Got a low pad wear light today when I was sitting at light. Replaced the pads last Jan. so when I got home I checked. The car started to pull a little bit to the right a few weeks ago so I started on that side. When I got the car up on a jack I could feel the rt. side was dragging and sure enough the pads on that side need to be replaced. I ordered the parts today including a rebuild kit and a new hose since my indy explained it could be a hose or a caliper and how to tell the difference.
Thanks to an old post by Peter on the correct way to do a caliper rebuild. I have not done one on a MB for at least 10 years and it's nice to have some hands on guidence in front of me.
As an example of how much you can save buying parts here...
Pads (pagid) 40.00 Dealer 48.00
rebuild kit 11.36 Dealer 32.50
brake hose 12.03 Dealer 28.50
Shipping (overnight) 9.85 Dealer 0.00

The mcparts places had the pads but not anything OEM. Could order the rebuild kit and the hoses but the price would have been higher. Bottom line is FastLane will have the parts here tomorrow by around noon and I can get this job done in a couple of hours including flushing the system. Gotta love this site!

OK, I'll bite.

How do you tell the difference between a caliper that is binding or a brake hose that is not fully open? I understand that both can cause a slight pull to one side.

Thanks.

Crack open the bleeder, if the caliper backs off it's the hose, if not it's the caliper.

I just got a Power Bleeder to flush all the brake systems - very handy device and I recommend it.

In several cases I have found a blocked bleeder screw. One case blocked from the inside and one case from the outside due to the car not having the rubber bleed screw covers. If you don't get fluid flow when bleeding be sure to take the bleeder screw all the way out.

In another case that I have yet to put time into to diagnose, I can't get any fluid flow with the bleed screw entirely out. Cracking the connection where the metal line meets the rear flexible hose, there is flow. So, I have new rear brake hoses on order. My brother mentioned that there might be a blockage inside the caliper at the hose connection - but I see that as less likely than the ORIGINAL hose going bad (on a 1982 300D).

I think I have driven the car for two years with no brakes on the passenger rear! The symptom consistent with that is a feeling that the car shifts slightly when you let your foot off the brake after braking to a stop. Sort of like spring tension being wound up on one side of the rear but not the other. But in general stops the car appeared to have excellent brakes.

As a comment, I have observed that the 1982 300D has front caliper pistons on both sides, while the 1987 300D has a larger piston on just one side. Interesting design tradeoff involved I'm sure.

The 1987 just got new calipers on the front because the driver's side started dragging, enough to smoke. I attempted a rebuild but when the piston popped out the chrome had tiny blisters on one side and scruff marks on the other. Just the tiniest group of blisters is enough to ruin it apparently. I picked off one of the chrome blisters and it had rust under it. Did new front brake hoses there too.

So, with all this brake work, I can strongly recommend the Power Bleeder (do a Google search for it) and it is available directly from the manufacturer - also they have great deals on premium brake fluid - like ATE Super Racing Fluid (blue or gold - alternate colors when flushing annually so you can see when its done by the color change).

Ken300D

I bought one a couple of years ago. Sure beats pumping the pedal to bleed. Have always heard doing that can lead to master cylinder failure if it's older. Power bleeder lets one person do the job in no time.

replaced the bad caliper today with a rebuild for $63.00. Car is happy. However I went ahead and flushed the system again even though the fluid looked fine because of the amount of crap I found inside the caliper I tried to rebuild. While doing this I noticed the left rear pads were very low. I replaced these in 6/2000 and figured rear pads should last at least 2x the front. Since the rt. rear were still over 1/2 there I asume the left side is also sticking or was sticking. The dust boots have a couple of holes on this side and from what I can see the pistons have some nasty looking rust on them. Sooooo I guess it's time to replace at least one rear caliper and could be time to replace both. This is a very easy job so not a big deal to do but sucks this time of year as I have other things to pay for right now. Still much less than a car payment so I can't complain to much