I think i have a stuck caliper... I hear a metal scraping sound and also have a burning smell in the car sometiimes. I'm almost positive it's the front driver's side caliper. Here's my questions:

1) How do you definitely tell a caliper is stuck and needs to be rebuilt?

2) How do you remove the piston in the caliper without compressed air? The FSM says to use compressed air to push it out. Can I use a portable car pump or use the air machine at a gas station?

1. Jack the wheel up and spin it. If it's dragging, then you have a dragging/stuck caliper.

2. You don't need compressed air. It's pretty dangerous to use compressed air to remove the piston. Just remove the caliper and pads and step on the brakes repeatedly until the piston comes off (it might take a lot of pumping but it'll come out). Make sure to have something to catch the piston so you don't drop it and scratch it. If the piston is rough, sand the piston with 300/400 grit sandpaper until it's smooth. You probably want to replace the boot and seal (at least clean everything). Regrease the guide pin and boot. Lastly, put everything back and bleed the brakes. Then check to see if it's still dragging.

Good luck.

Thanks for the help...but if I try to spin the front wheels, they won't spin freely because of the transmission.... I'll try to re-grease the pins and check how easy the piston moves.

mmm... put it into neutral?

I would also check your pads. My car had the same symptoms and it was cause part of the front pad wore down to the metal. This will show up on the rotor as a scratch streek.

I think i tried that before....does it matter if the transmission is a lsd? Also, doesn't the weight of the axles also affect how freely it spins?

Mine have to be locked in place by the brakes cause otherwise i cant get the lugs off. So your should spin pretty easily. Maybe the piston really is jammed.

Same here...but when I try to spin the wheel by hand, I can move it but it won't continue to turn by it's own momentum.

you can just buy a rebuilt loaded caliper from an auto shop and replace the whole caliper. this way you don't have to worry about putting in the piston and the seals correctly. also, it's not that expensive and they still have the nissan mark on the part.

I think I too have a stuck caliper, the right rear.

I changed my pads a couple of days ago, and that pad was worn more than the other. Now, when driving, I occasionally hear a noise from that wheel. I checked the parking brake (loosened it up to make sure it was not the cause of the dragging), and that wasn't it.

When I did the rears, that caliper was VERY hard to turn the piston back in. Even using the special tool and a large ratchet, it was tough. The other side was cake. I am going to see if I can rebuild it myself. If not, off to the store...

Thanks for the insite!

Eric
99SE

Of course we could buy rebuilt ones but at what price..($70?) but we all love the satisfaction of repairing something ourselves. Also, the rebuild kit (new boot and seals) only costs about $20.

yeah and the pads in the rebuilt cardones suck...I listened to my uncle becasue he was lazy...and instead of rebuilding with Porterfields now I have tons of dust and they squeel every time I hit the brakes....

The info on motorvate.ca's brake reconditioning pages might be of some use. There are 3 parts to that section of the site.