Caliper leak???

I changed my brake pads a few days ago and ever since theres been a very slow leak in/around my caliper evidence is my wheel and tire have small amounts of brake fluid on them and my master cylinder slowly draining. I had my wife press the pedal while i was looking down there hoping it was the bleeder screw or something i could obviously see, I didnt notice where it was leaking exactly but i did notice a few drops dropping from the bottom of the caliper. Has anybody had a leaking caliper, is that common, and holy shit they cost 220 with a 70 core charge at advance, ill be doing some looking around online

 

or is there something i f'd up or didnt tighten enough to cause the leak from in/around the caliper

 

If you didn't loosen anything like bleeder screw or line and just pushed the calipers back in then you have lost the caliper seal. Time for a replacement.
You more than likely got some grit between the piston and seal or the piston surface has some pits in it and your laying right in one of them and fluid is seeping by the seal. It doesn't happen very often but it does.

 

Have you ever tried to clean the seal of the piston, or rebuild it I still can't believe the calipers online the best I'm finding are about 120-130.

 

I had the same issue when I changed out my pads. I cracked loose two caliper bolts that hold the caliper together. When I did that I got a weeping from those bolts that I couldn't stop. Ultimately, what I did was take the caliper completely in half and put some liquid gasket in where clearly a gasket is supposed to be inside the two machined halves. I haven't had any problems since.

 

So you sprayed that in between were the 2 halves of the caliper meet or around the pistons?

 

don't even go there...

Replacing pads does not require you to split the calipers.

I use to rebuild calipers like kids eat candy.

Using spray or goop or anything like that is down right dangerous. You never know the reactions from the brake fluid on this stuff. Do it right or don't touch them. You playing with peoples lives here.
How much is a life worth ??? 120 bucks is a cheap price. Not saying any rebuilt unit won't have a issue but is a dam sight better than playing Russian Roulette.
Replace it and chock it up to experience.

How will you feel running over a kid because you couldn't stop.

 

lmao damn, ummmmm okay you talked me out of it,

 

ok now that ive had a few seconds of time to take all that in...... ill move on to rebuilding the caliper is it worth doing or should i just look at new ones

 

Ok first. sorry for going off like that.

But if you saw what i have seen over the years i think you would appreciate my concern for you.

The problem with overhauling calipers is if you have pits or something similar in them, that has to be cleaned up with a hone and then the bore measured for the proper size. caliper halves can be stressed and when you pull them apart they actually tweak. And sometimes even new seals will fail.

IMO opinion you would be better to get a reman unit than trying to overhaul one and pinching a seal etc.

This is one of those things in the business I never compromise on.

It will be so much easier just to get a reman and swap it. DON'T SPLIT IT.. LOL That makes it back yard doable.

To bad the core was so expensive so you could pull that one apart a few times to see how things are in there.

 

its alright man, i'm sure youve seen some bad things happen because of shitty brake jobs.

i found a few on ebay for around $80 which i still thinks high, i remember changing them on my older chevy and jeep and new at schucks they were something like $30

tomorrow i think ill spray some brake clean in there and hope that it my dislodge what ever might be causing the problem, if/probably not ill look into ordering a reman caliper,

thanks again for all the info

 

you welcome sir.

Stay safe..