Hi everyone,

Wanted to see if anyone has ideas on what could be the issue. I have a 2003 G35 Sedan 6MT. I literally sat in it last night and could not move the car. My engine was fine, transmission seemed fine as the car was moving forward an inch or two and then just hits a wall and stops and goes back.

After some diagnosis, I realized my rear driver wheel is "locked". I jacked the car up and that tire would not spin. I even managed to drive it a meter, and my friend noticed the passanger rear tire was rotating but the driver rear was just being dragged. I haven't driven the car in maybe, 3 weeks?

Any ideas? I have to get it towed now to a mechanic, and I'd much rather avoid the hassel but it seems I probably will end up having to...

Thanks for the help!

 

Have you inspected the brake Caliper because it could be seized. Jack it up, pull the wheel off and dig around something should stick out as the cause once you do a little investigating.

 

Could also be the internal drum parking brake that is seizing the rotor up, although I would put my money on the caliper locked up clamping on the rotor.

It could also be a gross failure of the wheel bearing as well.

 

I bet the caliper is jammed. If so, it makes the forth one (including mine twice) In recent memory.

 

I've seized up one caliper so far. Still waiting for rock auto to send me the roght caliper...been driving on 3 brakes for 2 weeks now

Kinda makes me want to work in routine maintenance for lubing up the rear calipers to make sure it doesn't happen again.

 

^You've been driving on three brakes!??!? How the......

 

Subd for the answer. ^^^^^

 

It's more like 3 and a half really.

The slide pins seized on the rear driver's side brake, so only the inside pad touches the rotor. The other pad is just along for the ride. however since it's been this way for some time, the outer pad has worn to the point where it takes 2 pumps to close the caliper on the rotor. Pedal is actually a little soft. I can actually watch the caliper move over with the 2 pumps. Amazing thing is it made ZERO noise or grinding til about 2 weeks ago. It's been like this for a LONG time..over a year.

When car was under warranty, i brought it in because the brakes felt "funny" and the dealer proceeded to tell me everything looked normal. So i didn't think much of it to pull a wheel and start rechecking their work. Shame on me for letting it go so long. But shame on them for not them for not checking more into a "brake pedal requires 2 pumps to stop" complaint while under warrant. They basically blew me off

I'll take some pics when i get it all done this weekend. Waiting on replacement caliper as rockauto sent a pass side caliper first when i needed a driver's side.

 

I'm trying to think of how you would even go about lubing calipers.

 

You don't lube the caliper, bu the slide pins that center a floating caliper-type setup



These are what seized up on my caliper. I can't get it to move at all, so the caliper is locked in place. When i hit the brakes, the piston only pushes one side into the rotor. The other side hangs in the breeze.

Sometimes, as in the probable case with the OP (so this is somewhat on topic), the slide pins barely move. So each time you hit the brake pedal, the pads clamp down onthe rotor, but they don't release. The side with the pistn actually backs off after a few turns, but the outer pad continues to rub, heating up the brake very hot.

However, i've yet to see this issue cause a wheel to completely lock up. usually it will still turn somewhat.

 

^+1 about not seeing one lock up... but mine got stupid hot, to the point of heating up the wheel significantly (like a giant heat-sink)

But with mine, it was the actual piston in the caliper that jammed, the slide-rail-pins were just fine (though I brake-lubed the new ones really good)

The first time me and a friend popped the piston out of the caliper, and there was a lot of corrosion/crud, so we cleaned it really really good, sanded it with some 800 grit, both in the cylinder and the piston itself, lubed really good, reassembled, bled, etc... worked great when we were done, but jammed again about 3-4 months later, so I just got a different caliper.

 

Ahh, good call. I guess I didn't even realize the caliper itself moved on those, but it makes sense. I'll lube 'em up during my next brake change just to be safe.

 

Check the boots. They usually tear an let water in. The lower ones are the ones to pay attention to.

If you need new calipers, rockauto has remans cheap for $50-80 each + core.

When i checked dealer pricing...it was nearly $200

 

+1 caliper

 

+1 on checking the boots... although don't let good boots fool you. Mine were not ripped and I still had problems.