf8C4Qxu-AI am burning up my rear brake, at least on that side. When it’s been sticking it gets substantially hotter at that wheel than at the rest.
The pads were overheated and the rotor was slightly warped, so I machined it. I figured the problem was in the corrosion on the sliding surfaces on the sides of the pads so I cleaned it all up and put brake grease on. Seemed a bit better but they’re still sticking.
Something you could do as a test for a sticking e-brake cable is simply unhook the cable from the caliper and see if that makes the problem go away. Once you get the e-brake cable unhooked, see if you can move the arm that it attaches to by hand. If it moves freely, I’d suspect that the cable itself is starting to get sticky internally and will need to be replaced. If the arm doesn’t move freely, then the mechanism inside the caliper is bad, which means that it’s time to swap out the caliper for a fresh one. You can also pull on the part of the e-brake cable where it attaches to the caliper to see if the cable moves freely. You may need a pair of pliers for that. It should pull out a short way and then retract when you let go.
Alternately, if you’re like the majority of my customers (who seem to want to fix their cars as cheaply as possible rather than fixing them correctly), you could unhook the e-brake cable, make sure that the arm on the caliper is in the released position, and then zip-tie the e-brake cable to the suspension to keep it from dragging on the road. I don’t recommend this method, but worst case scenario, it works.
+1 on 3sheetDiesels post for isolating the problem, I also just see if I can turn the caliper piston in, if I can’t then I replace the caliper.
Dug some more today.
Pads are burned up severely on the drivers side, there’s about half of the friction material when compared to the pass. side.
Even though they’re worn like crazy, the pads were moving freely and so were the sliders.
The E brake is not the problem as I had originally suspected – It applies and retracts just fine, I got someone to watch it while I climbed up in the car to try it a few times.
The caliper piston will turn in easily (though the multi-tool for the various caliper pistons is MISERABLE to use)….loosened the bleeder while I did this so as to not force any fluid back up into that stupid expensive Delco VI unit.
Only thing left is the hydraulic hose on that side. I’ll have time in the shop on Friday to install the new hydraulic hose and pads. I’ll let you know how that goes, but it’s prettymuch the only thing that is left that could be causing that wheel to drag.
I don’t think it could be an ABS problem because the Delco VI is 3 channels – 2 front and a shared channel for the rear. If it were dragging in the rear because of the ABS it would be doing it on both wheels, as I understand it.
great job on opening the bleeder screw while reseting the piston. when you spin the wheel by hand does the wheel spin freely
or stops fast? the caliper internally may have a problem. if you spin it and is not free its not releasing. you may need a new caliper.
keep us posted C8-)There is MUCH more effort needed to spin the wheel on one side. It’ll still spin but not as freely as the good side.
The piston retracts with equal amounts of force exerted on either side, and the calipers are not old. A year and a half ago, tops, they were replaced as a pair by the PO. Based on that I’m not suspecting the calipers sticking but something “upstream”.
I’ll know on Friday! A new flex hose is like 20 bucks and it doesn’t look like it’s ever been replaced. I’ll keep you posted.
thanks for the help/advice everyone
Are you thinking that the brake line is keeping pressure on the caliper? causing the piston not to retract. if you open the bleeder and spin the
wheel does the wheel spin free? This will prove the line theory. C8-)hey, good call, thanks! i’ll try that. that is what i was thinking about the hydraulic line not letting pressure off of the caliper
As soon as you would crack the bleeder loose on that wheel, some fluid is forced out, so there’s still a bit of pressure hanging around in there. Not the case with the other side…I forgot to check how easy the wheel was to turn with the old hose on it, by the time I remembered I was already loosening the banjo bolt. Once I got the new parts on and bled that corner I checked how much drag there was on both sides and it was equal, compared to the night/day difference in drag on both sides when the old hose was still on there.
Both rear wheels are the same temperature after a long drive around town, lots of stopping and starting. Before I put the new flex hose on the alloy wheel would almost be too hot to touch on the bad side.
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