Yep! Brake cylinder was leakin’ (Post #126) 1/19/2009

Not my exact one, but as close a picture as I could find
I changed the oil today on the Range Rover Classic. It was past due. I also gave her a run down the street. I was quickly harkened back to the days of my youth. The growl from the steering pump reminded me of my 1973 Ford Maverick Grabber. It was always leaking steering fluid. And once the pump was ruined it didn’t matter if you had fluid in it or not, it still growled. Why it never occurred to me to swap it out is still a mystery.

So I checked the reservoir and sure enough it was very, very low. I filled it up. I also checked the brake fluid reservoir. I could not believe how low it was. I had only noticed it puddling up on the drive way this week.

So I pulled her into the wife’s side of the garage and got the left (driver’s side) rear tire off. I proceeded to pull the caliper and this is what I found.

As you can see in the picture the seal has slipped out. The ring around the outside should sit flush to the caliper. This seal must have been leaking for quite awhile. The grime was pretty heavy.

I pulled the seal and cleaned the ring and groove for the seal with the wire wheel on the end of the Dremel tool. I also cleaned the outside of the caliper with some brake cleaner. I forgot how good this stuff was at removing paint and soon the acid etching gray I sprayed on there during the restore was coming off. So I blew everything off with the compressor to stop the mess. As I have done this job about a million times it was pretty easy. Actually I have only done this about 6 times. As with the last repair on the calipers I’m hoping the seal holds this time.

I buttoned everything up and gave her a test drive. She stopped when I pressed on the brake. So I have that going for me. I’ll let you know if it doesn’t hold.