how does the rear brake caliper work?

I would like to know if anyone has experience with the rear caliper parking brake thingamajig. After doing rear brakes, the drivers side parking cable wont dis-engage all the way leading to dragging. The passenger side doesnt seem too hot either.

I cant figure out if its the cable or the caliper... My question is, the thing that holds the brake cable-ball, does it return with a lot of FORCE if the cable is out? Using a vice grip to actuate the thing, it slowly returns to the top (brake dis-engaged)

The brakes may have been dragging longer even, but after the rear brake change, the e-brake handle had a lot of play at first. And the e-brake light would steadily flash and beep at random times.

04 golf... 5sp, its hard to describe this, and I would have waited to bring it to madison, but my job often requires parking on angles, and im not always comfy JUST leaving it in 1st on a steeper incline or decline. I had to park on the other side of a building because the correct dock was steep and i wasnt confident of 1st holding with a brand new clutch, felt like it could give.

on mine, I had to wedge a screwdriver into where the ball on the cable goes and pry it forward. it wasn't espescially easy. then use vicegrips to pull the cable out and get it to catch. then pull the screwdriver out and fully seat the cable by pushing it down with the screwdriver. but then again I have a 2000 so it could be different?

That arm where the ball hooks into is spring loaded and is very heavy to move and when the ball is out it jumps back with a bang. It sounds like you need some penetrating oil there or something is stuck.

tried the penetrating oil, must be internal! fanatic, thats just the info i was looking for, thanks.

If you are still coming up Sat for the gtg I'm sure we can get it figured out. Even if it is a cable problem I have cables here. I think I even have calipers.

Once the cables start binding you can´t do anything to it, it may work for a few days after a lube but you´ll end up replacing them anyway. The good news is that they are REALLY easy to change on A4..

jobob307 said:

If you are still coming up Sat for the gtg I'm sure we can get it figured out. Even if it is a cable problem I have cables here. I think I even have calipers.

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i think between the wheel bearings and the brake problem, you are my car's savior this wknd!

Dude. I told you it was the cables! LOL! Plus you need the brake flush so it's a good time to do it. New clutch is nice huh?

jasonTDI said:

Dude. I told you it was the cables! LOL! Plus you need the brake flush so it's a good time to do it. New clutch is nice huh?

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But the back of the caliper wont return to dis-engaged even with the cable taken off, i thought you said it prob was the caliper once I told you it wouldnt return with no cable, im headed to the dealer now for the coupler, and im going to ask them to see a caliper just to satisfy my curiousity on how a brand new one actuates without miles, abuse, salt, gunk, etc.

BTW, the new clutch is out of this world! It cured so many noises, vibrations, odd behavior that the old DMF was causing! It feels like the car has 10 extra HP now for some odd reason...

I can get you a caliper for about $75 and bring it along if you want.

jasonTDI said:

I can get you a caliper for about $75 and bring it along if you want.

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Might as well if it turns out I need it, jobob said he has the brake cables so one of them has to be bad! ****, bring both sides if you can, both rear calipers seem to be shady in operation....

The passenger side parking brake returns, but it seems pretty weak as well....

BTW, perhaps the rears have been dragging slightly for awhile, this brake set lasted about 55-60k and the original rears lasted 90k....

Very likely. I'll get them. The caliper only, you reuse your carrier and slides. Otherwise it's a LOT more $$. You need to get them swapped there so I can return the cores.

This is an operation I can do myself or with a little help from someone at the GTG handily, correct?

yep!

This is really weird. I just did my rear brakes 2 weeks ago no problems. Just to make sure did you put the cable through the hole and have the retaining clip attached? Some people do not even remove it completely out but I did to check everything and to have it out of the way of my cleanign and working.

I guess one test you could do to make sure it is not the cable is to disengage the ball cable end of the ebrake from the calipers and have someone pull the ebrake as you watch and see if it retracks smoothly. Once the lever is released you will have to pull the ball end out and it should be a smooth release with very little effort. If there was any problems you might have damage cables. Was your ebrake fine before the replacement?

Hope it helps and good luck

k45 said:

This is really weird. I just did my rear brakes 2 weeks ago no problems. Just to make sure did you put the cable through the hole and have the retaining clip attached? Some people do not even remove it completely out but I did to check everything and to have it out of the way of my cleanign and working.

I guess one test you could do to make sure it is not the cable is to disengage the ball cable end of the ebrake from the calipers and have someone pull the ebrake as you watch and see if it retracks smoothly. Once the lever is released you will have to pull the ball end out and it should be a smooth release with very little effort. If there was any problems you might have damage cables. Was your ebrake fine before the replacement?

Hope it helps and good luck

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was fine without replacement, but I have a feeling the brakes have been lightly dragging. The pistons gave me some troubles, so perhaps it is the end of their lifespan. BTW, just using my hand to actuate the rear of the caliper, it does not spring back.

Are you talking about the caliper. It wont it kinda acts like a pump and keeps pressing the piston out. it does this so the ebrake system does nto need to be adjusted as the pads wear down.

Just making sure did you open the resivor to let the compressed fluid go back to. If not there might be a slight chance that when you compressed the piston and put it togethor it was fine but when you press the brakes you released the preasure and now the piston is wanitng to drag. Just an idea. If nto any of those then might be the caliper. I like to try all the easy solutions before big money repairs plus I hate bleeding brakes