Questions on caliper replacement necessity / bleeding (ABS)

[JohnS.]

Car - 2006 EX with ABS (about 130k miles). Has never had brake work other than pad/rotor replacement.

My brother replaced his rear pads and rotors about 20k ago. The other day, he noticed that the pads on one rear wheel are down to metal. I'm going to look at the brakes tomorrow morning but I assume the caliper is shot. Would most others agree?

Also, from the information I have found from researching, I understand that bleeding is not effected by ABS so I don't have to worry about doing anything different, correct?

Lastly, since I will only be opening one brake line and will not be running the MC dry, only bleeding one wheel should not be an issue correct? But since the fluid has never been replaced, I may suggest to my brother that we bleed the entire system just to get new fresh fluid in. We'll see.

Thanks in advance.

 

[civexspeedy]

Yeah the caliper probably seized.

Bleed the system like normal.

Even though you are only working on one corner, you will need to bleed the entire system properly. As soon as you open up the brake system, you will get air in there. You'll need to bleed thoroughly starting from RR, to LR, to RF, then LF. If you bleed one corner, you're pretty much guaranteed to have air in the system somewhere. Won't hurt to have clean fluid in there anyways..

 

[lethal6]

130K miles, 16 years, and never had a brake flush? You should DEFINITELY do it. Should be done every 2-3 years to be honest and considering it has never been done in 16 years, I would say it is well out of date.

 

[JohnS.]

Thanks speedy.

And yeah...old fluid lol. My car has 230k and is double the age and still has (mostly) original brake fluid .

Oh and I read the Honda helms says you should start with the LF and work your way clockwise. I'll probably do that.


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[civexspeedy]

It's pretty widely known and stated that you should always start with the corner furthest from the master cylinder, the RR. Then work from there to the closest, LF. If you start with the closest, the LF, you will likely still have the system contaminated or have air somewhere when you get to the RR.

Sure Helms says that? Everything I've ever read, known, seen, been tought, w/e.. has said other start with the furthest. I've done it a million times with zero issues.

 

[JohnS.]

It's pretty widely known and stated that you should always start with the corner furthest from the master cylinder, the RR. Then work from there to the closest, LF. If you start with the closest, the LF, you will likely still have the system contaminated or have air somewhere when you get to the RR.

Sure Helms says that? Everything I've ever read, known, seen, been tought, w/e.. has said other start with the furthest. I've done it a million times with zero issues.

I know you're supposed to start from the furthest and work your way to the closest.

I'm not 100% sure the Helms states to work from the closest. I found a thread on Honda-Tech where someone said that's what the Helm says. That's why I made this thread to see which method was (more) true.

 

[lethal6]

I was always taught to start furthest from the master as well.

 

[TigBitties]

honestly i would just bleed that one corner, air shouldnt get into any other parts of the system if you are just opening one corner. but a brake flush wouldnt be a bad idea.


also before you start jumping right to calipers, check the sliders. its pretty common that the rubber boot comes undone, water gets in, and the sliders seize up. just take the slider out, grind it down so no rust is there, clean out the inside of it, anti seize, good to go

 

[K-N-2-EK]

^they sell special brake seize lube. Same stuff but withstands the higher heats!

 

[Jersey8]

honestly i would just bleed that one corner, air shouldnt get into any other parts of the system if you are just opening one corner. but a brake flush wouldnt be a bad idea.


also before you start jumping right to calipers, check the sliders. its pretty common that the rubber boot comes undone, water gets in, and the sliders seize up. just take the slider out, grind it down so no rust is there, clean out the inside of it, anti seize, good to go

this happened to my driver side front caliper. got a set of new boots for about $15, picked up some lube, and fixed it myself. The pins were seized all to hell so i had to work at it for a bit but hell ill spend $15 for a caliper fix anyday instead of buying a whole new one