Hi guys,

Got out the car today to a strange smell.  At first i thought i'd burnt the clutch but narrowed the strong smell down to front o/s brake area.  On touching the disc it was wet.  And i noticed braking had a felt a little strange earlier in the day.

Am i right in thinking this is brake fluid leaking due to a worn out seal in the caliper?  New caliper job? And if so, can anyone give some hints and tips on where to source a caliper cheaply, and any practical tips on changing it over?

 

I have a 40 mile round trip to do tomorrow.  Is i t ok to drive like this?  Brake fluid level is above minimum in the reservoir with no drastic loss.

 

Thanks in advance! 

It certainly sounds like a leaking seal. Seal kits can be bought on their own or a recon caliper would be the next option. 

To be honest knowingly driving the car with a leaking seal in the brake system is dangerous. 

mot fail. i wouldnt drive it if it is brake fluid on the brake disc!! 

Cheers Chaps, ECP £90 for a caliper.  Reasonable?

54 minutes ago, stef123 said:

Seal kits can be bought on their own or a recon caliper would be the next option. 

Is it fairly easy to re seal a caliper with one of these kits?

i personaly would bother replacing seals. doesnt always work. i would get a caliper.

54 minutes ago, iantt said:

i personaly would bother replacing seals. doesnt always work. i would get a caliper.

That's good enough for me, new caliper it will be, cheers Ian 

i found it quite tricky changing the seals on them, when I did my rear disc conversion I recon'd some Volvo calipers, much cheaper than buying new but if your in a hurry, its maybe not the best option.

15 minutes ago, Dee_82 said:

i found it quite tricky changing the seals on them, when I did my rear disc conversion I recon'd some Volvo calipers, much cheaper than buying new but if your in a hurry, its maybe not the best option.

Cheers Dee. I've just gone for the ECP one, works out at £87 once I've taken back the old one.  Any tips for changing the caliper?  

Also, do i need a 'flare spanner'?  Never heard of one until i watched a youtube video.....

I’ve changed seals and pistons successfully before, it can be a bit tricky so unless you are someone who is into the real mechanics of how these bits are assembled I’d go for chucking a recon caliper on it. 

You strictly speaking don’t need a flare spanner but do be careful undoing the hose. Any sign of it starting to round off, stop! 

I had a job on a Peugeot 206 a couple of weeks ago doing rear shoes and cylinders. Thought the brake pipes and securing bolts were never coming out! Bolt heads weren’t even hex shaped anymore! Put some serious heat on them, smoke belching out from the seals in the cylinder lol. Got them all out though with no casualties or 2 piece bolts. 

Another consideration, if there’s fluid getting onto the disc, your pads will be contaminated with fluid aswell. 

7 hours ago, stef123 said:

Another consideration, if there’s fluid getting onto the disc, your pads will be contaminated with fluid aswell. 

Can I clean off or is this straight replacement of pads?

If I was doing the work for someone else I would probably change the pads as I wouldn't like any subsequent failure or potential for an accident due to lack of braking efficiency to come back on me. 

I think trying to clean the pads is not a good idea. You are likely to end up with an imbalance of the brakes between each side of car which can mean when breaking it pulls the steering one way a bit, which could be quite dangerous in certain circumstances.  make sure you clean disc well.   Also if there is fluid around the centre part of the disc/hub this needs cleaning too as that can spray out onto disc surface when the disc is spinning at speed

I'd also replace the pads, they're not expensive anyway, but the fluid soaks into them rather than laying on the surface so cant really be cleaned off effectively.  Disc can be easily cleaned with a bit of brake cleaner though.

If you haven't got a flare spanner, mole grips can be used to avoid an open-ender slipping.

Thanks for the advice guys.  Wheel off this morning in the pouring rain ! !  Cannot find obvious signs of leak around seal, but the whole thing stinks  so am happy it is a seal leaking somewhere.   Anyway, off now to pick up the caliper & pads and hopefully rain will stop soon......

cheers chaps - job done pretty smoothly. No massive hiccups except having to dash to Halfords fo get that flare spanner, my normal one wasn't budging the nut and I wasn't going to risk rounding it off. Good job done and a boost to my confidence.....

i hope you changed the pads on the other side also, or you may end up with brake imbalance between left and right side of car ( and hence steering pulling when braking). 

1 hour ago, isetta said:

i hope you changed the pads on the other side also, or you may end up with brake imbalance between left and right side of car ( and hence steering pulling when braking). 

I did  thanks for the heads up though. I also thoroughly cleaned the disc as you suggested