Doug's Cobalt SS SC

Hey guys so on Thursday I had my car in my techs shop to have a new double din head unit installed. My head unit came with a back up camera so we put it up on the lift in order to see how we wanted to run the cables. Anyhow when we got it up on the lift my tech & I both noticed that my rear passenger brake caliper was leaking a lot of brake fluid at the seal where the E brake meats the Caliper (picture below) the driver side rear Caliper was also leaking fluid but not as bad. What is concerning to me other than the fact that I could have went to apply my brakes & my peddle would have went to the floor is that I just had two brand new rear brake calipers installed a little over 2 years ago so they should not have gone out this fast! The good news is my new calipers came with a lifetime warranty & my tech ate the labor cost for me so I got 2 new rear calipers again installed for free. For as much brake fluid that was leaking out of my passenger Caliper you would think my low fluid light would have came on but it didn't. I also didn't feel anything different with my brakes so had I not had it in the shop for my head unit install with back up camera who knows what would have happened.

One other call out is the reason why I replaced my passenger side rear Caliper 2 years ago was because my E brake wasn't working so we thought it was a bad Caliper however after installing a new Caliper the E brake still didn't work so at that time we realized that I had a bad e brake line so at that time we ran a new e brake line & my e brake has worked ever since. We also installed new pads & then about a year later we installed new rear ZZP drilled & slotted rotors.

My concern again is how could both of my new rear calipers go out this fast ? What could have caused that & what can I do with my new ones to prevent the same thing from happening again ? For the record I'm extremely easy on my brakes, I do not ride my brakes I down shift every time.

Also when I picked my car up today after hours & drive home I noticed that my brake peddle feels spongy. I'm having to push my brake peddle in about half way to the floor before my brakes slow down my car when before I had these new calipers installed my brakes felt normal I only had to apply the brake just slightly before it would start to slow me down.

Could I have air in the lines ? If so is there anything that I can do to get the air out without having to take it back to the shop ? Will daily driving get the air out or brake in the new calipers ? I've also read that you can pump the e brake multiple times & that is suppose to get the air out of the lines ? I did check the brake fluid revisor & it was pretty full however I topped it off to the full line. I also pumped my brakes today but that didn't seem to fix it.

jdbaugh1

iTrader: (1)

I don't have a good theory on why your calipers went to **** so fast. Were they off-brand or something like that?

Also yes just sounds like you need to bleed your brake lines to get the air out. Some air will work itself out over time and driving but driving with brakes you have to pump to work isn't very safe. All you need is someone to pump the brakes for you while you open a bleeder valve on each corner. Pump, pump, pump and hold then open up the nipple and some air should gurgle out. Do that until no air comes out at each corner.

Doug's Cobalt SS SC

Thanks JD I will be sure to bleed my brakes the right way. As far as the calipers go the ones that went to crap & the new ones that we just installed are from Advanced auto & it's their top of the line most expensive rear brake caliper that they sell for our cars. It's an OEM remanufactured version of it but it's as close to OEM as you can get without actually ordering from GM or dropping $650 at a dealer. Pic below

cluelessk

Think cheap parts are your problem.

You honestly get what you pay for.

Doug's Cobalt SS SC

These calipers are around $300 each when you include the core charge so $600 for 2 new calipers plus labor doesn't seem cheap to me but I could be wrong. Again the local parts store has 6 types of rear calipers to choose from for our cars & these are their best they are OEM just from a different manufacture. I have been doing a little more research & found that leaking brake fluid at the seals from our rear calipers especially on the passenger rear around the E brake area is an issue & is fairly common with our cars.

Sharkey

iTrader: (1)

reman calipers are the problem, what happens is they wear around the parking brake shaft because of the side load thats put on them, and once it wears the caliper body is junk.

rock auto shows ac delco brand new calipers for $109 each with no core charge.

Doug's Cobalt SS SC

Thanks Sharky however since i just had a new set of reman put on free of charge due to the last set of reman having a lifetime warranty what can I do to prevent my new ones from leaking ?

When u talk about the extra load that is out on them are you referring to the load from the E brake ? If that's the case I will avoid using my e brake

ECaulk

iTrader: (6)

It's not side load from you using the ebrake, it's the housing wears and the reman doesn't account for that. Maybe not using your ebrake will help but not likely.

Henry3959

Their remanufactured. Click the info button. With that said, I would trust them before any others.

Sharkey

iTrader: (1)

you might be right. looking again it doesnt appear there are any new rear calipers listed, and that sucks.

Doug's Cobalt SS SC

Thanks for all the info guys & your right HGT rock auto only has Raman but like you said at least they are still made by ACDelco below is a little more info about my new calipers looks like they are made by WBR.