Xantia 1995 2.0i rear brakes - LHM leak

tignes98 · Post by **tignes98** » 17 Jan 2005, 19:39

On removing the nearside rear wheel to find the source of an LHM leak I found a horrible mess.
The brake pads, supposedly renewed 18 months ago, had worn right down almost beyond their backing plates. The disc is about the thickness of a cd and in a real mess. The caliper piston is very exposed.
The leak/drip appears to come from somewhere in the caliper. I've not had enough daylight yet to take it off and check it.
New pads and discs all round are on their way.
Bearing in mind the extended wear on the pads and disc, is there an obvious source for the leak - piston sealing ring?
Is there a rear brake service kit?
Any help appreciated as I only have a weekend to sort this out.
Cheers.

BrianM · Post by **BrianM** » 17 Jan 2005, 19:59

When I got my Xantia ( in a poor state ) I had the same problem. The piston has come out too far allowing the lhm to leak out. The two bolts that secure the caliper to the trailing arm will also split the caliper so you can get the piston back in evenly. When the caliper splits you will see that there is only a small hole with an o-ring for the fluid to pass between the two halves. When the caliper is off, make sure to clean the trailing arm face well and the back of the caliper, this is where the corrosion builds up, pushing the caliper and the disc out of line.

Post by **RichardW** » 17 Jan 2005, 20:04

If you have a closer look, you will probably find that the cliper is twisted because of a build of up 'rust' between the caliper and the rear arm. You may find that one of the mounting bolts has snapped allowing the caliper to separate slighly hence the leak (the caliper is in two halves, and there is no lug to hold them together, the LHM is only sealed by a small rubber seal in the port. I did the pipes, pads and discs, including removing the calipers and cleaning them up (including sawing the pads out and drifting out the pad retaining bolts as they well rusted in!) in a weekend. I don't know if the seal between the two halves is available, but I suspect the end cut off a 6.5mm LHM pipe seal will not be far off. You will be in for some work if you have snapped a caliper retaining bolt, ad getting the end out might be tricky, and the bolts are some odd configuration - but they do go right through the rear arm, so a bolt through would probably be possible if the arm was drilled out to suit. Apply plenty of heat and penetrating fluid to all the parts before applying the spanner!! Unfortunately, you are not really going to know how bad things are till you get it adrift. Note if you break a pipe, fitting new ones is not nice - what ever you do in that case though, get copper ones, as you will not be able to get the steel ones in without dismantling half the car!