What are the chances... 2 leaking calipers one after the other...

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Jul 3, 2020
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Canada
So here's a good story... Over the summer, while I was doing brake pads and rotor replacement on my accord, I made a few mistakes, of which one was slightly tearing the boot of the right rear caliper... I didn't exactly realize that it would leak, but come beginning of Jan, I noticed that I had lost brake fluid, and sure enough, it was the right rear caliper. This caliper that I tore the boot off in the summer was a promecanix brand, probably not the greatest quality to begin with but it did the job fine for over a year... so I went and replaced it with a cardone brand caliper, replacement was straight forward as I have done many calipers in the past... After installing the cardone caliper, bleeding the brakes, topping off to full, I checked the brake fluid level a couple times to make sure it's not leaking, and even took a peak under the right rear tire to make sure there's no leaks, this was about 2 weeks into the repair, and all was fine.

And then today I get in the car, and the parking brake light is on... great, look the reservoir, almost empty, check the right rear, and it looks like the brake fluid exploded all over the right rear tire... what in the ****, the promecanix with the boot I tore by accident didn't leak anywhere near as bad, how in the hell does this cardone caliper just piss absolutely everywhere in just under a month?

I know I know, that's what I get for buying aftermarket, but I mean, come on? Not even 1 month? I have bought several aftermarket calipers and never had any issues, and I can't see myself making a mistake on the install, at least I don't see where I could've... In any case, I decided to order a Nugeon brand caliper this time, the only other options were promecanix and cardone (from the store I bought the cardone that is, since they said they would give my money back under warranty), and I'm definitely not buying those 2 again...
 
I had a similar situation on the rear calipers of a 2006 mazda3...3X!
One gave me problem so, I changed it. Then the other side went shortly after.
Only to have the 1st one go again a year later. 😡
 
Cardone, say no more :poop:

If Raybestos makes their Element3 calipers for your Accord, use those instead. They are all-NEW, not reman.
Yea, I've heard they're not great, but come on, I didn't think they'd catastrophically fail this badly this soon, what a joke. I like raybestos but unfortunately to honour the warranty I gotta buy from this parts place and the only options are cardone, promecanix and nugeon... Nugeon is a bit more expensive but based on what I've read online, they seem to be a decent brand
 
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Tearing a piston boot will not cause a leak; I think you need to take a closer look at what's happening in that RR corner.
Well, I said the same then when it first occurred, but at the same time, when I pushed the piston back, it did squirt some brake fluid, hence why I believe it was my fault (I say boot was torn, but who knows, I could've somehow torn the inner piston gasket)

What could it possibly be other then a bad caliper? Fluid comes out the brake line fine, so what else would it be? The only thing that comes to mind is over pressurization in that one line on the RR, but I've never heard of that happening... What I have had happen on my former 03 golf tdi is complete caliper seizure, on a brand new caliper... This was caused by debris in the brake fluid and apperantly a clogged abs pump which was clogging one of the lines more then others, but in my case here, when I put the cardone caliper on, I made sure that the rotor moved freely after the caliper was installed and bled, so their was definitely no seizing going on... I guess I'll see tomorrow if the caliper is seized once I take it off. If you have any suggestions what else it could be, let me know
 
Calipers do leak, I'm just saying that you tearing the boot was not the cause. Keep us updated once you take it apart.
I can say for sure that the first caliper had a very obvious leak from the piston upon removal... It just sucks that this had to happen because unfortunately I always fear the worst in these situations, that it's something more. I hope it's just another bad caliper, and well, that I was unlucky, twice... 😔

I'll post a picture of the cardone caliper tomorrow
 
Your car be done.

It's not uncommon for a caliper to leak after pad replacement because you moved the area of the piston that used to be outside getting rusted back into the seal.
 
Sounds like the square cut seal in the caliper cylinder bore is obviously not sealing. Junk. Either installed wrong, or wrong size or never was replaced. Or the cylinder itself is worn and the seal is coming off the grove in the caliper.

I have seen some bad aftermarket caliper but nothing THAT bad. That’s stuff, when dealing with brakes, can get someone into a car accident. Surprised by this, as I usually see pitted caliper pins, pistons that seize in the caliper too quickly or rubber that tears because it never quite fitted right or was too thin. But I haven’t seen a caliper piston area just start leaking. Wow.
 
I hate to post the bad news but honestly tossing them in the trash and buying new ones is probably the best approach in dealing with junk parts. Been there, done that, get off the merry go round of replacing junk with more junk. Nugeon (BBB) is the same crap and the Cardone.
Yea I'm debating it to be honest, I don't want this crap to happen again... I've never had issues like this ever with aftermarket parts, but now after this, I don't think I wanna take chances
 
My Civic used to be picky about pushing the piston back on the caliper. Needed a special tool to screw it. Other brands you could just c-clamp 'em. Could this be your issue and damaging something?
 
Cardone is junk absolutely junk. I hate to be negative towards a brand but it is from what I understand is Nugeon is too. I’d only buy OE for that type of stuff or rebuild myself with a quality kit or get my local rebuilder to do it. Or maybe a new one from someone like Raybestos but no reman ones.
 
I ended up going with Nugeon, ONLY because OEM is backordered for a month and I need this car on the road, if I call parts stores, all they're going to offer me is reman from different brands.

Raybestos elements don't exist for a 2001 4 door accord, only 2 door, so that was not an option...I know that a lot of these aftermarket remans aren't great, but so far i've used powerstop, promecanix, ac delco and probably some other aftermarket brand and I have never seen something this bad with the cardone caliper just pissing fluid like this. The left rear caliper on this accord is an ac delco reman, and it's been over 2 years, no issues... I hope this Nugeon is fine, because if this one leaks too, I should go buy a lottery ticket at how lucky I must be

Some other remarks, nothing was seized when i took the caliper apart, so there wasn't an issue with the brake fluid being contaminated or brake lines/abs pump being clogged... when bleeding the new caliper, fluid was fairly clear fluid (which makes sense given I'd lost a ton so most of the fluid was fresh).

FWIW, here are some pictures of the cardone... I took it apart to inspect, put the piston back and tried to push the piston with the handbrake handle to see if it would leak from the inner gasket but I didn't have anything to block the banjo bolt hole so of course it would leak all out of the hole

Cardone caliper before removal with brake fluid everywhere on the bottom

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Piston/Caliper taken apart (sorry about all the pictures, tried to get a decent viewing angle of the inner gasket
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I think I see the notches on the end of that. Like I asked, when you compressed it, did you brute force it or screw it in? Older Honda's required a tool to screw it in. If you just press it it can mess em up.
 
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The seal is all buckled and torn here, it is going to leak like crazy. Maybe there is something in the groove underneath it?

When you buy a new caliper the piston is already in, so it would be ready to just bolt on. Pressing on the piston even with enough force to obviously break something wouldn't move it back, it has to be turned. The design is for where the caliper can be activated both hydraulically and mechanically for the parking brake. These are almost always on the back of the car.
 
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