# sticking caliper



## hans747 (Jul 14, 2005)

Hey guys,

The other day, i noticed that my front right caliper is sticking (symptoms: truck pulls hard to the right but releases slowly after a while of driving or turning), and there's the smell of cooked brake pad after i park). The two things that will stick a caliper are usually a bad brake caliper or a collapsed rubber brake hose. My truck is a 1996 with 168k miles, so it could be either culprit.

Is there any test i can do to diagnose which problem it is? I hate throwing parts at the truck that it doesn't need (I wouldn't want it getting spoiled).


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## Grug (Aug 20, 2009)

I'm thinkin' if you bled the brakes at the stuck caliper and had a nice healthy stream of brake fluid when you opened the bleeder valve; you could probably rule out a collapsed rubber line. 

If however you bled the caliper and got only a marginal amount of brake fluid, then I'd start to think the line might be the culprit. Kinda' hard to define what a healthy stream of brake fluid would be as opposed to a marginal amount.

When was the last time you changed the pads in that caliper?


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## hans747 (Jul 14, 2005)

I'm pretty sure the last time i changed those brake pads was 4 years (about 10k miles) ago. I don't drive the much anymore except for weekends, and when there's now on the ground.


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## nissan-p/u (Sep 9, 2006)

pull the caliper off and clean and lube the sliders and that should solve your problem i had the same thing happen to me and i did that and the brakes worked fine after


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## SPEEDO (Jun 9, 2003)

just make sure you use high temp lube... I know Nissan makes this gold looking grease, I hit up my local dealer and a tech gave me a little..


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## zanegrey (Dec 5, 2005)

when my caliper sticks i go get a shot of penicillin...


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## hans747 (Jul 14, 2005)

Thanks for the advice, guys. I took the wheel off yesterday, and wow... The boot on the caliper had come loose and packed up with a winter's worth of road salt and sand. The caliper piston was so rusty that it couldn't retract back in. Bought a rebuilt one for $31 at Napa, replaced the pads, and made sure everything was well greased. She's a happy truck again.


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## zanegrey (Dec 5, 2005)

thanks for the update....


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