My rear brakes on my 98 SE are dragging too much, one side more than the other. I took all apart, check out emergency brake adjustment all seems fine, everything moves freely. I screwed in caliper piston, put back together. I pulled emergency brake 3-4 four times, I assume this adjust the piston out, right? This locked up the brake rotor so I can’t even turn by hand. Took all apart again, screwed in piston just enough to get back over rotor and disconnected emergency brake cable. Using the pedal, brakes work fine for right side but left drags for a second then lets go. Do you think the calipers are bad, adjusting out too far or what? What else could it be?

 

The piston is sticking - or the caliper pin is sticking... did you take the pin out, clean out all the old grease and regrease it? If you are sure the caliper can move freely, then you have a seized piston - you need to replace that caliper.

Also when you reassembled the brakes you made sure that the little bump on the side of the pad that hits the piston lined up with the groove in the piston right? (I assume you did - since only one side is sticking).

 

When you speak of the pin, do you mean the two pins the caliper rides on? I did not take apart, they seemed to move freely. I did line up notch with pin, yes. Why would it only stick with the parking brake and not the pedal? Seems the parking brake drives the piston out too far then it wants to stay there and drags way to much.

 

Yes I do mean those pins. I thought in your first post, you mention that the brakes stick for a second even with the parking brake cable disconnected. What is probably happening, is the piston is getting stuck in the caliper - and when you use the parking brake - the piston is extended further than when you press the brake pedal - and it is sticking at this point. You cannot adjust how far the piston extends/retracts - it is just the way the caliper works.

Another possibility is that your parking brake cable is seized on the left side - so even though you are releaseing the parking brake, the cable is not retracting completely - thus keeping the piston engaged ... this has happened to quite a few people (myself included) with the 4th Gens - because the parking brake cable can get bent while putting the car up on a lift (shop morons). Carefully look at the parking brake cable from the left caliper all the way up to where it disappears under the exhaust shields... see if you notice any tears/crimps (compare to the right side so you know what it should look like). You can also have someone else operate the parking brake and look at where the parking brake cable attaches to the caliper and make sure it pulls/releases with the parking brake. If the cable operates as you would expect, then you have a bad caliper. Unfortunately rear calipers for our cars are pricey - you can get one for 70-80 bucks after core return credit from partsamerica.com. That is where I ordered mine from.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks for the info. I did say the left sticks for a second and then releases using the foot pedal, this is okay though because it is only a tiny bid of drag for a second. The right pretty much locks up with the hand brake and does not release even if i disconnect the cable after lock up. Right know I have both sides of hand brake cable disconnected and all seems fine (except minor drag on left) hand brake cable seem clean and move freely and seem to release all the way, sounds like calipers to me.

 

Seems to be a common problem. "sticky calipers"