E-Brake/Caliper piston problem? Help...

[NismoQR25DE]

When my brother had the car, i noticed his e-brake wasn't that strong. When he gave me the car, i didn't bother looking into the problem. A year and a half later, i decided to look into the problem and paint my calipers. I had my friend/honda-tech helped me take it apart. We took the caliper and the bracket apart, painted it, turned the piston back into place and then install back everything and bled the brakes. Once everything was back into place, my brakes worked just fine. But i noticed the e-brake was looser than before. So i adjusted the nut all the way to the bottom. But when took the console apart, this was what i saw and noticed with the rear e-brake cables. I cannot adjust the nut any further... This is what i noticed..

Nut adjusted all the way down on main cable..


Why are the cables un-even? When the cables are connected, the main cable is still loose even when the i tighten the nut all the way down..


When the leaver is down, the cables is every loose.

Leaver up.


Driver side... (Leaver down)

Driver side... (leaver up)


Passenger side (leaver down)

Passenger side (leaver up)- It barely moved...



My friend told me that when he pulled the e-brake lever up... the cable and the piston isn't turning in enough to lock the pads in place. Then his neighbor came over (supra tech) said the same thing. They said i should buy new rear calipers...
Is there anyways to fix the problem, before i buy new calipers?

Thanks,
Dan

[outerorbit1]

This is Van. The drivers side level is not even attached to the caliper! Correct that, then retension the cables inside the car using the ebrake handle area, with the cables hooked in correctly at that location as well. DO NOT BUY NEW CALIPERS. That is not the problem.

[NismoQR25DE]

Oh snap it isn't. But on the passenger side the e-brake lever is up...but the cable and the piston isn't turning in enough to lock the pads in place.

[i68k]

you need to use the pedal to lock the pads, maybe motor on?, when you pull the cable, the piston only moves slighty.

you need to reconnect the cable to the caliper. otherwise the lever will not pull just one caliper, it will be very loose. hope you also check your sliders for functionality.

it is possible you may need a new caliper if they haved moved in a long time, but i would check sliders and other stuff before buying a caliper. more likely, you need a new ebrake cable, it maybe stretched out.

[NismoQR25DE]

I finally got it fixed! Didn't need a new caliper after all! Thanks for the help all!

[i68k]

just tell us what you did to fix the problem, for future viewers of this thread

[johnnyb]

X2 I'm interested in how this story ends

[NismoQR25DE]

I'm still having some issue's with my my whole e-brake unit.... I did fix it by just hooking the wire back onto the caliper. And then my e-brake worked fine. BUT i faced more problems...

Before i start ranting about my problem.... After i painted my caliper, i used the piston tool to push back the piston. It was extremely hard, and i had use brute force to place it back in. Then after installing everything back on, hooking back the wire on the caliper, i noticed that the caliper was rubbing on the rotor hard. Usually my car would roll to a stop but here it rolled a little bit and had a jerk stop.... I just brought it to a shop and they fixed it, and checked out the e-brake tension. They said everything was fine, and nothing was rubbing now.

But..... i faced another problem.... When i would put the lever down all the way, the pistons wouldn't actually release, thus making my e-brake still on even when the lever is down. The lever would then be really loose when i pulled it up. When i put it back down, the ebrake would still be on. I would have to drive couple inches in first and then pull the lever up and put it back down to make the e-brake release. I noticed that the driver side cable pulls MORE than the passenger side. I do not know why. I am currently having this problem still. And i'm don't know how to fix it so i will just bring it into the shop tomorrow and see what happened...

[i68k]

did you check your sliders and made sure it wasnt the cable seizing? did the piston still have a boot on it and it wasnt rusty? did you lube the pad guides?

[NismoQR25DE]

I brought it to the mechanics and they said it had to do with my cable or something... I'm getting them replaced so I'll see if that helps.

EDIT: The mechanics said the cable in the middle console was stretched, so i got that replaced. But then it kinda improved a bit but it still wasn't biting in the first couple clicks... Then they checked my rear driver's side caliper and told me that where the cable hooks on to the spring, that part gets stuck when releasing it. They said my piston also had no tension at all when retracting it back. So pretty much i have to buy a new rear caliper... Hopefully this solves the stupid problem!