Sid, I service my brakes properly. I have never had a corroded piston. The Series III when I purchased it, had one rear piston corroded from prior owner never servicing the calipers. My other vehicles, one with 207k and another with 175k, both owned since nearly new have also never needed to have a piston replaced because of corrosion. I know what preventive maintenance means to a vehicle's lifespan. Again I will say, any brake service that doesn't include caliper rebuild and fluid flush is only half a service. The mere fact that Jim's servicer had a comeback should tell you something. I don't do comebacks. maybe you do. I believe in doing it right the first time, especially when it comes to brakes. People's lives depend on it.

 

Thanks for finally answering the question ,

You see David , you couldn't answer the question when asked because on one hand your saying how bad and corrosive and contaminated the caliper and pistons can get ( so bad in fact they need attention at every service interval ) and yet in all those years you have not replaced one single piston .

It's not because you cleaned them , it's because caliper failure is not as common as your suggesting . And I think given the history of Jim's car , his servicer is doing a pretty good job , your mention of a comeback would suggest otherwise .

Hindsight is a wonderful thing David , and I certainly don,t remember you getting involved at the beginning of this thread .

 

How do you do it?

I've heard of people pulling the boot lip away but
unless you have a new boot handy ...

 

Here's my take for what it's worth, this is only as a car loving member who generally likes to look after his vehicles as best he can. I'm not a certified tech by any means, although some will say I should be certified, just not as a tech...lol

I've had control of many cars over the past 20+ years and have covered well in excess of 1M miles in that time, I used to average 50k - 70k per year in that time.
My thoughts and understandings are, that generally a brake service will include new pads and discs, slider pins & pistons being checked for easy movement and wire brushed / lubricated as may be required.

My Audi A6 has had pads at around 50k and pads / discs all round at 90k and now on 130k miles, also had at least 2 fluid changes in that time iirc....no issues there and never a sticking caliper.

In fact in all my years, cars that were brand new often had 150k - 180k miles on them after 3 years, serviced regularly as previously mentioned I brake terms.....never, ever suffered a stuck caliper.

It looks like either the proper lubricant may not have been used and or the seal has failed at some point causing this issue. I only took ownership at 61k miles after the car was around 6 years old, so not fully aware of what went before.

I believe and hope that this was the issue causing the problems, however and as stated....
I've fitted new pads and discs several times, each time this fixed the problem for around 6 weeks or so. I guess I have to wait at least that amount of time to see if I'm correct, fingers crossed.

Thanks so much for all input, gratefully received
Jim

 

I won't quote anybody to avoid the feeling that a side
is being taken, but I did understand when Box said
that he had not seen any corroded pistons due to the
mitigation of preventative action he has taken.

The answer is analagous to someone saying that they
change their oil frequently to avoid the formation of
sludge. When challenged as to how many pans have
had sludge, an answer of none would be just as
unsurprising.

I have more limited facilities than Box, but I don't
just push the pistons back, I exercise them for a
similar reason.

You can see that I was genuinely interested in Box's
technique for checking the piston condition as I posted
it before getting to all the back and forth about what
the precise numbers of corroded pistons had been
experienced.

Me? I have a bunch of scrapped pistons used as
ashtrays and hammering implements from a past life
when shops actually rebuilt calipers in lieu of buying
them in. All scrapped because of corrosion.

 

The steering judder seems to be common enough on JF.
The other make that seems commonly affected by the
problem is BMW. They also use ATE calipers, but their
problem is usually a particular control arm bush in
the front suspension that goes soft.

Maybe the Jaguar parts buyer shaved a couple of pennies
buying the calipers in from ATE.

Certainly according to ATE, their special lube needs to
be used on assembly. Lucas/Girling will say the same
thing.

Yet, there are plenty of internet experts out there publishing
YACT(yet another copied tutorial) telling people to smear
brake fluid on the bore as lubricant.

The problem with YACT's is the lack of fact checking proliferates
the interwebs and search engines like a fungus.

 

Jim, the issue is not "sticking" calipers, it has to do with rubber degradation due to pressures and heat at the caliper. Fluid as well, needs a regular change, and there is no way to clean the bore of the caliper without removal. Seal kits are not expensive. There is quick and cheap, and then there is doing it right. Most just don't understand that doing it right can save you in the long run. This is an issue of safety, for both myself, family and the other driver as well.

 

Er... it was a question not meant to cause quite so many others... anyway thanks for the replies etc as they were overall very helpful and enlightening. (I wasn't trying to cause trouble and I hope no-one is upset.)

Overall it shows that I have not been paying proper attention to brake servicing although it also seems hardly anyone does - not meant as justification. I do make sure every service (annually for my mileage) that pistons move freely (and have only had a sticking piston once on any car) and of course every disc face is a clue as to whether pistons are doing as they should. I tend to bleed quite a bit of fluid through when I feel like it and maybe that has helped.

 

JagV8 - I guess I agree with your statement. I have always serviced my cars that way in terms of brake jobs, anyone I know of ( and I know a lot ) service their brakes similarly.
Old pads and discs off the car, pistons and slider pins checked for free movement, a general clean up / wire brush etc and assuming all looks well, new parts fitted.......more or less.

I don't know of any small garage, Mechanic, tech, Indy or any OEM such as Audi / Jag etc that have ever removed the pistons, clean the bore and replace seals etc....I may have led a sheltered life, lol
Kudos to Box though if he's that thorough and I mean that sincerely, but I still think he may be one of very few people that do, unless anyone cares to share otherwise


Best
Jim

 

As one who has spent 40+ years in this industry here in the US, I can tell you with first hand experience, anyone who has been through a Bendix class, or factory trained, should know better than to do a lick `em and stick `em brake job. Let me leave this for your reading pleasure, and understand why I say what I do...

http://www.ucx.com/documents/squareseal.pdf

 

Hey Box, nice one and thanks for sharing.
Every day is a school day as they say.

I did say though...."Kudos to Box though if he's that thorough and I mean that sincerely, but I still think he may be one of very few people that do, unless anyone cares to share otherwise" and I meant it sincerely

Never having really experienced these issues over some 20+ years of motoring though, I think it's unlikely to be something I'll be adopting at every brake change, but certainly something I will bar in mind in future

All my best
Jim