Rear brake caliper - parking brake

[2010Civic]

I have a 2008 Honda Civic EX with rear disk brakes. I noticed that when you pull the e-brake the right rear wheel locks up but the left rear wheel can still spin.

I took the center console apart and verified that the left cable is functioning. I also checked to make sure the cable is attached to the caliper. Everything looks good. I then took the cable off the caliper and turned that lever arm by hand. Turning it as far as I could the piston did not extend out and the wheel could still spin. It seems like the internal mechanism is broken. Has anyone had this problem or been able to fix it? The easy answer would be to replace the caliper but I'd rather keep the oem caliper if I can. The caliper works when applying the brakes btw.

I also verified the pins on the brake pad are in the groove of the piston.

I attached pictures of the style of caliper I have.

Thanks

 

[JC1]

Are you sure the cable is ok? On my civic one e-brake cable rusted apart near the back section near the gas tank.

Did you check that level where the e-brake cable goes into to make sure it moves freely and isn't rusted/seized?

 

[Jetronic]

I've never had the internals fail. It has always been a stuck piston, stuck levers or worn cables. And I work on these weekly. But if it's internal, you need a new caliper to be cost effective

 

[Trav]

I have a 2008 Honda Civic EX with rear disk brakes. I noticed that when you pull the e-brake the right rear wheel locks up but the left rear wheel can still spin.

I took the center console apart and verified that the left cable is functioning. I also checked to make sure the cable is attached to the caliper. Everything looks good. I then took the cable off the caliper and turned that lever arm by hand. Turning it as far as I could the piston did not extend out and the wheel could still spin. It seems like the internal mechanism is broken. Has anyone had this problem or been able to fix it? The easy answer would be to replace the caliper but I'd rather keep the oem caliper if I can. The caliper works when applying the brakes btw.

I also verified the pins on the brake pad are in the groove of the piston.

I attached pictures of the style of caliper I have.

Thanks

A lot of cars with this type have issues, reman junk hardly ever work well and when they do work out of the box it is usually short lived.
I have used the Elements 3 and cant say enough good things about them, they work great and keep working .
As an experiment I used the rear calipers, rotors and pads on my own VW, OE caliper lifespan in the salt belt is about 5 years before the E brake wont hold. $200 all in, one VW OE caliper is almost $300.

After almost 3 winter seasons they still work 100%, no significant rotor corrosion and no aggressive pad wear. I do not clean the wheels on the car only off the car when I rotate the tires, some chemicals found in wheel cleaners can damage the coatings and spraying water at the calipers is not the best thing to do.
I wanted to use all parts from the same line as I assume they are all designed to play well together (they do), I didn't want a different pad as it may have caused premature rotor wear or the E brake not to grab as well. For your Civic $68 ea make rebuilding and messing with the originals totally not worth it.

2008 HONDA CIVIC 1.8L L4 Caliper | RockAuto

RockAuto ships auto parts and body parts from over 300 manufacturers to customers' doors worldwide, all at warehouse prices. Easy to use parts catalog.

www.rockauto.com

More Information for RAYBESTOS FRC11840N

More Information for RAYBESTOS FRC11839N

 

[2010Civic]

Thanks for the reply. Glad to hear the raybestos hold up well. I'll probably order one of those.

I'm mostly curious what broke in the caliper.

 

[Trav]

Probably a stuck self adjuster. Check out how it works, this is VW but most are similar..

 

[tcp71]

I have a similar caliper sitting beside my computer right now for the left rear of my CX-5. It's the raybestos caliper from Rockauto and isn't a rebuilt unit. There was a little bit of a weep around the piston on the old caliper when we replaced the rotor/pads last week. Just waiting for warmer weather to replace it.

 

[Trav]

Elements 3, you can see it is good quality and assembled properly. Many times the new one is cheaper than the garbage remans and no core charge and return shipping.

 

[2010Civic]

I ordered the element 3 caliper, should be here Friday.

 

[AutoMechanic]

You are just replacing one?

 

[2010Civic]

Yes, nothing wrong with the other side.

 

[AutoMechanic]

Oh I always do in pairs because I’ve had them wear uneven on the pads with just replacing one.

 

[2010Civic]

Uneven between the left and right side of the car?

Both the rear calipers work perfectly. It's just that dumb parking brake mechanism not working.

 

[AutoMechanic]

Yeah like one side will be metal to metal and the other will have half left. So that’s why I do them in pairs.

 

[Jetronic]

We get yearly brake testing. the brake effort l and r for service brakes can't differ more than 25%, handbrake 50%. Do just one caliper or handbrake calbe and you've set yourself up for failure... Sometimes you can get away by using the old return spring on the new caliper, those tend to get weaker over time aswell.

 

[2010Civic]

Well last night I went to drive the car and it turns out the parking brake mechanism on the new Raybestos caliper stuck in the on position. I couple taps with a hammer unstuck it. It wasn't a sticking cable. Pretty annoyed a 2 month old caliper would have this problem.

Glad I was the one who drove it and not the wife...

 

[Jetronic]

That's why I rebuilt calipers if the parts were available from OEM. Replacing just put's another soon to fail part in it's place. I've ended up rebuilding calipers only fitted a year or 2 before. Never had to rebuild a caliper twice though

 

[2010Civic]

Well the only reason I replaced the caliper was because the e-brake mechanism stopped working and I wasn't sure how to replace/fix that. Everyone said to just replace it...

 

[Jetronic]

I know, but it's good practice to put grease under the boots and seals, even new. You will find they use very little of it on assembly, not enough to keep moisture out. I found lots of newish calipers with condensation under the cylinder boot for example.

 

[benjy]

great vid as my 2001 jetta had issues, learned that the pistons that screw in needed a special cheep tool i got on e-bay. i always enjoy this forum for what i learn!! my 2001 audi TT i now own is prolly the same as many audi parts are same as VW EXCEPT the higher $$$