Rear brake stuck on golf

[Ben_SaxoForte]

Hi all,

I know this isn't a saxo but I wondered if anyone has any ideas on this as I'm not getting much response from the VW forum I'm on.

I have a mk5 golf gt tdi 2008, its just gone for an mot last week and needed a new rear caliper on the passenger side as it was leaking fluid apparently so I was like yeah just stick a new one on as I didn't have time to mess with it myself anyways.

Got the car back and drove it around for a few days and it didn't feel quite right and I ended up stalling the car a couple of times thought it maybe just because they moved my seat around and messed up my driving position but then I realised the car is really dragging like the handbrake is still on, and after getting out of the car can smell burning where its been dragging the brake on the new caliper!

Anyway can't get it back to the garage until next week now thinking of maybe having a quick look myself but not sure what would be wrong with it if its a new caliper surely it can't be a sticking piston, any suggestions what to look for?

[Ali123]

Have a look at the handbrake lever on the caliper, make sure it's returning all the way back?
And was it a re-con caliper? We've had it quite a few times at work when they're faulty straight out of the box!

[Ben_SaxoForte]

checked the handbrake lever and that looks to be working fine, it does need new pads and possibly discs which I was going to to myself so not sure if its worth doing those and seeing how it is then before I give it back to the garage and yeah it was a recon caliper

[welshpug]

pop the caliper off and wind the piston back a turn check the sliders aren't seized.

not likely that the carrier was changed though would have thought any half decent mechanic would have greased them up when replacing the caliper.

[Ben_SaxoForte]

sliders are ok checked them I've not been able to wind the piston back yet though as I need a windback tool

[welshpug]

a pair of pointy nosed pliers will do it.

[Ben_SaxoForte]

a pair of pointy nosed pliers will do it.

Will that actually work? I thought the vw ones need to be compressed aswell as twisted unlike the saxo ones with you can just spin back

[welshpug]

yeah, pushing them in just helps them wind back on the screw, you can apply pressure on the piston whilst rotating it.

[bytor]

G-Clamp will do the job and something to twist it with will do the job.

[Ben_SaxoForte]

Done it today new discs and pads and it seems to have sorted out the sticking brake issue aswell, ended up buying a wind-back tool as I didn't want to have any problems stopping me getting it done, quite glad I bought it as they were pretty difficult to wind back even with the tool! Only cost me £15 from euro parts anyways so not too bad. The old pads were pretty buggered and the old discs had a bit of a lip on them which I don't think was helping with the sticking issue.

[Ben_SaxoForte]

Thought this was all sorted now I have sorted the rear brakes out, rear is now fine but the front left caliper has started to stick now and burning smell same as the rear was doing on the same side.. what the hell? Seems something odd is going on. Any ideas? Discs and pads on the front are pretty new (less than a year old) Starting to wonder if something is going on with the lines or the master cylinder

[welshpug]

strip and inspect, check sliders, check for twists in brake hoses, not likely its the mc as itll be a 2 port and split to 4 from the abs unit diagonally.

[axsaxoman]

If you undo the bleed nipple on that caliper and it squirts out fluid and after that it is free then you have an m/c or an internally collapsing flexible which is not letting fluid go back.
If not then your problem is in the caliper or sliders or pads too tight in bracket
maybe last time pads were fitted the mech didnot file all the crud out of where the pads fit ,so it has seized up ?
pads be a nice loose fit and able to move in and out easily-could even be cheap badly made pads --same cure file them up to make them a nice fit +grease where they slide

fitt caliper with no pads --get someone to work brake pedal to push piston out a little -be getnle -then see how hard to lever it right back in --if sticky do this till its free or replace caliper --you can check and compare it to other side

[Ben_SaxoForte]

Had a look at this yesterday and decided to strip both front brakes and clean them, when I had them apart noticed the passenger side caliper piston was further out than the other side so pushed them both back and the one that was sticking was pretty hard to push back but seems to have loosened off now after pushing it in and out a few times. Still not quite sure why it happened straight after replacing the rear pads all I can think of is maybe there is more pressure on them since all pads are now pretty much new. Anyways running ok so far so hopefully that's sorted!

[axsaxoman]

just old age
like me --one knee is better than other