Just sort of tacking this on here as it really doesn't seem worth making the Lada a new thread of its own given it's about to move on to a new owner...hopefully the moderators won't mind. If folks want I can grab the history of its threads elsewhere and put a sort of retrospective up when I get a bit of spare time.
The previously weeping brake caliper on the Lada which had stopped for several weeks has resumed leaking. It drops the level enough to just start to flicker the warning light in about two weeks of normal use, so not unmanageable...but braking issues need fixing rather than accomodating. Especially as the car is off to a new owner hopefully this week.
I've known these cars for years and the calipers are usually pretty reliable unless they're irreparably seized from disuse so a service kit usually does the job. Grabbed this a few weeks ago.
In theory this should be a pretty simple job.
[] Clamp the feed line from the reservoir.
[] Remove wheel.
[] Remove brake pads.
[] Disconnect brake hose.
[] Remove caliper.
[] Remove piston(s).
[] Remove seal.
[] Clean bore.
[] Insert new seal.
[] Insert new piston.
[] Reattach caliper.
[] Reattach brake hose.
[] Reinsert pads.
[] Remove hose clamp.
[] Bleed system.
However I know full well that these jobs tend to grow arms and legs so was fully prepared for all hell to break loose.
The problem is obvious.
The horrible, horrible mess is far more obvious once the wheel is off. Yuck.
Yep, it be a piston seal that's leaking. Didn't expect otherwise really.
These brakes are refreshingly easy to work on. The pad retaining rods are floating on springs (so they're *usually* not seized) and come straight out once two P clips are pulled off. Then the pads lift straight out, and two further bolts (17mm) allow the caliper to be removed from the hub.
I had originally planned to change the flexible line as well but the union at the inner wing end didn't immediately relent when presented with a spanner so I opted for "leave it well alone" as one of the main targets for this job was not to generate a bigger to do list than I started with.
Getting the piston out required a bit of perseverance simply because I didn't have a helper to press the pedal while I kept an eye on things and compressed air was out of the question as my compressor is currently out of commission until I find out why it's tripping the RCD.
Wasn't too hard though, with the dust boot removed it was easy enough to pull it free while slowly rotating it.
The fluid actually in there didn't really look too bad and there was no puddle of metallic sludge in there like I've found in a few older calipers.
There wasn't really any obvious damage to either the piston or the seal at a glance.
Though the new seal is a more snug fit to the piston, there's visible clearance between the old seal and piston.
(Trying to photograph that was an utter pain).
The only signs of damage I could see were some *really* fine scratching/pitting near the outer edge.
Ignore the mangled finish on the inner area of the step, that's just from me wrestling it out of the caliper , and is the area normally outside the dust boot.
This isn't enough to feel with a fingernail and is only visible when the light catches it just right. I guess it's enough though given the clearances involved.
I made the executive decision to leave the outboard piston alone. There's absolutely no sign of leakage from it at this stage (I did have a peek under the rubber dust boot), and given that pulling the caliper takes all of five minutes, it's not the end of the world if it needs to be revisited.
No photos from the actual dismantling and reassembly process I'm afraid as I was predictably absolutely covered in a horrible slimy congealed brake dust/brake fluid mixture.
This was snapped once I'd reassembled everything and changed into a fresh pair of gloves.
The bleed nipple even came undone without undue force (it was slightly rounded off though, so the new one from the service kit was fitted - dust cap has since been added).
Then hooked up the Easybleed and let it run until I had a steady stream of clean fluid running through.
Then it was just a matter of double checking the fluid level...
...5-10mm above the mounting bracket is correct.
Then going for a test drive. Well it would have been if the headlights hadn't then decided to play up.
Nearside is lit at roughly 50%, and doesn't respond to switching between dip and main beam.
Tapping the relay that handles that headlight with the handle of a screwdriver immediately restored normal operation.
The headlights on this while not being quite up there with some of the modern cars with good HID setups are by quite a long way the best of any classic I've driven. Definitely an example of what the humble H4 headlight bulb can actually do with a decent optical system to work with. I've got a spare relay in stock, so will change that out to hopefully prevent further issues with that.
There's still more travel in the pedal than I'd like so I reckon there might still be a bit of air in the system. I'll go back and bleed everything again thoroughly tomorrow - didn't want to start on that today as A: it was nearly dark by that point and B: I had run out of brake fluid as of filling the Easybleed.
While there is a bit too much free travel, the tendency to wander under heavy braking has been vastly reduced and the brakes generally feel more positive...hard to quantify the feeling of them biting, but they definitely feel better than before this work was done. Let's see what a full system bleed does for things - it's a few years since I changed the fluid now anyway so it's worth flushing through anyway. Checking the fluid after the run out hasn't shown any level drop and I can't see any signs of leakage from the wheel...though there's enough goop round there it's kind of hard to tell.
Have parked the car the other way around tonight so hopefully I'll be able to see tomorrow if I've stopped the leak...it was leaving a few drops overnight before.
Hopefully this is one job ticked off...was actually quite a pleasant one to do to be honest, if a bit messy.
