MyGuti

I had my brake pads, rotors and brake lines bled a few months ago. Shortly after the service we had some major snowfall and I was driving the TL through those conditions.
Then I decided I needed to send my tailights to Bruce to get resealed and the car has been sitting in the garage ever since.

It has been a little over a month and the car has been sitting in my garage. The other day I went to go start it up and swap out some lights and get it ready for the road again......but after throwing it into drive and releasing the handbrake......the car wouldn't move.

Gave it some gas....still nothing.....quickly realized something is holding it back......and noticed that the rear driver side tire wasn't rotating.
I did get the car to move to where I needed it.....but it was really painful......hated having to "power through" w.e was holding it back.

I haven't touched it since.......my guesses are either seized calipre or something to do with brakes?
Looking for any insight on how to get the tire rotating again......my mechanic is out of the country until the end of the month and I definitely need the TL on the road well before that.......HELP!!!??

Thanks

BROlando

your pads or caliper is likely stuck.

MyGuti

Yea I figured....but how to get them unstuck?

thoiboi

Elbow grease

MyGuti

Guys please direct me in the right direction or give me some ideas I can use to get the car up and rolling again....can do without the vague responses

teh CL

iTrader: (1)

Take caliper off and inspect

thoiboi

Likely it's just your pads sticking to the rotors from sitting a while. What else can we tell you besides you have to force it off. You can take off the wheel or do it with the wheel on. Then identify if it's indeed the pads stick or a seized caliper.

Don't over think it and just go out and do it.

BROlando

Remove the wheel and check the caliper and pads. You may be able to knock the E-brake arm back by tapping it with a hammer. No way for us to know what is stuck besides....something to do with your brake system.

ReMiXeDg

Your best bet is to do what most suggested. Jack the rear up remove the tire inspect the rotor / brake pad and the caliper. One of those can be the culprit.


It must been awful having to move it like that but most likely moving it a little shouldn't do any harm.

GreenSpades

I had a brake caliper go bad and freeze up once. I had to replace it. The guy at the shop said he never saw that and the guy at the parts store said that it was rare on a Honda, but hey it does happen. Replaced it and all was good.

nfnsquared

Happens to me fairly often when my car sits for a while after driving in snow. Usually just have to give it a little gas to break free and it's fine after that. The OP may have a more serious issue, dunno.

Jackass

You had the handbrake on....very possible that is what is frozen up and not your caliper. I had the cables freeze in the winter before requiring a tow to the dealer. They replaced some of the cables...no idea what...I only had the car for a few months at this time so under full warranty still. Basically, nothing we can point you two other than pulling that wheel off and start taking a closer look.

If the pads can be wiggled a bit, probably not the caliper.
If the disc is still not moving at all, probably the e-brake frozen up.

TacoBello

Personally, I'd just give the car some gas until the bond breaks. It might fuck up the brake pad, but it'll likely happen regardless. It's likely a combination of ice holding it in place and some rust formed, seizing it to the rotor.

You can try taking the wheel off and using a heat gun to see if the bond breaks.

Unless your caliper truly is seized... Then you have to replace the caliper anyway.

But wait, it's the e brake, so it's the brake shoe, not the brake pad.

What at I would try:

1. Take wheel off
2. Remove rear caliper.
3. See if caliper is seized (if it is, you likely won't even be able to take it off anyway)
4. Lube up caliper pins
5. Once caliper is off, try rotating rear disc. If it's not moving, it's your brake shoes, inside the actual brake disc hub.
6. You can try heating the disc with a torch or heat gun to see if it breaks the bond
7. You'll have to pull the rubber plug out of the rear rotor, and try to remove it. Though if you can't rotate it so the hole is at the bottom, you won't be able to loosen the break shoes anyway
8. I'd put everything back on, put the wheel on, give the fucker gas and hope it breaks the bond. At that point, there's nothing more you can do anyway.
9. If it breaks the bond, I'd suggest taking everything off again and inspecting if anything broke.
10. If not, you're all good.
11. If so, replace broken bits.

