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I took appart my rear brakes due to excessive squeeling. The pads were new, so I just coated the backs with stop squeel and cleaned everything off good with brake clean. When I first put it back together I did not notice the little o-ring that fits between the two caliper pieces. After i drove the car and realized a serious problem, I pulled it appart again, and found the missing o-ring. I tried bleeding the rear brakes many times and I still have the sponginess that goes with air in the brake lines. I assume that I just got a ton of air from driving with the o-ring missing and it is just going to take more bleeding, but any other thoughts? - could I have damaged something else? or could there be another problem? The squeel is better but still got it somewhat.
Thanks

 

If you had that much air, it's gonna take a lot of bleeding to get rid of it. I don't think air could damage your master cylinder could it? Maybe a break line is bad and is flexing too much?

 

The black rubber piece if that's what you're referring too has nothing to do with getting air in it or not. I drive around without 5 of them I think... You probably didn't bleed the brakes right.

It took me awhile to figure it out as well, but I had a friend come over and he helped.

 

there is a little o-ring between the two halves of the brake caliper. It creates the seal between the halves - hopefully there is only one of them per wheel!
I know how to bleed brakes,and my thought is that I just didnt bleed enough.
I have never dealt with a caliper that came appart like this did - actually made it pretty easy to get the shoes off. I am just wondering if there was anything else to look for.

 

Wait, you took apart the calipers, too? You didn't damage anything if so, but you have to put it back in to seal the two halves together, then re-bleed. If you got air in your MC, it's best that you read the FSM for how to bleed it as well. Air in the MC is the little trickier to get out.

 

i took the 4 bolts off the hold the caliper together to remove the brake shoes.. not sure if there is any other way to remove the shoes. I did reinsert the black o-ring, but I may have gotten air all the way back to the MC. I have done the pump up and bleed method on the caliper I pulled appart, so maybe I did get air all the way back to the MC. How do I find out how to bleed the MC?

 

Brake calipers and shoes??? You mean pads?

According to the FSM, caliper disassembly is not needed to replace the pads. You just need to remove the pad pins, replace pads, then reassemble.

Also, IIRC, brake cleaner can deteriorate rubber parts.

If you got air going back as far as the MC, then you'll also need to properly bleed the ABS pump too. You need some way of modulating the pump with the car not running.

 

yea, i meant pads. I am going to try bleeding them a pile more to see if I can remove the sponginess.

 

Is he talking about the copper crush washer on the brake line?

Bleeding should take a minute to get the air out unless you were replacing a line or sucked air in through your brake reservoir.

 

^^I think he literally took the caliper halves apart. There's some orings sealing the insides.

 

I just read over the FSM since I painted my calipers about 2 months ago and what JSolo said about air in the Master Cylinder and ABS system is what I feared the most. The FSM said that normal bleeding techniques are needed as long as you dont get too much air into the system, but once you get air in the MC you need to go through some other methods to bleed it and the ABS system. Hopefully you did not do that cause it seemed like a major hassle to deal with. Also make sure you read the FSM since the order to bleed your brakes is not the same as most standard cars. Be sure after bleeding your brakes to take a rubber mallet and knock gently on the calipers then do one more round of bleeding on all four (this is straight out of the FSM). I thought it was bullsh*t but did it anyway, glad I did since I released a giant bubble. My car was good to go after that. good luck

 

thanks - where do i get a copy of the FSM? I tried rebleeding again, and I still got the air. I have done bleeding lots of times in the past but I am not sure what is different about a G37.
All this freakin hassle over squeaky brakes!!

 

Index of /FSM/G37

 

What do you expect? You took apart the caliper halves, reassembled them with out the o-rings, drove around dumping brake fluid till the system went dry.
You put yours, and other peoples lives at risk driving on public streets like that.

There's still a problem.
Eat some crow, call at tow truck, have them take your car to a competent mechanic. Call it a lesson learned.

I don't judge people, but lack of research was just a plain case of ignorance on your part.

 

i mean no disrespect, but this wasn't necessary and contributes nothing.