I was changing my brake pads and rotors on my relatively old and rusty G35 daily driver and ran into numerous issues. Im now on my last set of brake pads and rotors (driver side rear) and have run into a completely seized bottom caliper sliding pin. The bolt was rounded off, but i managed to break it with a bolt extractor socket with quite a bit of force. Unscrewing the threads was extremely tough for whatever reason. Anyway, now the whole pin is completely seized within the caliper bracket although it is fully unthreaded. I've tried heat, vice grips, liquid wrench, and just whacking it with a chisel and hammer, but no luck. Any tips on getting this out?

I was thinking of just replacing the whole caliper bracket, but since the bolt is seized attaching the caliper to bracket, i'm not sure how I can install just the bracket and not the caliper as well. Maybe I can cut through the bolt or something? I really need some help on this. It's stressing me out having my car sitting on jack stands in the garage.

Thanks in advance!

 

Super common problem with our cars. Replace the whole caliper and bracket.

 

Will do, I just ordered a new caliper and it should be here this evening. Do I need to bleed the whole brake system, or just the one side once I replace it? Im pretty new to working on my own car, so sorry for the dumb questions!

 

The pin will come out eventually, get a pair of pliars around the inside edges of the bolt head and hammer against the pliars to drive it out. Once it's worked out a ways you can switch to hammering on a flat blade screwdriver against the inside of the bolt face.

When the slide pin comes out you'll see why it's mandatory to grease the heck out of those things every time the brakes are done. The grease is usually gone at about the same time the brakes are but for some reason folks don't grease the slide pin when doing brakes.

 

Couldnt get the guide pin out even with all that. I went and got a new caliper instead and put it on without any issues. I bled the new caliper. Went for a test drive and the brakes feel mushy, i need to pump twice to get any bite. The brakes are hard when the car is off though. I'm hoping its just air in the system, so i'll be doing a proper full system flush and bleed as my brake fluid looks murky. Just confirming that the order for the 03 sedan is: Right rear brake → Left front brake → Left rear brake → Right front brake? This seems different from other cars.

Is it possible for the master cylinder or anything else to go bad when replacing a caliper? Im hoping I dont have to spend too much more to get these brakes working well again :/

 

They don't grease them because pad slappers are only making 0.25 hr per corner... they gotta move lol.

No, just bleed again. Are you doing it solo? If so make sure the car is off and the end of the bleeding hose is in brake fluid at the bottom of a container. You just didn't bleed it right.

 

Just flushed and bled the entire system, still squishy. Im 90% sure I bled the brakes right. I did the solo method, yes. No air bubbles were coming out by the end of each wheel and the fluid was nice, new, and clear. Brakes firm up sooo nicely when the car is off, and when i hit the brakes twice in a row... What else can I look at??

 

What order did you bleed the brakes? You had a piece of clear tubing on the caliper so you could see the brake fluid?

 

Sounds exactly like a bubble in the system, are you sure the reservoir didn't drain out accidentslly.

 

I bled the brakes as per the service manual: Right rear brake → Left front brake → Left rear brake → Right front brake. Yes, I used a clear tube from a brake bleeder kit I bought. There was a small issue where when flushing the left front brake the seal over the bleeder valve wasnt great for 1-2 brake pumps which caused some bubbles, that might be what caused the air in the system, but I went back to the rear rear one and bled both of them again to make sure.

I kept an extremely close eye on the reservoir and it sure as hell never dipped below the halfway point between "max" and "min" levels.

I guess I could try bleeding the brakes again tomorrow and hopefully that will solve the issue. I'm just going to write down what I did today and let me know if i'm doing anything extremely wrong.

1. Drained reservoir of old brake fluid, but made sure some liquid was still there.
2. Added new brake fluid to the top of reservoir.
3. Attached bleeder hoser to valve and cracked open bleeder valve of RR caliper. Made sure brake fluid was leaking into hose and no where else.
4. Checked to make sure the tube in the bottle was submerged within old brake fluid.
5. Pumped brakes smoothly with car off until gross liquid was clear and no bubbles escaped, checking reservoir every 2-3 pumps.
6. Tightened bleeder valve, then removed hose and went to the next brake in the order above.
7. Once finished, topped up the brake fluid reservoir to max and went for slow drive.

 

If you think the seal isn't tight around the bleeder valve you can put a small zip tie around the hose and pull it snug

 

Any updates? I am planning to flush mine when changing out my brake pads + rotor soon. Want to know what was your resolution IF I runs into the same issue.

TIA