my van is a faliure :(

[mr_clarkson]

ok, the saga moves on, i have untill thursday for my free retest, dont think its gonna happen now as i recieved the wrong antiroll bar bush from gsfac anyhow, i have removed the caliper and found that one of the pistons siezed, the other piston i could push in just abou and it would sqirt brake fluid form the pipe hole, but the other one i did manage to get to move in with a g clamp, but much harder than it should be.

my question is, it obviously needs rebuilding but how can i get it out, i already chipped a few bits off the piston trying to lever it out, i reconnected it to the brake line and pumped the pedal, one piston poped out but the other has not moved i have left it soaking in wd40 at he min, but not sure what else to try.

cheers
jon

[ojsmith]

when you get it all sorted, and it passes the MOT... make sure you staple a copy to this mot'ers head!

good luck sorting it!

[kevtherev]

I would be trying to buy a new caliper from GSF or VW...

[toomanytoys]

Just been on the radio about them Banning commercial vehicles over 15 yrs old in India because of emission problems,hope these clowns dont get the same idea over here,that would put paid to the Camper and my owd Bonneville

Suddenly those 10 year old used vans and trucks that have little value will have a massive value for export then......

I dont think the indian economy could support that in any case... if they just introduced some testing and sensible limits it would do more... typical knee jerk reaction...

[toomanytoys]

ok, the saga moves on, i have untill thursday for my free retest, dont think its gonna happen now as i recieved the wrong antiroll bar bush from gsfac anyhow, i have removed the caliper and found that one of the pistons siezed, the other piston i could push in just abou and it would sqirt brake fluid form the pipe hole, but the other one i did manage to get to move in with a g clamp, but much harder than it should be.

my question is, it obviously needs rebuilding but how can i get it out, i already chipped a few bits off the piston trying to lever it out, i reconnected it to the brake line and pumped the pedal, one piston poped out but the other has not moved i have left it soaking in wd40 at he min, but not sure what else to try.

cheers
jon

WD on brake seals isnt going to help.. what you should have done is placed the G clamp on the free piston to hold it... to be fair, its frelled, either get a good used one (might be possible!!! ) or bite the bullet and get a pair of exchange ones... brakes are quite critical to you, your family and others safety....

[CovKid]

Far, far easier to replace calipers than mess with them if they're old. After many years working on buses and bugs, brakes is the one area that just isn't worth skimping on. When I first bought my present bus, I went through the braking system from beginning to end with almost everything replaced, so I know the state of the system rather than waiting for problems. In the early days of Bug Jam, you would not believe the pounds some kids would spend on beefing up their engines and yet drive around on rusted brake pipes, vehicles not pulling in straight lines, etc etc.

Now I was taught to slow down using the gearbox and I still do, but when I seriously need to rely on brakes in a hurry, fully laden with kids in the back, I need to KNOW i'm going to stop. In my view, brakes must come before everything else. It needn't cost a fortune if you do it yourself but I'd certainly put it top of the list before any other maintenance.

MOTs only spot the obvious remember. Just because you get a pass does not mean the vehicle will be safe the following week. Only you. or a trusted mechanic, can be sure of that, ultimately.