Fun with frozen calipers - A story

[bergs]

Well, after a few months of enjoying my 2005 it finally happened. My truck caught a case of the frozen caliper. What set off the next chain of events was due to a single hard-braking situation on the highway about a week prior to this thread being posted.

The days following the highway situation I started to notice a very slight pulse at slow speeds (regardless of brake usage) along with a wicked drop in MPG. Didn't really think anything of it once I noticed the pulse but the change in fuel economy had me concerned.

Had the truck safety inspected this past Friday (the 24th) and that's when things really started to go bad. After the safety inspection and as soon as I made my way to the highway, everything changed. A very noticable pulse developed, then a pull to the left, then steering wheel vibration and all of it slowly went away once I ripped on the wheel left and right a few times. That right there told me everything. My brakes were sick.

Soon after Saturday's chores were complete, out to the driveway I went.

With the truck safely supported on jackstands I was off to AutoZone about 30 minutes away to pick up my two left calipers. Did you catch that? No, I did not type that wrong and you read that correctly. I purchased two differing (and correct) part numbers, a right front caliper and a left front caliper, both boxes correctly labeled but ended up with two LEFT side calipers....of course, only noticing this once I returned home. :facepalm:

After another hour+ (round trip) of driving back to the Zone, getting a refund and then going over to Advanced Auto for the correct parts I decided to call it a night and packed it in for the evening.

Woke up Sunday to a brisk 22° morning, bundled up and got right to work. Hung the RF caliper and began the bleeding process. Once there was fluid at the bleeder, I started to pump the pedal by hand (since the truck is being supported about 2' higher than normal) as a means of purging any residual air bubbles from the system. Closed the bleeder and began pumping the pedal again.

After way too many pumps for my liking, the pedal is showing no signs of life. I exit the footwell area, go back to the passenger side and notice nothing out of place.

????

As I walk back to the driver's side I see a lot of dripping coming from the area of the LF caliper.....the caliper that is seized up and the entire reason I am working like a fkn idiot in the cold rather than hanging out by the woodstove.

Turns out 2 of the pistons blew their seals during the time I was trying to bleed the other caliper


DAMMIT!!!


Now I am going to have to bleed two calipers at one time. Not a problem but not really an ideal situation.

Once the LF caliper was hung and ready for bleeding, just about the rest of my morning consisted of running (actually, "running" is a strong word. I was walking.) from passenger side to driver side then to the pedal.

Wash, rinse, repeat x10



Moral of the story?

Buy a house with a garage

 

[settytb]

Same thing happened to me but on another vehicle...learned a good lesson that day...no bleeding until everything is back together otherwise the other side you blow out the piston from the caliper... Sorry to hear that but you'll remember next time you do brakes. Also, always bleed with a buddy or two...even the wife is fine to pump the pedal for you.

 

[bergs]

No, no, no...the pistons did not push out of the bores. This thread woulda never went up if that were the case.

The seals blew while the caliper was still mounted. The pistons stayed right where they belong. They were bound up pretty good!



On a side note, there are no buddies to be found at 7:30am and even less so when it's 22 out. The wife was tending to our child.

:

 

[zerowkul98]

I feel your pain, man. I had to drop $1000 to have OEM calipers put on last week on my '03 Sport Edition V8. I had some aftermarket calipers on the fronts but with terrible Massachusetts winters, road salt, sand and crap, the aftermarkets didnt even come close to lasting 2 years. The pedal travel was terrible and even after i had the dealershop bleed the brakes (just in case my local mechanic eff'd it up) and with the OEM calipers, the pedal travel is barely ANYTHING and it stops on a dime. Here's to hoping mine last a few years!

I hope yours last a long time.

 

[DC runner]

Sucks! Feel you! I bought my 4runner last July and was told last month my calipers were stuck. I, unlike you, did not have any odd driving behavior but thought; what the hell.

I waited till I was driving from D.C. to TN to visit family and friends. It was warm and a good buddy with a huge garage and power tools helped me out.

Changed all pads on all 4 brakes and replaced front calipers in under 3 hours. Went very well. I was glad I had help, tool, garage and warm weather. I can image how 22 degrees would have made it worse.

 

[DC runner]

I feel your pain, man. I had to drop $1000 to have OEM calipers put on last week on my '03 Sport Edition V8. I had some aftermarket calipers on the fronts but with terrible Massachusetts winters, road salt, sand and crap, the aftermarkets didnt even come close to lasting 2 years. The pedal travel was terrible and even after i had the dealershop bleed the brakes (just in case my local mechanic eff'd it up) and with the OEM calipers, the pedal travel is barely ANYTHING and it stops on a dime. Here's to hoping mine last a few years!

I hope yours last a long time.

What did you use? I just replaced both my fronts and was a bit nervous at using aftermarket. I went to autozone and grabbed their duralast calipers, with lifetime warranty, and was pleasantly surprised. I should have sprayed them with some rustoleum before I popped them on, and will probably pull the tires off when it gets warm in a month an do that. But in terms of braking power and pedal push... very nice. Pleasantly surprised. A lifetime warranty isn't a bad thing.. either.

 

[zerowkul98]

The first (and original set) failed in 2009, and when they were showing obvious signs of a problem i found a shop and got them done that day (the old ones were generating a LOT of heat, so i HAD to get them replaced there....i was in a bind.

