Re: [MBZ] Brake fiasco (was: grrr. siezed caliper)
Always replace calipers in pairs. I didn't once and had a terrible pull Has the car sat a lot? What you're looking at sounds an awful lot like my 240D last fall. It'd sat nearly a year and it was a BEAR to work on... -Curt Date: Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:14:31 -0400 From: Allan Streib str...@cs.indiana.edu Subject: [MBZ] Brake fiasco (was: grrr. siezed caliper) To: Mercedes Discussion List mercedes@okiebenz.com Message-ID: m1iqg52blk.fsf...@cs.indiana.edu Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Well after accepting defeat at trying to find a rear caliper locally on a Sunday, I moved on to the fronts. BOTH calipers had rusted, siezed inboard pistons. And looking at the front rotors they seem to be going the way of the rears (look OK on the front side but badly rusted on the inboard surface (probably because the pistons are siezed and they're not getting any braking action on that side). So Monday it's going to be an order for new front rotors and calipers from Rusty. Fronts mean I need to repack the front bearings... ugh. I'm thinking I might as well replace that other rear caliper too, all the calipers are the same age (I was thinking two years but it might be three) just to avoid problems. I've never had calipers sieze up like that before on any other car, foreign or domestic. Wondering why these all went bad so quickly. Allan -- 1983 300D -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://okiebenz.com/pipermail/mercedes_okiebenz.com/attachments/20090831/e4f9c95a/attachment.html ___ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
Re: [MBZ] Brake fiasco (was: grrr. siezed caliper)
On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:00 -0700, Curt Raymond curtlud...@yahoo.com wrote: Has the car sat a lot? What you're looking at sounds an awful lot like my 240D last fall. It'd sat nearly a year and it was a BEAR to work on... Well, not that long. There was a period earlier this year where I did not drive it for maybe a month or so. And it was sitting outside during that time. That's actually when I started noticing brake problems, initially I thought it was just normal surface rust on the rotors but it never cleared up. Allan -- 1983 300D ___ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
Re: [MBZ] Brake fiasco (was: grrr. siezed caliper)
Allan Streib wrote: I've never had calipers sieze up like that before on any other car, foreign or domestic. Wondering why these all went bad so quickly. Dust boots installed and in good shape? Using water instead of brake fluid? -- Philip ___ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
Re: [MBZ] Brake fiasco (was: grrr. siezed caliper)
I've never had calipers sieze up like that before on any other car, foreign or domestic. Wondering why these all went bad so quickly. Been driving on salted winter roads? Since they've started salting here, which they did not do when I first moved here, many things automotive are much worse than they were. -- Jim ___ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
Re: [MBZ] Brake fiasco (was: grrr. siezed caliper)
Common problem on a previously neglected Benz -- failure to replace the rotors when they are too thin. On the W126 and prior chassis, all the calipers have an anti-rattle spring on top, and when the rotors are too thin and the pads are badly worn, the backing plate will hit the spring. This cocks the piston, and since the inside pads usually wear faster than the outers, the pistons get stuck and can rust in place after they overheat and fry the dust boot. I've had this on three or four cars already -- and on my Volvo with the same ATE rear calipers. They are not American rotors, which are way over-thick so that they last the lifetime of the car and can be resurfaced. Worse, sometimes people turn the rotors on a Benz to save money, and that makes the problem worse. Do, also, change fluid every two years or when you change pads -- very easy with a MitiVac. Old fluid collects water and promotes corrosion and the presence of crud, which will also lock the pistons up. Peter ___ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
