Hey all,

A few weeks ago, I noticed that the rear disc of my car - Ford Focus ST170 (52 reg) - has a bit of rust on the braking surface on the disc and I did a quick test by putting the hand brake on, 1st gear enabled and slowly lifted the clutch and the car "tilted" a bit, which tells me that one of the wheel is still free moving even with the handbrake applied.

After some investigation, it turns out that the slidng pins has been seized. So this afternoon, I had the chance to roll up my sleeves and tackled the seized caliper sliding pins.

I have taken them apart, giving the sliding pins & other parts a good clean & greased them up, I put them back together. Then went for a test drive, all is good. But when I did the same test (as above), the handbrake still only applied to one rear wheel and not the one that I did the job of this afternoon!

What am I missing?

Any help would be grateful.

Thanks all.

 

its not just the sliders that sieze up.

the actual handbrake mechanism and piston can seize up. The handbrake mechanism is another seal that can fail causing a caliper to sieze up over time.

My cossie calipers siezed up on the handbrake mechanism and needed re-furbing.

also could be the cable.

 

Maybe the cable is stiff or caliper needs a stripdown could be self ajuster not working.

 

If the sliders had seized, then the pads on that side will be worn, so you most likely have a 'imbalance' anyway!

Martin

 

I'd put money on a seized cable causing the caliper slider to seize - so you've fixed the symptom, not the cause.

 

Thanks all, so which one should I start investigating, i.e. the 'easiest/more likely' before taking it further?

 

I checked both pads when I took them apart and both of them has the same amount of pads material left.

 

Is this any good?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170821777012

Might be easier to replace it and tackle the orginial caliper at a later time as I have MOT coming up.

 

Get the car in the air, get someone to operate the handbrake and see what does and doesn't move! Then disconnect the handbrake cables from the calipers and operate the handbrake again. It will be obvious where the fault is.

 

When I pulled up the handbrake, the cable got tighten, so the cable is deffo not broken.

I wonder if the handbrake mechanism within the caliper that is stuck over the time? Would WD40 or penetration spray help?

 

Do as Dan said matey.Get someone to look underneath and then work the hand brake.

 

Just re-read, it sounds as if your brakes were not applying on said seized caliper, it's usually the other way round, i.e. they bind, therefore the pads wear.

Even so, it's most likely that there is a difference, it's just you have the reverse effect, i.e. the opposing wheel on the axle has less pad material as it's been doing all the work, opposed to the seized one that hasn't.

Martin

 

check that the cable housing is seated on the provided lug/bracket near the caliper. I'm pretty sure if the cable housing moves too then it won't work.

Rob

 

I must sell about 20 nearside rear focus calipers a week. Dead common for them to seize up

 

So I guess it's easier to replace it rather than trying to tackle the problem?

 

Swapping the caliper takes about an hour from start to finish after you've bled the brakes up, if you strip and rebuild it who knows!
Just dont buy a used one if you go down the replacement caliper route

 

My focus failed the mot on this, brakes were working fine both sides, just would not lock up on the handbrake, even the lever felt fine. Turned out to be a seized cable pulling to one side.

 

Thanks all, make sense to replace it to save the hassle in the long run.

Cheers all.

 

Result of the brake test...

Brakes - Rear axle

Left: 181 Brake Forces (kgf)
Right: 217 Brake Forces (kgf)

Parking Brakes

Left - 13 Brake Forces (kgf)
Right - 179 Brake Forces (kgf)

Does it mean the caliper itself is indeed seized? Wanted to be very sure before I order the part!

 

There a little cam inside the caliper thats connected to a lever that in turn connects to the cable. This operates the parking brake.
If the cam over rotates, the piston has to come out to reset it which means ballache getting new seals, bleed nipples and hoping the piston isnt corroded etc
Thats how the brake engineering rep explained it to me anyway!

Looking at those results though, could be the combination of a cable and the caliper tbh. Neither should be expensive to sort

 

Cheers, it's never easy, eh?? ;D

Will take the wheel off & remove the cable from the handbrake mechanism of the caliper and see what's not working, etc.

 

Right, I have had a look and can confirm the handbrake cable moves freely so that rules out seized cable. The handbrake mechanism itself on the caliper however does not move freely and was actually very hard to twist to operate it.

So I will order a new caliper.

Thanks for the help, everyone!

 

If the hand-brake cable doesn't move freely the check the wire and fix the problem.

 

Thanks but you may want to check the latest posts.