The left rear brake caliper in my 230CE seems to stick from time to time and I was wondering if I should just replace it or could it be a worn out brake hose. It shares most of the driveline components as a 240D so parts availability is of no issue. Has anyone had a similar experience?

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

I would bet it has suffered from some corrosion, you could try to rebuild it along with its brother on the other side, but replace it if you find damage due to corrosion.

whatever you do with brakes you do in pairs....

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Not MB, but I have a 80 Chevy K10 that I was convinced had a bad caliper. replacing it twice didn't help at all. replacing the front hoses fixed it completely. Now, I'm a believer.... Hey, wasn't that a tune by The Monkeys?

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

Swollen lines tend to be more consistant than every once in a while.

And any mechanic will tell you there are plenty of reasons you do brake work in pairs....Rotors, pads, calipers.....always pairs.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Funnily enough I was talking to my friend about calipers a couple of hours ago. He runs a shop that specializes in European autos, and has my 300SD in for a few things.

My front calipers were dragging and he's going to replace them with rebuilt "loaded calipers" from WorldPac - his parts place. They include pads and are around $130 each, which I thought wasn't a bad price. He's also doing the flex hoses all round the car, with something this old I'm not going to take any chances on when they were last done.

Kevin

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'85 300SD

I had a sticky caliper on the passenger side of my wagon. They've got a different caliper than the sedans- so I found a wagon and pulled a caliper. same problem later. Bought a set of and installed the third caliper with new line on that side and the problem seemed to go away- but had brake loss once since then-that was the symptom. Lost power brakes, but had manual if my description is correct. The sticky caliper was heating the rim and fluid to the boiling point and thus I lost fluid pressure and brake power. Problem seems gone after the hose change.

Easy to diagnose if you can jack the car when you know it's sticking -- just open the bleeder valve. If the pads release, it's the hose. If they stay stuck, it's the caliper.

If the car is more than 15 years old, replace the brake hoses as insurance, they are inexpensive. Caliper rebuilds by 200,000 miles isn't extreme, either, particularly if you've had a pad run too thin. the amount of crud that accumulates in the calipers is amazing

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

The caliper didn't seem to stick all the time but when it did it would cause a loud hum very much like when you blow on the neck of a bottle. The hum would go away when the brakes were tapped. I've had the caliper off a few times and it could be easily retracted by prying on the pads. I've even applied some grease on the sliding parts of the caliper frame but with no change. I've almost suspected the wheel bearing to be at fault but that would more likely cause a constant noise which it doesn't do. I injected some grease into the bearing just in case anyway. I replaced the axle shafts as well since they were in bad shape (rubber cracked and leaking grease). I was amazed how easy a job it was.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

Time for new brake hoses, they are cheap. Check the retration of the pads, you should see them visibly move back when the pedal is pushed down and released. Very small movement, but they should come away from the rotor.

If not, rebuild or swap, the seal is getting hard and no longer pulling the pads back. This will cause them to drag and generate the hum from differential loading on the rear wheels.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

Makes total sense. I'll be ordering some new brake hoses first and then if that doesn't take care of it, a rebuild of the calipers will be next.
Thanks Peter!

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012

I pulled the rear calipers apart and found that the left rear caliper was full of gunk and the right one had some plugging of one of the orifices. I replaced all of the flex hoses in additon to rebuilding the calipers. The noise has dissappeared for now and I've been driving the car for most of the week. I also became a firm believer of changing the brake fluid as MB suggests. I purged the entire system and now have clean brake fluid flowing through the system. The old fluid was dark and looked a bit thick.

__________________
DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012