Cracked caliper @ bleeder screw!?!?
03-23-2002, 08:00 PM
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Racer
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Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Princeton, NJ
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Cracked caliper @ bleeder screw!?!?
Well I was working on my ~other~ car this morning, a '95 Lexus SC400. I was planning to change out the brake lines and use my new pressure bleeder for the first time to finish off the job.
Everything went OK with the brake line replacement. While bleeding the brakes, I thought that everything was OK. However, when my assistant applied pressure to the brake pedal to check the fittings, I noticed a leak near the front right caliper.
I just assumed that the bleeder screw was a little loose, so I tightened it some. When this didn't stop the leak, I took a closer look and to my horror I saw that the caliper housing itself had developed a stress fracture near the base of the bleeder screw! <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" /> I really didn't think that I had tightened it too much (I wasn't using a torque wrench but who really does for this job?) Needless to say the fracture was so great that the system would not seal properly. I ended up having the car towed to the dealer for repair.
I know this is slightly OT (Lexus vs. Porsche), but has anyone had a similar problem with the Brembo brakes? The SC400 has single-piston floating calipers, much less "beefy" than the four-piston fixed calipers on my '86 951. I got a quote for the OEM replacement: $400 just for the caliper. That's more than a brand new 928 S4 caliper from Porsche!! I would do the work myself but my 951 is currently on jackstands in the garage, and I need transportation the next few days.
I would like to figure out if I have any chance at saying this was a manufacturing defect vs. a direct result of my work. The extended warranty ended last year, so my only hope is to convince them that the part itself was defective from the factory.
Any thoughts here? Sorry I don't have any pics yet...I had other things on my mind this AM.
Everything went OK with the brake line replacement. While bleeding the brakes, I thought that everything was OK. However, when my assistant applied pressure to the brake pedal to check the fittings, I noticed a leak near the front right caliper.
I just assumed that the bleeder screw was a little loose, so I tightened it some. When this didn't stop the leak, I took a closer look and to my horror I saw that the caliper housing itself had developed a stress fracture near the base of the bleeder screw! <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" /> I really didn't think that I had tightened it too much (I wasn't using a torque wrench but who really does for this job?) Needless to say the fracture was so great that the system would not seal properly. I ended up having the car towed to the dealer for repair.
I know this is slightly OT (Lexus vs. Porsche), but has anyone had a similar problem with the Brembo brakes? The SC400 has single-piston floating calipers, much less "beefy" than the four-piston fixed calipers on my '86 951. I got a quote for the OEM replacement: $400 just for the caliper. That's more than a brand new 928 S4 caliper from Porsche!! I would do the work myself but my 951 is currently on jackstands in the garage, and I need transportation the next few days.
I would like to figure out if I have any chance at saying this was a manufacturing defect vs. a direct result of my work. The extended warranty ended last year, so my only hope is to convince them that the part itself was defective from the factory.
Any thoughts here? Sorry I don't have any pics yet...I had other things on my mind this AM.
