Infiniti FX 45 Rear Brake Caliper Seized Again

[Yota100]

I have a 2004 Infiniti that has had 3 rear brake calipers seize over the last fews years. In 2012, the passengers rear caliper and brake line hose were replaced twice by a shop, and last year I replaced the drivers rear with a Centric reman caliper. Today I noticed that this caliper appears to be seized.(strong brake smell and rotor to hot to touch)

Each time the brake lines were flushed and the problem comes back a year or two later. I try to use OEM parts when things fail but, I cant justify a $300 caliper on a soon to be 13 year old car.

Can you please advise me on what you believe to be the cause of these failures and a possible solution. Thank You

 

[spasm3]

I'm not familiar with Infiniti cars, but after three calipers i'd look at the master cylinder. Was the entire brake system flushed with new fluid or just that wheel?

Could the caliper bracket be bent or damaged?

Did you change the caliper slide pins? What grease did you use on the slide pins? Use Sil-glyde.
Get a shop manual and see what exactly is in the braking system. Proportioning valve?

Edit: Rock auto shows no proportioning valve.

 

[bowlofturtle]

My g35 has a similiar design if not the exact same calipers.

I dont know what your exact problem is, ive only had one rear caliper seal break on me and one other time after a brake job it was smoking hot. I took it apart and didn't see why it was binding.
I've replaced one from advance auto, it was $100 or less.

I would think something is wrong with your braking system because this isn't a common problem. The older nissans had a problem with the parking brake being built in but the infiniti uses shoes inside the rotor.

 

[Rand]

What parts were used.. some aftermarket remans are basically used.. no reman work done.

I would still consider it a caliper problem until an oem caliper seizes.

 

[Yota100]

Originally Posted By: spasm3
I'm not familiar with Infiniti cars, but after three calipers i'd look at the master cylinder. Was the entire brake system flushed with new fluid or just that wheel?

Could the caliper bracket be bent or damaged?

Did you change the caliper slide pins? What grease did you use on the slide pins? Use Sil-glyde.
Get a shop manual and see what exactly is in the braking system. Proportioning valve?

Edit: Rock auto shows no proportioning valve.


I flushed the whole brake system and the replacement caliper that I installed included a new bracket and slide pins. I used Permatex 24125 Ceramic Extreme Brake Parts Lubricant as my grease.

Could it be that there is junk in the brake lines causing the problem? But what causes calipers to fail? This car just has me so confused.

This is the part I used. CENTRIC 14142564 Reman; Posi-Quiet; Semi-Loaded
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=2041864&cc=1420591&jsn=1

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: Yota100
I have a 2004 Infiniti that has had 3 rear brake calipers seize over the last fews years. In 2012, the passengers rear caliper and brake line hose were replaced twice by a shop, and last year I replaced the drivers rear with a Centric reman caliper. Today I noticed that this caliper appears to be seized.(strong brake smell and rotor to hot to touch)

Each time the brake lines were flushed and the problem comes back a year or two later. I try to use OEM parts when things fail but, I cant justify a $300 caliper on a soon to be 13 year old car.

Can you please advise me on what you believe to be the cause of these failures and a possible solution. Thank You


If you take it apart, you'll have a better idea what's wrong with it.

If you can clean it up and put it back together again, you'll save the cost of a replacement.

I've done this to both my front calipers, one of which was seized. These had been repeatedly flushed, but were full of rusty sludge.

Flushing renews the fluid, which should prevent further deterioration, but (at least on this car) it is not effective in removing debris or corrosion.

There was relatively little local corrosion in the calipers, suggesting the debris originated elsewhere, perhaps either in the pipework or the master cylinder.

 

[Trav]

These look like a very simple pig iron caliper, single piston, no E brake mechanism. I suspect corrosion of the slide pins or the piston due to either a rubber seal cut during assembly or poor assembly lubricant both are common with rebuilds, possibly corrosion from moisture in the system. Remove the caliper and inspect it before doing anything it might just need new pins, pin seals or just lube.

With these calipers reman is okay, there isn't much they can do to bugger them up and there is no need to pay the long dollar either for aftermarket remans (at almost $190ea its a bit of a ripoff but there are a few things you can do to improve remans before installing them on the vehicle.

First check the boot around the piston, any damage automatically disqualifies the caliper. Remove the bracket if it comes with one and disassemble its rubber parts and pins, remove the inlet bolt and bleed screw.
Plug the pin holes, fluid inlet and bleeder hole with a rubber stopper from any hardware store, wipe the whole thing down a couple of times with alcohol and dry it and mask off the piston seal.

Put 3 light coats of rattle can self etching primer on the caliper and bracket, this stuff really helps keep corrosion away over paint alone, topcoat with any high temp rattle can.
Check the pins and boots, the pins must be clean and corrosion free and look for obvious damage to the rubber like a cut, the boots should seal when squeezed between the fingers.
Clean out the pin holes in the bracket with a long Q Tip, relube and put a smear some on the pins, make sure the boots are on both the bracket and pins not just pushed up against.