TacoBello

To add to this, some common sense is needed during the entire inspection and potential fixing process. I can't write every micro step out for you, so be cautious with what you're doing, like if heating the rotor. If you have questions along the way, ask us, and we will help accordingly. It's easier for us to help that way than write everything out.

also, if you're not sure how to work on the rear brakes, search, search, search. Personally, I go into the "advanced search" option on AZ, and search key words and make sure you only select the 3G section, so you're not getting a bunch of info for other cars. Best of luck and report back!!

MyGuti

I'm going to remove the tire and see if I can notice anything thats not working the way it should be (I'm not to good with this kind of stuff)
my next step would be to heat up calipre and brake pads in an attempt to break w.e bond there is.
I don't know what ill do if that doesn't work lol.
I really want to avoid doing any unnecessary damage, literally just had the pads and rotors replaced.....

thanks for the insight, will update in a few hrs!

oh and I almost forgot......I don't think its the hand brake.......mainly because when I attempt to move the car, its only the rear driver side wheel that doesn't rotate.....which causes it to drag......so I'm thinking its something isolated to that one wheel

Jackass

Then take it back and have them look at it.
When mine froze up, it was only one wheel that froze. I had to drive it down 5 floors of the parking garage at work with one tire squealing away to get it to the tow truck. Overnight in the dealer garage, it thawed itself back out and was fine by the time they looked at it. However, this wasn't the first time I had complained about it sticking, so they replaced "stuff" and 8 years later, have not had the same issue again.

MyGuti

So I attempted to "break" the bond or whatever it was that is locking my wheel in place...........no luck

I even tired breaking the bond by driving the car a bit and letting on and off the break.....still nothing.
The dreadful noise of that tire dragging along was too much for me to handle and I gave up shortly there after LOL

Im going to have the car towed to the shop where ive been getting my work done at......just a matter of time now.......but it appears as if its the caliper that's seized.....it happened to my passenger side when I had my rotors and pads replaced....and now the driver side.

Hopefully the tow isn't too much!

BreezyTL

iTrader: (8)

Do the caliper yourself! $135 with a $65 core return from a local autozone. should only take an hour.

MyGuti

I don't have the expertise nor the time to do this lol.
plus autozone is only beneficial for you 'mericans.
US Canadians get mawled by the exchange.....just dropped 1200 on the aspec kit UGH

TacoBello

Sigh...

BreezyTL

iTrader: (8)

I would invest some time learning to do simple changes like these in the future. It will save you hundreds over the time of owning the car. Dealership's love people like you! Don't be surprised if they tell you your flux capacitor is leaking...

I am sure you have some sort of auto parts store up there, eh? Check them out and do it yourself, or have a friend with knowledge do it. It is literally 5 bolts to remove the caliper, a quick pump of the pedal and break the bleeder, top the fluids and you're done!

MyGuti

I appreciate the motivation Breezy lol. I do have a local shop where I get pretty much all of my service performed at. I source the parts myself, and they just charge for labour. Reason I keep going back to them is: super honest, and are fellow enthusiast, literally every worker drives a s2000 (so jealous!).

Anyways, made some headway on this. Called the shop and found out that the caliper they replaced during my rotor/pad change last time, is in fact the one that's acting up now and has completely locked the wheel. The shop said to schedule an appointment and they'll cover the replacement cost, and will also look into covering the tow cost since the car cannot be driven......so I guess I lucked out here.....will probably have to start tackling some more complicated DIY's in the future though lol.

Im waiting on the aspec kit from endless to ship so I can schedule the appointment. I want to install the kit right after the shop fixes the calirpre so I can get everything done in one go.......oh also have ordered the pressure switches....hopefully those will arrive in time as well (I plan on doing the kit and switches myself lol)