Changed a caliper from my parts car....Looked like a direct swap. Everything bolted up fine. Bled the brakes. Nice and tight. But now that tire's brake is depressed constantly! What do I do??

I wish I could help. I'm still in training.

Rear caliper?

What year? Which caliper?

If rear, open bleeder screw(s), use screws to retract.

If front, open bleeder screw(s), use screwdriver to pry between pad and rotor (carefully).

Car:
'72 1.7L
Brake is Front left, or front drivers side.

The caliper slid on with no trouble...then of course bleeding the brakes tightened against the disk.

I bled the system with speed bleeders.

So just open the bleeder and pry the pad apart? What will keep it from getting to tight again?

Edit: I forgot to mention the caliper I put on is off a 74 2.0L. Though I didn't inspect detail differences, it looked like the same type of caliper.

sounds like a stuck piston. rebuild time. maybe you have pitted piston bores etc. rebuild kits are llike 12 bucks...and take 2 hrs and some fine sandpaper to do.

That sucks...not what I wanted to hear. I was hoping it was an adjustment. I have 2 hrs on sunday to get it going and I doubt our parts store stocks the 914 caliper rebuild. ...is there any tricks to get it going atleast temporarily?

sounds to me like it is vapor locking. ie: there is still a little air in the line that is expanding with heat. does it work O.K. for a few miles then progressivly grip stronger until you are pushing that corner around? if so then this is probably it. have a friend bleed it with you the old fashioned way.

You may also want to be a little suspect of the rubber lines, old ones can sometimes deteriorate internally and create somthing of a one way valve. fluid can get to the caliper but it cant get back. this is more likley if it just locks up the first time you hit the pedal. and remember when you replaced that caliper you may have tugged on or bent the line enough to screw it up. if you can't remember the last time you replaced the rubber lines then you need to.

Good luck

i agree....this could be it too. old lines do suck. try this first, and then report back

The brake locked/squeezed immediately, so I never even took it for a drive. I went back and forth in the garage about five times hoping it would release.

I did slightly bend the metal line getting it to screw into the caliper, I wonder if that is the cause?

Dont use sand paper, use that err.. steel wool.. Werks good. get the seal out and clean the inside of that too.. Should be completely spotless and clean. Any pits and you should get new pistons.

Slightly bend the solid brake line should be ok.. As long as there not crimped...

Oh, and to get the pistons out.. If you can wring em out with a large pipe wrence, then put a block of wood in between the pistons, and put compressed air into the caliper... oh... and watch out, they'll come out like a rocket...

2000 grit is plenty adequate to polish the bores

Ya but steel wool is easyer.. it'll grab (and realease) the rust and junk much better than the sand paper..

Eh, to each his own.

You all missed what he said, its a 72 car and he put a 74 caliper on it. They are not the same. Anyone who has done the BMW upgrade would know that. Come on guys, The 74 caliper has an 1/8 inch less meat on it where it bolts on. He needs to put some sort of spacer in between the caliper and the mount.

oh...forget all the above... scott rocks!

Ooooohh

Scotts got it!!!

You could put in a spacer... or you could get different calipers or rebuild your old one's (if you have old one's.....)

Scotts a good attention to detail man.. We all just wizz throught the reading and take stabs at what it could be.

ahhh...that's cool. That makes sense. I was just out gently prying on it with the bleeder open and I could see the outside was loose but the inside was tight.


What is considered safe to use as spacers? Would washers work? You say about an 1/8"?

I have the other caliper...it was working except it wore one side of the pads off. ONLY one side of the pads. I thought rather than deal with the original caliper, I would just throw on the parts car one.

What do you guys recommend?

I used 1/8 inch washers to put my Volvo calipers on, it worked fine. Just make sure you torque it down to spec.

Right on! Thankyou guys!! Big Big Help Everybody must be having beers on a friday night kickin back in the 914 forum. lol You all jumped right on this thread! Again Thankyou

Just to let anybody know who runs a search and finds this...The caliper from the newer (74) car operated fine, but since the caliper is bigger it hit my wheel, so I can't run it. If I had wheel spacers I believe I could run them without any problems.

For now I slapped them back together for the week and will order the caliper rebuild kits.