Advice on cracked rear discs...

[Oggy997]

Ok,

Renault will have me a new pipe tomorrow first thing.

Fitting it shouldnt be difficult TBH, got myself a 11mm spanner to remove it.

Ive since checked what you advised.

The handbrake "cable" that goes into the caliper;

Moves forwards/back freely when using the hand brake

However, when Hand Brake is off - I cannot pull the arm/cabe towards the back of the car any more,and the wheel may as well not move from the binding.

Discs should be here tomorrow too Ive researched bleeding and doesnt seem to hard, just need to identify the caliper problem and, of course, the fix.

Cheers

 

[Henry]

as that post, push the arms forward and unhook the cables to see if that'll allow the arms any further back. if it is the cables, they'll be gubbed inside and won't be allowing the handbrake arms to return fully - in effect, your handbrake's permanently on

again, could be something else; but disconnect the cables and pull the arms back to check that first

 

[Oggy997]

Ok, done each side.

Nothing much has changed, the arms are stiff as hell and wont budge towards the back of the car.

The drivers side still rotates almost freely, but, the passenger (cracked) side is still "locked" so to speak

 

[Henry]

ok, if you've levered the arms back, that excludes the handbrake

1. take the pads out of the problem side
2. check the disc spins freely - if not, problem's the wheel bearing
3. check that the pad carrier slides from side-to-side smoothly - there are sliders inside the concertinaed rubber boots. you'll likely pull the boots off by doing this, so make sure you reseat them afterwards (fiddly)

to go on, you need to have fixed the hydraulics

4. wind the piston back into the caliper - there'll be resistance, but it shouldn't be particularly stiff. if it is, carefully lift back the dust cover on the piston (make sure these covers are in good condition) and squirt a little WD in there. also have a look to see if the piston bore is at all dirty (shouldn't be). have an assistant depress footpedal slowly to push the piston back out - then wind it back in & repeat until it's free&smooth. compare with the otherside to be sure they're similar and repeat as necessary if not (pads only out of one side at a time)

if that doesn't sort it, you've got something strange going on, like a damaged carrier or something. with all of this, i'm assuming that the disc's not crazily warped, and that you're not trying to turn it as the pads are sat over any of the cracks

whereabouts are you, by the way?

 

[Oggy997]

Corby, Northamptonshire.

I can't get the wheel off, my mate (who simply will not answer his phone ) has torqued them up to a point I can't remove the wheel nuts.

 

[Henry]

i'd have offered to come over

you're not having a lot of luck. i think the wheel nuts are 19mm - be easiest to get them off with a t-bar/ratchet and breaker bar if they're that tight

 

[Oggy997]

It isnt going anywhere under my weight - and I'm pretty big ...

 

[Oggy997]

Ive narrowed me not being able to remove the nuts, down to the crap adapters that came with my torque wrench, getting a Draper one in themorning.

So, I'll have:

Disks,
Brake Line,
Brake Fluid.

Hopefully I can get the wheel nuts off, diagnose and fix, then fit / bleed the brakes.

 

[Oggy997]

Well a Draper one I purchased just twisted and snapped in seconds.

 

[Henry]

it could be that the heat the wheel's been subjected to isn't helping

 

[Oggy997]

We've resigned to the fact we are not going to get it off.

Tomorrow's tasks:

Fit Brake Line
Add Fluid
Bleed Brakes

Drive with caution to a garage, give them the discs, make it go away.

Thanks alot Henry, If you're going FCS, I owe you a pint.

 

[Henry]

all sounds a right nightmare - hope you can get it sorted/

 

[D1CKY]

It sounds like this problem your having mate is out to test your patience.

It may be worth putting a topic up on here regarding bleeding brakes on a 1*2 with ABS as i've heard they can be a c**t to bleed (something to do with the ABS Unit)

Have you tried slackening the nuts with the wheel brace that came with your cars toolkit inside the spare wheel if its longer than the bar you tried ?
If its too small try adding a bar to the end of it for more leverage.

Ok, done each side.

Nothing much has changed, the arms are stiff as hell and wont budge towards the back of the car.

The drivers side still rotates almost freely, but, the passenger (cracked) side is still "locked" so to speak

Stiff as hell to push back to try and release the pads from the disc you mean when handbrake cable is removed ?

Try removing the pads and try moviing it agian to see if it moves any and work it back and forwards.

ok, if you've levered the arms back, that excludes the handbrake

1. take the pads out of the problem side
2. check the disc spins freely - if not, problem's the wheel bearing
3. check that the pad carrier slides from side-to-side smoothly - there are sliders inside the concertinaed rubber boots. you'll likely pull the boots off by doing this, so make sure you reseat them afterwards (fiddly)

to go on, you need to have fixed the hydraulics

4. wind the piston back into the caliper - there'll be resistance, but it shouldn't be particularly stiff. if it is, carefully lift back the dust cover on the piston (make sure these covers are in good condition) and squirt a little WD in there. also have a look to see if the piston bore is at all dirty (shouldn't be). have an assistant depress footpedal slowly to push the piston back out - then wind it back in & repeat until it's free&smooth. compare with the otherside to be sure they're similar and repeat as necessary if not (pads only out of one side at a time)

if that doesn't sort it, you've got something strange going on, like a damaged carrier or something. with all of this, i'm assuming that the disc's not crazily warped, and that you're not trying to turn it as the pads are sat over any of the cracks

whereabouts are you, by the way?

You can wind the piston back into the caliper using a flat screwdriver with care hooked into the slots and winding it back slowly.

Or try and get a hold of a wind back cube that you can fit onto your socket set ratchet and extension bar to make life easier, they should be easily found in your local car accessories/motor factor shop.

Heres what they look like, and the tab bits sticking out hook into the slots on the caliper piston you can see in the caliper picture below

 

[Oggy997]

Cheers D1CKY

Car is at a local garage now, brakes were working ok once we fitted lines / bled them

They got the nuts off with grave difficulty, pads were obsolete as expected.

When I left, they couldnt get the disc off for love nor money, said something about the bearings being cooked.

Its in there overnight it seems.

Thanks again for all your input and advice, Ive learned alot the last couple of days that will benefit me in the future. I'm hoping the garage bring good news tomorrow.

 

[Oggy997]

Oh, they just called.

Wont be ready until at least Tuesday with the bank holiday.

They smashed the disc up effectively, abs sensor got caught in the crossfire so that needs repaced.

Caliper is totally seized, so I'll need a new one of them, along with new pads and of course the Discs I purchased.

Bummer, but at least I wont be eating discs every 3 months.

Anyone prepared to give an insight to approx cost of all this?

Thanks