Hot rear brake

After an extended trip noticed my left rear wheel was getting hot. Assumed it might be bearing, so replaced both of them....apparently just for the experience!!!
After putting the brake caliper back on I noticed the wheel won't hardly turn by hand. So loosened the piston back, it spun fine. Took it for a test run and again the wheel is hot. Seems once the brakes are applied a few times the piston/pressure won't back off. (just the one side)
Is this a caliper gone bad, or could it be something else?

2001 Jetta, 200,000 km.

What about the ebrake? Perhaps it could be adjusted too tight? I'm about to do the research as I think mine is alittle tight. I'm sure a guru will chime in soon though.

Sticking calipers is pretty common. I've replaced all four of mine.

I disconnected the hand brake, as I had the same thoughts.

'Sticking calipers is common'....that gives me something to go on, and might as well replace both rears. Thanks.

A bunch of people have had the same problem. I replaced both rear calipers and the right rear still stuck. ended up adjusting the e-brake and haven't had a problem since. Funny thing was I had to tighten my e-brake, it was too loose. I imagine being loose doesn't allow the e-brake to "reset" the piston correctly when the e-brake is engaged, and if too tight will cause the brake to "drag".

Early on in my '03 Jetta's lifecycle it had an e-brake cable that was sticking. If you're going to do some exploring before ordering parts, might want to make sure the cables move freely.

The lever on the caliper that the parking brake cable pulls is sticking on mine, I have freed it up a couple times and it would work for a while but I think it needs a rebuild and new pads/rotor. the pads on there now put out a lot of dust and seem to gum it up.

I don't know if this applies- but in my old, old bug, (1957) the brake hose had deteriorated on the inside. The hose looked fine, did not leak, but once the brake pedal was applied the brake fluid could not easily return to the master cylinder.
Once I replaced that, not more problems.

more likely than "sticking caliper" is the caliper hanging up on a glide pin. These need to be cleaned well and regreased when doing the brakes. replace if you see significant corrosion

I've already ordered new calipers, so will replace. I will definitely watch those glide pins. Thanks to everyone for the help.
(In the meantime I've been driving my dodge truck....geez do they ever feel clumsy after driving the Jetta for a month).

I hear ya I just recently came back from vacation driving the Jetta for a week,jump into my F-350 to go to work and WOW what a difference.

I added rubber bands to the calipers to pull the parking brake levers/linkages back. The parking brakes would drag otherwise. Is the parking brake lever actuating the caliper? or is there a seperate drum within the rotor?

Frothbeast said:

I added rubber bands to the calipers to pull the parking brake levers/linkages back. The parking brakes would drag otherwise. Is the parking brake lever actuating the caliper? or is there a seperate drum within the rotor?

Click to expand...

the calipers are operated by the brake cable. make sure the calipers are closing all the way on their own (with the cables detached)

the cable adjustment is a bit tricky. many times the cable assemblies have corrosion in them and the cable gets hung up in the sheath.

tditom said:

the calipers are operated by the brake cable. make sure the calipers are closing all the way on their own (with the cables detached)

the cable adjustment is a bit tricky. many times the cable assemblies have corrosion in them and the cable gets hung up in the sheath.

Click to expand...

Cables are new. I had removed them to find the lever/caliper to be sticking. The caliper does not stick when actuated by the hydraulics.

Lately the parking brake is difficult to engage. I must need to loosen/lube the caliper/lever.

Once again, the cables are fine, I have adjusted them and they are free to move.

Has anyone ever posted a picture of the caliper which includes the mechanism from the parking brake lever?

Turns out my cables were new...... AND GARBAGE.(less than 1 year old)

I bought new cables and all troubles are gone. I packed the aluminum tubes with grease and used a needle to cram 3cc of thick oil in each of the sheaths of the cables.

New Jetta TDI, less than 2000 mi. - same problem. I did not notice anything (except lower MPG, thought it is break in) while city driving. Yesterday after aggressive breaking for 15 minutes merged to hiway and drove on it for another 15 minutes not even touching breaks, looked at MFD and saw 32MPG!! Immediatelly pooled over, stepped out and guess what I saw - white smoke coming out of both rear weels. Rotors were hot as hell, even rims were hot.

Interesting enough, I did not feel much of a drag or change in engine sound or load - high tourque I guess. 15-20 more minutes and I am sure my car would be in flames, lucky me I looked at MPG. What if I did not? My son was on rear seat....

2009 TDI Very Hot Rear Brakes

I recently took a summer road trip with the family to Allentown. During part of the trip I noticed a burning odor coming from my drivers side rear. I stopped my vehicle to inspect the wheels and sure enough only the drivers side rear wheel, and rotor was hot enough to instantly fry a egg. This wheel also had a burning smell coming from it (no smoke was observed).

The next morning I went to a V.W. dealer located in Allentown to have my brakes inspected. The dealer reported that "road tested the car and checked all brakes and they are all wearing evenly no problem found at this time."

On my drive home while the drivers side was a little warmer then the other wheels, the burning problem did not reoccur. Could a regeneration of The DPF caused the drivers side wheel to become overly hot to touch, or is an intermittent brake failure looming?

On 9/7/09 I noticed a heavy build up of brake dust on my drivers side rear wheel. The other wheels were very clean. This leads me to believe the problem is with the brakes.

Make sure when you do lube the caliper slide pins that you use a really good brand antisieze compound. A little oil or grease may be fine for some but not for those of us living in winter road salt areas. A little antisieze on the back of the aluminum wheels (not the lug bolts!) helps to make tire changes easy also.
If you do happen to have a caliper stick bad and really cook the whole wheel assembly, make sure you check the bearings and that they still have sufficient grease. I killed a bearing in a jeep I owned by over heating the bearing assembly with a stuck caliper. The grease viscosity will reduce greatly if over heated and may or may not leak out of the bearing depending on how new your seals are.