Seized brake caliper

[Bonnewagon]

I had a brain storm. The Jeep works fine now- no more problems. How could the calipers "fix" themselves? What if the brake fluid is contaminated? It is not supposed to boil at high temps. Water or other contamination could lower the boiling point and let an air bubble form. That would cause the caliper to expand and the brakes get even hotter. Once they cooled down everything goes back to normal. So The fix would be to flush the system and use a better grade of brake fluid. Not just replace everything.

 

[pagrunt]

Piston material expands at a greater rate as heating up compaired to the rate of the caliper body? Our stock cast iron/steel parts combo don't have an issue like that & they don't have as good of a braking effect as modern discs & would heat up faster. Another thought would be the caliper guides with the same heating rate issue. Try some caliper grease & lube them up since it's easier to mess with the guide bolts.

 

[Bonnewagon]

When I had it apart I checked the guides. There are stainless steel springy tensioners in there. All were clean and working. In fact when I had her press the brake pedal the piston moved right out- and when she took her foot off the pedal the square sealing "O" ring retracted the piston all by itself. Hardly what you would expect from a seized caliper or even a blocked hose. That's why I can't buy the "replace everything" mentality.

 

[MC96]

Dunno why mother Mopar had a hard on for Phenolic caliper pistons, its a cool material but Ive cracked them just trying to compress the piston. Better off as carb spacers


Hose acting like a check valve is a somewhat common issue on alot of cars not necessarily Mopars, although given the choice I stay away from them.

 

[Streetbu]

Hope it all works out, but I would be willing to bet you will still have problems...

 

[pontiacgp]

I pm'd Mark about how fast and cheap RockAuto and he sent me back this about the Liberty brake issue.....I found it so I wanted to share it...

"So the Jeep is working great now and we did nothing yet. If I can get her to stop long enough to bleed the brakes I will. At my age it is hard to work on a car while running alongside. "