Rear brake troubles

[TulsaSpider]

I considered adding this on to another post, but I felt I had too much to explain. I must back up several weeks... I never had rear brakes on my car. I couldn't get fluid to the calipers.. No E-brakes either. I ordered one of Mark's compensator bypass hoses and installed it, still no pressure to the calipers. I removed the steel lines from the calipers and had my Step dad hit the brakes. After many pumps the blockage finally let go and I got a brake fluid bath but that was ok. I bled and put stuff back together and I had improved brakes and I suddenly had e-brakes as well I was happy! The next week my vacuum booster started leaking air, Denise sent me one, (many thanks Denise), and I figured out that it hadn't been boosting all along anyway! I got the booster installed and the braking was improved again, but was still very spongy which seems to be kinda normal from what I read on here.. The guy who drove my car at the Fiat meet I went to said they felt very soft and that I needed to adjust the rear brakes. Something about forcing the calipers out then hooking up the E-brake. Well I didn't catch it all, but they were stopping me pretty good.
This comes to my point. I noticed that my pass side rear caliper looked like it was leaking. I took it to my step dad's, cause I can't work on my car here at my apts... I thought it might be just something I hadn't tightened adequately the last time I was in there. No such luck. The fluid seemed to be coming from the E-brake boot. I took it off the car and partially disassembled it. I had my manual with me. However I read on another post where you have to have the piston at a certain position or it won't bleed correctly. That wasn't in my book... And my book said nothing about screwing the piston in and out. Again, not in my book... I did try to turn it only to break my thick file 3 times, it moved but just barely, and with great effort!!! (I'm 6'2" 220 lbs) and I couldn't tell it was coming in or going out any. I am guessing it should turn easily? I took the screw out and the O-ring on the shaft seemed to be ok. There was a little gunk in there. I tried to clean it up and put it back together, bled both sides again, and the brakes are about the same as they were. I think the leak is still there. It's a slow leak....
Oh and I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to correctly get the E-brake lever/pin? back correctly meshing with the screw shaft.. ugh yet again, not in my manual.... and my stepdad thinks computers are evil so he doesn't have on, so I am blind over there. Is this caliper shot? It sounds like it to me. Is the leak likely to get much worse? I do not have any funds at the moment to spend on my car, yea I know I suck. Sorry about the NOVELLA but these brake issues suck. Not a great was to spend 5 hours on Halloween! I got tricked!! heheh oooh I am sore! gonna go rest before it's partytime!
Happy Halloween Everyone!
And thanks...

[So Cal Mark]

wow, you've had several issues with the brakes. The easiest thing with rear calipers is to buy a rebuilt one, but they're about $70 at Autozone I think. Getting the park brake part of the caliper back together is a pain, but can be done. A slight leak at the caliper will result in air being sucked in every time you release the pedal. Hard to get a hard pedal under those conditions

[TulsaSpider]

Ok sounds good. The rebuilt one should just bolt up, and I wouldn't have to mess with the E brake part. When I get that one done. I will look at the other side. I think it's working. Besides cleaning, what should I look for? Should the piston be easy to turn?

[ventura ace]

Here's a link to a great article on rebuilding the rear calipers: http://www.mirafiori.com/faq/content/re ... lipers.htm

If you decide to rebuild, I recommend a complete teardown, very thorough cleaning, and rebuild with all new seals. To do anything less is just asking for leaks or questionable performance. If the piston is very hard to turn, it probably will not seal very well when you get through turning it (it's probably tearing little tiny chunks out of the old hardened seals). You may want to try to remove the outer dust seal that is over the caliper and try to put a little brake fluid on the exposed part of the caliper piston before attempting to turn it. This may help lubricate the old seals and keep it from tearing as you rotate the piston.

Or, as Mark suggested, buy remanufactured units. I have rebuilt calipers several times, and it hardly seems worth the effort, unless you are being adament about maintaining original parts as much as possible. It takes a lot of time if you are thorough with the cleaning, as you should be. Even then, you may find that the aluminum is somewhat pitted. My opinion is that I will likely buy reconditioned parts the next time my brakes need attention.

Alvon

[mdrburchette]

We just did rear brake jobs on both my 71 and 72 and I can tell you Ron is NOT fond of working on my Fiats. Turning the rear caliper pistons were not easy, even after he made a tool for it. 35 years of weather probably didn't help.

[TulsaSpider]

I will most likely take your advice Alvon! Denise, so they are that hard to turn eh? The good new is that it does appear that I took care of the leak at least. So I can replace them when I get a chance!
Thanks guys!!!

[So Cal Mark]

they shouldn't be that hard to turn unless the pistons have gotten varnished and the seals are rock hard

[Flyingthere]

Hey I have run into this twice first on my car and then again on Emo FNGs car. You said the rear brakes did not have fluid to them. The seals more than likely dried up and got hard as a rock. The pistons do not move well if any at all, and you may have been forcing fluid past the o-ring on the e-brake portion. Get the pistons out, we tried to force them out with air, without success then we grabed them with vice grips and worked them out. A little clean up and new seals and all works well. When we put the e-brake pins back in we used a clamp to apply pressure to get it all back together, the piston then screwed on without any real effort, that is after getting the seal into the housing. I also have two books one says do not remove the e-brake part and the other tells how to install the piston to get the bleed completed. If we did not read both we would still be trying to bleed the rear. Hope this helps, the seal kits were not overly expensive, good luck and let us know if I can share anything more.

[TulsaSpider]

Mine is also missing the little rectangular piece of metal between/joins the E brake shaft and the input. I did stop the leak so I will prolly just get some rebuilt ones sometime. Thanks for all the info!

[TulsaSpider]

OK so I was wrong, like that hasn't happened before!!!!!
Heeeelp!!

I guess my master cylinder went out on me. My rear caliper that I thought wasn't leaking anymore apparently was. My dummy light didn't work, it was working fine last week... and I ran the reservoir dry.

I refilled and tried to bleed the brakes with both fronts open, they wouldn't bleed. First it bled one side, and I moved to the other then NOTHING, wouldn't bleed no brakes whatsoever. I also noticed a small amount of brake fluid around where one of the front lines comes out of the master as well thought that was strange!


Oh and this all happened about 30 miles from my place UGH!!!!!!!
Thanks
Clark

[TulsaSpider]

Well I have a used MC coming tomorrow. I'll be installing it in the middle of a Church parking lot. Anything I should know about the procedure? Ugh...wish me luck! He said that sometimes they go bad just sitting there...I sure hope not!

[pope]

Good Luck and hope everything goes well for you.

[So Cal Mark]

installing used brake parts would be a very last resort for me, new mc's aren't that expensive

[manoa matt]

"used MC, installing it in the middle of a Church parking lot, Anything I should know"

Say a prayer before you start, and have it blessed before you drive off. Or just fill the windshield washer bag with holy water.

[pope]

Make sure its an italian church