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Help! Problems doing brake job

Help, Advice and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's P80 platform cars -- Volvo's 1990s "bread and butter" cars -- powered by the ubiquitous and durable Volvo inline 5-cylinder engine.

1992 - 1997 850, including 850 R, 850 T-5R, 850 T-5, 850 GLT
1997 - 2000 S70, S70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70, V70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70-XC
1997 - 2004 C70

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ccgaudette
Posts: 35
Joined: 13 October 2006
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Location: Surprise, AZ, USA

Post by ccgaudette »

I did the fronts on my 1993 the other week. I don't remember an outboard caliper piston, just an inboard piston.

bobsnow100
Posts: 461
Joined: 18 July 2006
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Post by bobsnow100 »

Usually when they are stuck, I soak it with the pb blaster,let it sit then I put a box wrench on it and give the wrench a real quick whack with a hammer. It is less apt to break the bleeder nipple. Just make sure you're hitting it to loosen and not tighten.

Rule .308
Posts: 26
Joined: 28 October 2006
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Post by Rule .308 »

ccgaudette wrote:I did the fronts on my 1993 the other week. I don't remember an outboard caliper piston, just an inboard piston.
I was wondering the same thing myself but he must be doing the rear brakes where you do have inboard and outboard pads. I suggest that you recheck the work you have done to make sure it is all right. Remove the caliper, remove the new rotor, and take wire brush to the seating surface where the rotor goes and make sure that there is nothing obstructing it from seating flat. Then reinstall your rotor and caliper, compress your pistons with a large screwdriver and then try to put your pads and shims in. You can get such a huge amount of leverage on the pistons with a monster screwdriver and the caliper bolted up that it is really hard to believe that you cannot get the pistons compressed. If it persists in not bottoming out and you cannot get a bleeder screw open you will need to pull the calipers and either overhaul them yourself or replace them with rebuilt units. No amount of PB Blaster is going to free a stuck caliper and if it does you will need to rebuild it and flush the system anyhow.

Mark
Mark

Wolverine Fan
Posts: 42
Joined: 20 March 2006
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Location: Janesville, WI

Post by Wolverine Fan »

Sorry I forgot to mention, I am doing the rear brakes.

Thanks for all the responses.

dasapir
Posts: 155
Joined: 24 October 2006
Year and Model: 98 S70 turbo GTL
Location: Indiana

Post by dasapir »

By the way, does anyone take out the bleeder-nipples and apply a small amout of anti-seize to the threads?

I used to have this as a continous problem on my renaults. Finally, after numerous broken bleeder nipples, I removed the nipples one at a time and placed anti-seize lubricant on the threads. The moral: From then on I lived happily ever after (at least I could now bleed the bloody calipers without breaking the bloody bleeder-nipples).

MadeInJapan
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Post by MadeInJapan »

Great idea dasapir!
'98 S70 T5 Emrld Grn Met/Beige Tons of Upgrades Mobil-1
'04 V70 2.5T Red/Taupe Some Upgrades Mobil-1
'07 S40 T5 AWD 6 speed manual! Silver/Black Stage1 Heico & Elevate
'07 S60 2.5T Blue/Taupe- my kid's Volvo

Wolverine Fan
Posts: 42
Joined: 20 March 2006
Year and Model:
Location: Janesville, WI

Post by Wolverine Fan »

Job is now complete and works great. Aside from changing out a water pump on a '76 Monte Carlo when I was (much) younger, this is really the first repair job I have tackled myself.

The instructions were spot on, and the help from the forum was much appreciated.

The only thing I did differently than the instructions posted in the 850 repair area was instead of collapsing the caliper piston with channel locks, I found it much easier to use a medium size C Clamp and slowly tighten. This seemed to be pretty easy.

Thanks again.

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