The mechanic said he had done them before, and when he told me all the reasons why they failed he def. sounded like he was well-aware of the design flaws. The only NAPA in that town had front calipers new made by A1 Cardone. They had terrible pedal travel, even after the dealership back home did a bleed on them. They said that nothing works as well as OEM's, and i didnt believe them at first, but the proof's in the results.

Long story short, stay away from A1 Cardone's.

 

[DC runner]

New vs. Reman'ed my be the issue. New probably means that the entire thing, including fluid channels are made in some crappy chinese factory that couldn't care less about your safety.

At least reman's tend to be factory core's returned, sandblasted and rebuilt to spec. I am not saying always.... you could as well get a reman'ed 3rd part a1 cardone unit... but I have to believe that an extreme majority of cores out there to be rebuilt and reman'ed are Toyota OEM's.


Anyway. That sucks. Anytime you are at the whim of a mechanic and NOW you are in a bad position. We have all been there. I was lucky in that my calipers appears to not be frozen when I replaced them. They were rusty and pretty bad looking, but I still think the calipers were fine. I decided to just replace them while I had them off.

 

[Sungod]

My initial response was going to be 'so what'? Then I saw the part about 22 degrees and no garage. That is horrible.

 

[Redstone8]

Sorry to hear you had to do this in 22 deg weather. That sucks.

I have had to replace both left and right front claipers due to the innner piston bieng stuck, but luckily I didn't have to pay for it since it was covered by my extended warranty. I was reluctant to buy this warranty 4 years ago when I bought the car, but have since used it three times and I am certaintly glad I made the choice to get it. It expires in the next 14 months so I definitely will be checking my calipers again to see if they are frozen before time runs out.

 

[bergs]

Bah! The weather wasn't much of an issue and quite honestly the frozen ground made things much easier to work being that I have a dirt driveway. The day prior to the start of the repairs involved plenty of mud and water......and lots of cardboard used as a buffer.

:reddance:

I must say that the part of the story I enjoy the most was finding out that I purchased two left-side calipers even though the boxes were marked correctly. I have done a lot of repairs over the years on many types of vehicles and never had anything like that happen so I guess it's true when people say "there is a first time for everything".

:biggrin2:

 

[DC runner]

MY "wtf" moment was relying 1. on internet inventory and 2. phone calls.

I had planned several weeks in advance to do this. Had my buddies garage all lined up. I had checked your popular automotive sites inventory for the closet stores to his house. 2 said no go, but the autozone said it had them in stock. Called and the person on the phone said if it said it online, they had it.

Figured I was good to go and didn't worry about buying online.

Get down there. Night before, verify online. Still had it. Go in. Nope. Do not have them. Mind you, I do have the Sport, so my calipers are the larger and more "rare" variant.

Had to drive a good bit to find a place that had them. Other than that.. install was pretty painless. Air tools make things SO easy. I have a 2 foot breaker bar that gets most things off, but air tools... painless. As soon as I get a garage... I am setting up my air tool.

 

[bergs]

Mind you, I do have the Sport, so my calipers are the larger and more "rare" variant.

I do as well. What makes them so unique? Are they simply larger?

Whatever the case, they do haul this thing down really well!

 

[jstutz101]

I had the same issue with Autozone calipers. I needed a drivers side caliper and kept getting a passenger side. They re-ordered calipers 3 times before I finally gave up. I finally went to Napa and they got it right the first time.

Stupid Calipers!

 

[SR5 Iron]

I had the same issue with Autozone calipers. I needed a drivers side caliper and kept getting a passenger side. They re-ordered calipers 3 times before I finally gave up. I finally went to Napa and they got it right the first time.

Stupid Calipers!

Is there a way to diagnose this while the truck is not moving. Could one jack up the truck and spin the wheel and feel for a resistance? Would it be obvious?

Thanks

 

[DC runner]

Depends. In theory, when a caliper freezes; it will no longer float well. So, if you put on the brakes and you notice one side pulls or one side drags when off the brakes; that is a good indicator.


A caliper can stick in the engaged or unengaged function. If your piston sticks in the pressure function you might notice a slight pull on the car without brakes applied. If the piston simply becomes so seized it will not work, then you might notice the car pulling to one side when you apply brakes because only 1 side will be braking. In this case, the side without braking will want to continue going while the side braking will slow down... hence the pull.

Now. There are a thousand variations. Our calipers are 4 piston calipers, and if only 1 piston has seized, you would honestly never know until you changed brakes.

So. If you don't notice any odd braking/driving behavior; then pull the tires and checking for even brake wear is a good thing to do to be sure.

If both front brakes show even brake wear on both pads per tire, then you can be pretty confident you do not have a problem.

 

[bergs]

Agreed.

Another way that may indicate whether or not there is an issue is if a wheel is collecting more brake dust than the other(s).

In my situation, two of the pistons were slowly releasing which, with time, became progressively worse however brake dust was collecting very quickly as a result of the worsening condition. It got to the point where a few quick steering inputs was the only way to push the pistons back far enough to prevent increased pressure/ contact with the rotor.

 

[Redstone8]

I don't know if others here already do this, but since my last frozen caliper experience I have been doing a caliper inspection about every 6 months to check for anything that might become an issue. This ispection includes compressing the pistons of the caliper back into the bore to ensure they move freely. Not sure if this will prevent one of them from getting stuck in the future, but this is just my way of trying to prevent it from happening again. Bottom line is that there is some type of flaw in this design why this keeps happening.