Help with some diagnostics!

[John Hartman]

yea and even if it is also something else(sometimes there are two or more problems on a car giving the same or similar symptoms), the cam timing is out. 

[CamWeiss]

Well, she lives!

Took me three tries to get the timing spot on, twice with cam gears and then a third when the oil pump was out a cog.

Still have some work to do, I've got a half seized caliper on the left rear; I took it off and put it in the vise to try and retract it but was only partly successful. It came in a bit, but I also bent the handle on the vise!

Driveable... short distances. I'll have to replace that caliper. Also forgot to put in the downpipe gasket, it's sitting on the bench. Idle issues from before remain (no high idle when cold, lacks compensation for power steering/ac/etc) but those aren't new issues. But for now, gotta pack up and move across town and then holidays a couple weeks after that!

Thanks for the advice, guys!

[Rob Armstrong]

Rear calipers spin in. You can't press in.

[CamWeiss]

Damn. Had no idea!

Thanks Rob. I'll take another look.

[John Hartman]

hehehe, yea, lots of rear discs that don't have a seperate "drum in hat" drum style parking brake setup have this setup.

you don't need the special tool, so if you don't want to spend any money, just support the caliper on, say, the hat of the rear disc, and push and turn with a set of strong needle nose pliers.  They don't just spin, turning by itself wont retract them, and pushing by itself won't either, you need to push and spin.

Oh and PS, aren't these rear brakes a pain in the ASS to work on?

[CamWeiss]

Brakes! pfft.... Ain't nothing compared to a timing belt!

I think I prefer the drum-in-hat style of parking brake. These ones are useless! Can barely hold the car on a hill if it's not in gear.

[Rob Armstrong]

I don't know about John but I just used pliers and turned them and they went in on their own. I tried sticking them in the holes and pressing and turning but I couldn't get a good bite. So I just grabed them from the side and turned in. 

[Rob Armstrong]

Loosened  bleeder aswell to make life easier. 

[John Hartman]

no, definately not as hard as a timing belt, but as for brakes, they are really quite a pain, especially compared to others.

Its the one bolt and one slide off pin.  You can't slide that second pin off until you either fight with that one 12mm bolt that holds the cable, or remove the cable at the end of the lever.  If both slide pins had bolts it would be super easy.

Drum in hat seems ok at first, but its a second system that has to be serviced and repaired.


If your parking brake is not holding, something is out of adjustment or not in good shape.  These parking brakes should hold well and all the time.  Another advantage over drum in hat ones.  Those can be not that great at holding even if they are in good shape.  If you adjust it too tight, it will drag.

[CamWeiss]

Mine have never held well. Both cables are new(ish), I think the adjustment at the splitter is good (would have played with it when I replaced the cables), and the pads are good as well.
My e30 has drum-in-hat brakes, and they initiate slides... er, hold the car... very well.

I tried again to move the seized caliper this afternoon, and I could not get it to budge. I think I'll just go buy a new one, it's only $110. Damn Fenco remans, this one was only five years old. I guess lack of use lately would be a main factor.

[Brett Haviland]

try the beck arnley remans...  i have had better luck.


And dont feel bad about the timing belt marks... i did the same thing the first time i did a belt on a DSM  (about 6 years ago or so when i first installed my 4g63 into my purple colt.... luckily my engine ran decent, and i only noticed a lumpy idle once warmed up... other then that it ran great... i swear it actually had more power like that too hahaha  took me two years of running it like that till i figured out what was going on lol.

[John Hartman]

yea I ran a VW single cam car out a tooth for at least a few months.