RE: Rear brake woes continue...

["Gies, John" <JGies@skandia.com>]

> My biggest concern now is the fact that the e-brake is seized. I have 
> checked the cable, and they move freely in their sleeves, but after 
> spraying 1/4 can of liquid wrench on the levers on the calipers, (if
> you 
> know what I mean) letting it soak in overnight, still nothing, not
> budging. 
> I took the wheels off last night, and tapped the frozen lever with a
> hammer 
> and a punch, but no budging.
i had the same thing happen to my '88 16v.  i ran it w/o the ebrake
operational; but given the last comments i heard about self-adjusting
rears, that probably wasn't a great idea, and may explain why my braking
power has deteriorated over the last 10k miles, even with new front
rotors & pads.

> I went into the dealer today, and ordered a Bentley (I'm no idiot, and
> I 
> can't put up with this retarded Haynes manual any more...) and talked
> the 
> brake problem over with the guy behind the counter. He says that he's
> seen 
> it before when the caliper has seized, and is not repairable. Just for
> 
> laughs, I asked him the price for new calipers. Heh, $480 CDN each! 
> ($350USD) Uhm, no thanks... Is this so, have any of you encountered
> this 
> problem on your 16vs? The calipers themselves haven't seized, just the
> 
> e-brake part that seems to be spring-loaded.
talk to Mark at Adirondack. www.germanautoparts.com.  i bought rebuilt
rear calipers (with working e-brake "arms") at a very reasonable price,
i think about 1/3 what the dealer quoted you.  i think replacement is
your only solution.  i haven't heard of anyone who was able to fix the
ebrake arm without replacing the entire caliper.

-john
jgies@skandia.com
'88 16v Alpine White coming out of the body shop friday :-)
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