four sticky calipers

[Red Oktober]

Right ... it apears i have sticky brake calipers ... all four of them ..
i removed the rear ones ... and found bent sliders ... so that explins that ..

but the front ones look ok ...but are still sticky. ... what else can i do apart from cleaning the sliders and re-greasing them ..

oh .. my truck has ABS if that makes any difference ..

 

[Towpack]

The front calipers are opposed piston type so if the pads themselves are free to move on the retaining pins in the caliper body it must be the pistons themselves that are sticking. I've had this problem on other cars and it required removal and strip/clean of the calipers and pistons and, if salvageable, fitting of new seals to the pistons.
Take the front pads out and try pushing each piston individually back into the caliper as far as possible. They should move relatively easily.

 

[Chris]

Carl, you could try giving your pistons a bit of a workout. Pull one pad and use it to block one of the pistons, then get an assistant to work the brake pedal. If the piston moves, then push it back in again and give it another working. Then, use the pad to block that one and have a go at the other one in the set. Put a flat bar in between the disc and the piston so that you can push it back again easily. You can get special piston rewinding tools actually. Go around all the pistons to get them going. This can be enough sometimes. You may find a really solid one. If it won't come out, push it back in, instead. Then it will come out under pressure most likely. Point is that there is no point stripping any pistons that don't need it. If you then need to strip any of them, at least they're moving. Can be hard on the bench. If you need to pull one out on the bench, don't waste your time trying to twist them out. It doesn't work. The seals move slightly and grip the piston stopping it turning. They really like to come out dead square. Any yawing at all will make them grab.

Chris

 

[Red Oktober]

Cheers guys ... very helpful

hopefully putting an end to the sticky brakes will give me a bit more than my current 7.5mpg .. lol lol

 

[Graham]

Cheers guys ... very helpful

hopefully putting an end to the sticky brakes will give me a bit more than my current 7.5mpg .. lol lol

.
Are you serious, or is 7,5 mpg, a bit of tongue - in - cheek ?

Gra.

 

[Chas]

.
Are you serious, or is 7,5 mpg, a bit of tongue - in - cheek ?

Gra.

Mine does 15.5 on petrol, 14.5 on LPG

 

[nivapilot]

Yea gods....just how heavy is your right foot?

You make me happy mine's doing 15.6MPG.

 

[Red Oktober]

.
Are you serious, or is 7,5 mpg, a bit of tongue - in - cheek ?

Gra.

yep .. quite serious .... i am currently getting 7.5mpg with four sticky brake calipers ..

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Sticky calipers won't help but an engine 'tune' issue, e.g. bad o2 sensor, MAF etc, seems more likely to be responsible for mpg as low as that.

 

[Pedders01]

As per above but pay close attention to the state of the pistons. Any corrosion at all will cause the pistons to stick.
Carefully push the pistons out as far as you dare and clean any corrosion up with 1200 wet'n'dry. I prefer to remove the pistons and do a full job with new seals but it's a lot more work and involves removing the caliper etc.
Mike

 

[Brett]

Brakes international do fully reconned calipers for not a lot of dough, you need to send your old ones back in exchange.

I've done this with my fronts & compared with the time & effort involved in doing a proper job rebuilding them youself I thought it was worth it, the calipers themselves have been spot on.