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Car Forum / Nissan / Nissan Maxima / April 2004Stuck caliper and now new rotor is turning blue
I just replaced the front rotors and pads/shims. Now the front left rotor is turning blue from heat & it looks like the caliper must be seizing a little. There is no pulsating, so the rotor is not warped badly yet. Have I already got a "hard" rotor surface that is going to cause problems in the future? Should I go ahead and replace the rotors (and pads) again, along with the caliper? It is just lightly blue, but the color is distinct. What now? I plan on getting another 12,000 miles out of the car. JM I wouldnt drive it anywhere until you get this fixed. That is a pretty serious problem. If your brakes fail, well you know what will happen. I would suggest replacing atleast the rotor and the pads for that wheel. Are you totally positive you put everthing back together the same way you took it apart? I am at a lose for what could be wrong. I just did the same to my Max and no probs. How did you compress the caliper piston to put it back on? Did you take off the torque member after you took off the caliper? If so did you take out the guide pins and put them back in the right place? Did you unscrew the cap on the master cylinder to relieve pressure before compressing the caliper piston? Warner > I just replaced the front rotors and pads/shims. Now the front left > rotor is turning blue from heat & it looks like the caliper must be [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > JM > How did you compress the caliper piston to put it back on? If I recall, I needed to SCREW the pistons in on my Maxima. You can't simply squeeze them in with pliers or clamp. There are small holes in the faces of the pistons and I used a pair of circlip pliers to twist them in. Matthew 2K1 Max SE Ahh, then these are the rear brakes???? Front brakes are compressed, well, by compression. hehehe The rear brakes are compressed by screwing them back in. Unless there is some change in the newer Max???? Warner Also did you unscew the cap on the master cylinder before compression? If not, shame shame, maybe you just didnt know to? If you dont do this the pressure on the master cylinder seals can become too great causing some serious problems. > > How did you compress the caliper piston to put it back on? > > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Matthew > 2K1 Max SE Another thing, There should be a boot around any caliper that you have to scew back in. Check to make sure this is still intact. I have heard of these being easy to muck up and then causing braking problems. > Ahh, then these are the rear brakes???? Front brakes are compressed, well, > by compression. hehehe The rear brakes are compressed by screwing them [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > Matthew > > 2K1 Max SE > How did you compress the caliper piston to put it back on? C-clamp > Did you take off the torque member after you took off the caliper? Had to, to put on new rotor. Retorqued to 59 lbs. > If so did you take out the guide pins and put them back in the right place? Yes, I took them out one at a time, relubed and replaced in same place, with the caliper torqued to 20 lbs. I am wondering if the left side simply got too much lube and has "hydrolocked" in place, as much as I tried to avoid it. I am going to pull everything apart tonight and take another look. I took it to a local shop this morning. They think there is no problem because it isn't pulling to one side. I still think there is, because the left rotor is faintly, but clearly, blue in about 1/2 of the swept area (pads still don't look like they are making complete contact). I believe that a pad could contact enough to boil fluid, and still not seize sufficiently to pull to the side. It also occurred to me that the fluid line is collapsed internally, and is keeping a little pressure on at least for a good while. > Did you unscrew the cap on the master cylinder to relieve pressure before > compressing the caliper piston? Yes. It's not under pressure (good idea though). > Warner Got me then. I would just check the regreasing. I know the 1st one I did was way over greased. I found that just a thin layer around the entire bolt/pin worked just fine. Hope you figure it out. Warner > > How did you compress the caliper piston to put it back on? > [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > > > Warner Okay, well I did tear it down and decided that the pins were, if anything, short on lube. But, the pins didn't feel like they were sticking, and no real problem there. Added a little more lube. We are talking about the front brakes to be clear. Pulled the rotor completely off and looked at the other side. The hidden side looks normal and is not blued. Am I simply getting obsessed about the bluing indicating a heat problem? It isn't a clump of blue spots, it is a nice smooth band 1 1/4 inches across, all the way around. This morning, I drove it 15 miles and exited the freeway, downshifted and stopped the last 10 mph with the hand brake. Then very gingerly touched the right and left rotors. Both were just slightly warm. The left side may have been dragging at some time in the past, but it wasn't today. Added bonus: with all this attention to the car, I realized last night that the water pump is leaking. Imagine my frustration. My problems/costs are seriously multiplying. (New Nissan starter last month, new tires this week too.) I have 95,400 miles. I changed to Texaco Dex-Cool at 37,000. Have been a big proponent of it. That isn't a terrible pump lifespan, but I will note that recently Nissan has started warning against the use of these OAT coolants, without saying why. JM > Okay, well I did tear it down and decided that the pins were, if > anything, short on lube. But, the pins didn't feel like they were [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > > JM Where have you seen this Nissan warning against OAT coolant? Is this for older models, or does it apply to recent models too? I was under the impression that all vehicle manufacturers were moving to OAT. > Where have you seen this Nissan warning against OAT coolant? Is this > for older models, or does it apply to recent models too? I was under > the impression that all vehicle manufacturers were moving to OAT. While I've never actually seen a warning from Nissan WRT the use of OAT (would also be interested in reading that if true), I have heard about some Max owners complaining about crystalization when using DEXCOOL. One thing for sure -- never use an antifreeze that contains silicates. Japanese waterpumps + silicate antifreeze = premature waterpump failure. While Nissan antifreeze is pretty expensive (around $20 gallon if I remember correctly) I'd either go with that or the Toyota antifreeze which is only around $13 (plus it's a cool red color :-). Yes, that's expensive too, but how often do you flush your cooling system anyway? One every 3 years? Cheap insurance IMO. I just dropped the I30t off at Infiniti to have them check out the water pump. The service guru told me that they have no problem with Dex-Cool so long as the system was very well flushed out first. (mine was.) I have been unable to locate where I thought I read it a few months ago. I checked the official Nissan news site as well as freshalloy.com trying to find the reference. Then it seemed to me that I had read it in a small-print notation in a late model owner's manual. I have not been able to locate anything though. So, I can't stand by my comment. As far as I know right now, OAT coolant is okay. JM Well then I would just keep an eye on that rotor and pad. Bad luck on the water pump cause its expensive to fix. I had a mechanic do it on the side and he still charged me $300 for parts and labor. Good thing about Maximas is that the parts last forever, bad thing is when they do break they are expensive as hell to work on. Warner > Okay, well I did tear it down and decided that the pins were, if > anything, short on lube. But, the pins didn't feel like they were [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > > JM |
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