stuck rear caliper--Civic

So this is what I get for having a garage queen. The right rear caliper on my 99 Civic Si is sticking. The pads are dragging on the rotor a decent amount, but nothing is seized--yet.

Car has only been driven maybe 800 miles this summer--if that. I park it without the parking brake on--I just leave it in gear.

Is there an easy fix for this or does it involve disassembly of the caliper?

I'm ready to stick it under the cover til next spring and my wife is leaning toward not fixing it 'til then anyway.

Thoughts???

There's three ways a caliper can stick: 1. Sliders seize 2. Pads get stuck in caliper bracket 3. Piston sticks in it's bore

Take the brakes apart, make sure the sliders move freely and the pads are not stuck. If both those are good then it's likely new caliper time.

I always lube brake pads where they ride on the caliper bracket with a nice molybdenum lube. The slide pins get a clear silicon lube. That solves most brake drag issues. Otherwise it is almost always the caliper. Though I have seen a failing brake line do that too.

It could be a collapsed brake line that is causing it to stick, or a bad piston or maybe what Run_Away said. There is some trick about releasing the bleed cap on the caliper to see whether the problem is in the caliper or the brake line, I can't remember exactly at the moment.

Thanks for the input, folks.

I'm hesitant to pull anything apart because I need to be able to get it back over the rotor. I don't have the tool to turn the piston to get it to go back into the caliper (IIRC, a c-clamp only works on the fronts)

I agree with everyone, pull it apart and lube it up.

You can buy the tool for like $6 at harbor freight, or alternately, I've used needlenose pliers. The pliers isn't fun, but works.

The trick for seeing if it's a collapsed line is to compress the piston back, and if it doesn't go then crack the bleeder line. If it's the piston stuck in it's bore, nothing will happen, if it's a collapsed brake line the bleeder will shoot out lots of fluid and the piston will retract again. Not sure if this works on integral parking brake calipers like rear disc Hondas.

gamby wrote: Thanks for the input, folks. I'm hesitant to pull anything apart because I need to be able to get it back over the rotor. I don't have the tool to turn the piston to get it to go back into the caliper (IIRC, a c-clamp only works on the fronts)

A pair of needle nose pliers and some muscle work in a pinch. You shouldn't need to turn the piston back in unless you change pads or press the brakes with the caliper off though. Just slide it back on. Might take a bit of muscle if the rotor has a lip worn in it but it'll go.

large flat head screw driver works great