Possible locked caliper?

[Dmang]

I think I may need another caliper. Drove the Outback today and noticed it seems to roll a lot more freely than the GT. I picked a spot in my neighborhood and brought them both to the same speed and let off the gas, the Outback rolled a lot further, where as the GT feels like its dragging. I notice under heavy braking the car pulls to the right. I thought it was just that the brakes still need another bleed, but not sure now. How do you determine a caliper is locked? The Outback is a auto and the GT is a 5-speed, but even putting the GT in neutral it slows faster.

[d1giPhux]

It sounds like your caliper 'slide pins' are binding, or not sliding correctly. However, your problem could be caused by possibly 2 things:

1. Caliper slide pins not working correctly (dirty, binding up, need re-grease)
or
2. Caliper Piston not working correctly.

I would pull off your brake caliper and check it out. Clean the caliper pins up real well and re-grease them. Might help out. If your not sure how to do that, try looking up more info on pulling your brake caliper off and cleaning it. I'll try to find a tutorial for you if there are any.


EDIT:

Here is a how to on doing brake work:

http://www.weblumen.com/subaru/brakepads.html

Doesn't show how to grease the caliper slide pins, but once you disconnect the caliper from the bracket that holds it, you will see how the slide pins work and can easily clean them and re-grease them.

[Dmang]

Didn't even think about that, guess I've been out of the mechanic game too long. Lol. I will give that a shot, thanks.

[xoSubieLegacyxo]

If you caliper was locking up, you'd be getting a lot of heat on that tire. Also look for brake dust on the wheel. When my rear brakes locked up my wheels were covered with red brake dust. Had to drive from college back home (normally takes 3 hours but took 5) and stopping every half hour to let the brakes cool.

[Dmang]

Yeah, the one I changed I'm pretty sure was locked up. I don't notice any excess brake dust on the wheels. I'll try d1giPhux's suggestion, that sound like it'll solve the issue......I hope. Thanks for the input fellas!

[Dmang]

Had the brake system flushed and bleed. Still have a squishy pedal, thinking its mainly the calipers. I washed the car off and got the wheels spotless, noticing a lot of dust on both front wheels, not so much in the rear. Wondering if it's the proportioning valve. Gonna get another caliper this weekend, install and grease new pins. Will go from there, but noticing dust on all four wheels. Feels like brakes are always engaged a little bit, like if you laid your foot on the break (no presure, just the weight of your foot)and drove around.

[1-3-2-4]

It sounds like your caliper 'slide pins' are binding, or not sliding correctly. However, your problem could be caused by possibly 2 things:

1. Caliper slide pins not working correctly (dirty, binding up, need re-grease)
or
2. Caliper Piston not working correctly.

I would pull off your brake caliper and check it out. Clean the caliper pins up real well and re-grease them. Might help out. If your not sure how to do that, try looking up more info on pulling your brake caliper off and cleaning it. I'll try to find a tutorial for you if there are any.


EDIT:

Here is a how to on doing brake work:

http://www.weblumen.com/subaru/brakepads.html

Doesn't show how to grease the caliper slide pins, but once you disconnect the caliper from the bracket that holds it, you will see how the slide pins work and can easily clean them and re-grease them.


mine is number 2 the bracket moves fine but the pistons don't hit the pads right and they keep pressure on the pads.. I took my IR gun to the rotor one day and I was reading at least 600 F on the drivers side..

[d1giPhux]

Yup.. mine have also done both option #1 and #2. However option #2 was harder to figure out. Sometimes the rear would get hot, and sometimes it wouldn't.

Weird thing, my friend who has worked on a lot of subarus said the drivers side rear on these cars loves to lock up. Not sure why, but he's always telling me that story. :smt017 However, it came true for me too. Maybe because the salt on the roads is more prevalent in the middle of the road? Not sure.

Either way, definitely check the pistons out, as well as the caliper bracket pins and make sure they are sliding properly. I ended up having to rebuild my caliper in the rear, but it wasn't too hard. Just a pain in the ass to get the new rubber boots on without ripping them, and a bit unconventional.

Your squishy feeling could be something else all together. I had a squishy feeling in my brakes recently, and little did I know.. the lines had rusted and were leaking. Look under the passenger side of the vehicle, right in front of the rear tire area. There are 2 brake lines that connect to a 4-way box. This is where they LOVE to rust out on subarus. Might want to check and make sure yours isn't leaking from there as well. Here is what you are looking for:

A view of my broken and or leaking line:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2012/02/brokenline1-1.jpg

After I fixed the lines with new lines:
https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2012/02/copper_install17-1.jpg

Good luck!

[Dmang]

Well, now it's got two new calipers. Turns out the passenger side was in terrible shape and the slide pin was stuck on the bottom. So I replaced the caliper and slide pins. Did not replace the drivers side but it looks ok. I can see it sliding on the pins when the brakes at pumped. Just need a good bleeding now I think. Pedal is still squishy but it probably just needs a better bleed. Gonna drive it a bit then try re-bleeding to see if I can't get the air out. I will look for leaks but I have not noticed any lost fluid, I will double check however. Thanks!

[jjay03]

One of the slider pins was rusted in placed and it took a torch to free it on my car. I ended up just ordering some new raybestos calipers that comes with new brackets and pins. I also got new SS flex lines too so im anxious to try it out.