Front caliper leaking??

[Acme]

I noticed a noise coming from the front of the car... Decided to have a look at the brakes. I thought maybe something started to grip or seize. Removed the caliper to check everything... And noticed what appears to be a leak all around the caliper. I thought it was water at first but it looks like brake fluid. I think. Everything is messy right now, it's winter here, it's ugly, wet and... messy, and hard to tell. Anyhow, I applied grease to the pins and cleaned the pads contact area as much as I could. I didn't test drive yet but I doubt it solved the problem. My feeling is that the caliper is on its way out and is starting to seize...

What do you think? I don't believe it's very hard to replace... Is it?

[allstock]

Brake fluid doesn't run through there. Maybe you need new guide pin boots.

[Acme]

It's weird though, it's all around like that. On the other side of the caliper too... They're made of two pieces right? It looks like the join is leaking or something, if that's even possible.......

Guide pins looked ok...

[mtroxel]

Not sold on the leaky caliper theory. It would leak from the piston and that rubber seal. And if so, gravity would pull it down. Since it's upside down in the picture, I'd expect the fluid to be pretty visible at that rubber boot. Looks more like something that's been thrown off the rotor to me.

[Acme]

I know it should leak from the piston... I'm unable to explain what this "leak" is... And it's not thrown by the rotor, as I said it's like that all around the caliper (so under the caliper on the picture) and there's no way stuff thrown from the rotor could end up there.

I did a test drive last night, the sound I was hearing is gone for the moment, so my cleaning job did the trick. I'll check from time to time to see if this "leak", or whatever it is, get worse.

Thanks for the feedback!

[B-Time]

That's strange. Is your fluid level down at all?

[Acme]

No. But I'll keep monitoring...

Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk

[JDillon15]

No. But I'll keep monitoring...

Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk

If you end up needing to replace calipers, I should have 2 fronts I could sell to you.

[Acme]

If you end up needing to replace calipers, I should have 2 fronts I could sell to you.

With the weight of these things, shipping would be quite high I think.... Probably easier to get one from the scrapyard not far from home, if they have what I need...

[JDillon15]

With the weight of these things, shipping would be quite high I think.... Probably easier to get one from the scrapyard not far from home, if they have what I need...

Pretty sure I can get it in a flat rate for $20, or I can usually get a pretty accurate quote. Just let me know if you're interested and we can work out the details.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Acme]

Pretty sure I can get it in a flat rate for $20, or I can usually get a pretty accurate quote. Just let me know if you're interested and we can work out the details.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm in Canada. Things are never simple, nor cheap!

But yeah, cool. I'll let you know as soon as I figure out WTH is going on with this thing...

[Charles.waite]

The main "body" of the caliper is one aluminum casting. The piston has no way to leak except out the fluid line or the boot. The outer carrier part is iron and just bolts to the main body. Its never a bad idea to service the caliper, new slider pins and boots, new piston seal and boot, regrease, etc. Its fairly involved and you're best off removing the caliper which then leads to a brake fluid flush also, but none of it is really that hard, just time consuming and your car is down until you finish.

[Acme]

The main "body" of the caliper is one aluminum casting. The piston has no way to leak except out the fluid line or the boot. The outer carrier part is iron and just bolts to the main body. Its never a bad idea to service the caliper, new slider pins and boots, new piston seal and boot, regrease, etc. Its fairly involved and you're best off removing the caliper which then leads to a brake fluid flush also, but none of it is really that hard, just time consuming and your car is down until you finish.

So if the caliper is one single piece of metal, there's no way this is brake fluid. And I looked at the boot, it's totally fine. So I don't know what this is... Maybe it's just some condensation from the car being in the garage in winter, and it's just water. Although I can't explain why it's there, and not all over the other parts of the caliper. The grinding noise I was hearing before was probably from the pads, I cleaned everything (it was overdue) and it now looks (and sounds) okay. I'll keep an eye on this so-called "leak" though... just in case...

[Axis]

I'll have two calipers up for grab loaded with close to new Posi quiet pads as soon as I put the Q5's on. And JDillon15 it wont be 20$ lol

[JDillon15]

I'll have two calipers up for grab loaded with close to new Posi quiet pads as soon as I put the Q5's on. And JDillon15 it wont be 20$ lol

Yeah he PMed me. Didn't realize he was in Canada. Lol

[Acme]

So, was looking for pics of the calipers on our cars... and found this in a DIY on AZ that (wrongly) explained how to do front brakes on a B7 A4. It is unnecessary (and as I understand, not recommended) to disassemble the calipers this way to do your brakes... I didn't do that when I did my brakes...



What he did though, is show me that it's impossible for anything to leak from there. So it's most probably condensation or just water sitting there... I feel dumb.