I use CRC brake grease and Syl Glide, both work well and dont dry out like some of the ceramic lubes. Rock Auto has a pair of Nastra remans for $54ex, they were a good brand years ago but I haven't used them in years but they are probably not going to any worse than the others.

Links to the products I use, all these can be had at most parts stores.

https://www.amazon.com/CRC-Brake-Caliper-Synthetic-Grease/dp/B000M8IF1Q

https://www.amazon.com/AGS-SG8-Lubricant/dp/B000KXLR5E

https://www.amazon.com/Dupli-Color-DAP16...+etching+primer

 

[Arved]

Check caliper pins to see if they allow the caliper to slide. They need to be periodically lubricated with a suitable grease. Dirt or dried grease can make the caliper stick and drag a pad against the rotor. It may seem like a bad caliper, when it's just those pins.

Good luck!

 

[MobilinHyundia]

I have two Hyundai Sonatas 2009 both with rear caliper problems with stuck caliper pistons. The rear discs will get super hot and worn pads. I serviced the brake myself after each brake problem. Now this rear brake problems were with both cars. It was driving me crazy.
Then one day I decided to install a complete new caliper seal kit replacing all the caliper seals.

Finally all the rear caliper problems was gone.
The problems was the caliper seals.
Poorly made seal.

Keep caliper pins well lubicated too.

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: Yota100

Could it be that there is junk in the brake lines causing the problem? But what causes calipers to fail? This car just has me so confused.




Debris could act like a ball-valve, so fluid can enter the cylinder but is blocked from leaving, jamming the caliper on.

Debris could physically fill the space behind the piston, so it wont retract, jamming the caliper on.

Debris and/or corrosion between the piston and the cylinder wall (either behind or in front of the seal) could interfere with free movement of the piston, jamming the caliper on.

 

[Trav]

It sound like the lines have been on/off and enough fluid run through the system to flush anything out, its not like there are acorns and leaves running through it.
No Idea what part of the US you are in it could be just seized pins if your in the rust belt.

 

[Garak]

Trav, I can't speak for other Infiniti options, but my G37 OEM calipers had really garbage metal for the pistons. The pistons were the only component of the braking system that had any rust on them at all, and that's including the bleed screws! The pistons were rusted to heck, and wouldn't retract worth a hoot.

 

[Trav]

My 06 M35 has had no problems with caliper pistons but it did with pins so it seems model related. IIRC he said 2 years since it was opened and fluid replaced, that's not long. He needs to check it out.

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: Trav
It sound like the lines have been on/off and enough fluid run through the system to flush anything out, its not like there are acorns and leaves running through it.
No Idea what part of the US you are in it could be just seized pins if your in the rust belt.


I'd doubt anyone flushed the lines while they had nothing on the ends, because, AFAIK, no one does that, not even me, though I might next time there's an opportunity.

As I understand it, people mostly flush to change brake fluid, and on a rebuilt system they flush (bleed would be a more appropriate term) to fill it and to displace air.

Flushing an intact system does not get rid of debris. It just forces it into the calipers.

Doesn't mean the pins or slides aren't a problem, but IIRC the OP has cleaned and lubed them with some pretty fancy ceramic stuff.

 

[Garak]

No, that isn't long at all. The pins were okay on mine.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: Ducked


Doesn't mean the pins or slides aren't a problem, but IIRC the OP has cleaned and lubed them with some pretty fancy ceramic stuff.


The ceramic lubes seem to be the ones that have the most issues, it tends to dry out and stick. Its a lot easier for him to check this out than for us to diagnose it from the armchair.

 

[Rand]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Originally Posted By: Ducked


Doesn't mean the pins or slides aren't a problem, but IIRC the OP has cleaned and lubed them with some pretty fancy ceramic stuff.


The ceramic lubes seem to be the ones that have the most issues, it tends to dry out and stick. Its a lot easier for him to check this out than for us to diagnose it from the armchair.


that Permatex 24125 Ceramic Extreme Brake Parts

is known to swell some rubber.. IIRC it was pretty confirmed on hondas

do these calipers have the rubber slide pin type?

For example my subaru has one all metal and one with the rubber on the pin per caliper.
And certain lubes will cause these to swell.

Sil-Glyde will not swell them up.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: Rand
do these calipers have the rubber slide pin type?


It looks like they use one on each caliper.

 

[Yota100]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I removed the caliper, cleaned and greased the required areas but, I wasn't able to fully compress the piston back in. So I am going to replace the caliper.

Do you have any opinion on what brand I should use? Out of Rockauto's offerings I'm thinking about RAYBESTOS, NASTRA or ACDELCO.

 

[Trav]

See my first post. Nastra