I came out on a cold winter morning to find a puddle of brake fluid under the right front tire of my 2005 Honda Element. Upon further inspection, I found the caliper leaking from the piston. In this video I explore the possible causes of this leak as I dissect this caliper.
Thank you for watching!
Special Thanks to TRQ for providing the new calipers in this video. https://www.trqautoparts.com
Front Brake Calipers for Honda Element (red): https://www.1aauto.com/honda-cr-v-element-front-driver-and-passenger-side-2-piece-performance-brake-caliper-set-trq-performance-cla41674/i/1abcs00560/2801252/2005
Brake Calipers for other vehicles: http://1aau.to/m/ETCGbrakes
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Just Plain Weird! I like the way the calipers come with the frame too.
Welcome to the world of disc brakes! Corvettes have been equipped with disc brakes since 1965! As long as you use quality pads and brake fluid, they are superior. One National brand of brake fluid I used gave the feeling my car was suffering with serious brake fade in the Sierra foothills. Better brake fluid fixed that problem.
Thanks for content. Always happy to see new videos from you.
It’s surprising to see so much moisture damage. Is that poor design, or very very extreme weather conditions where you live?
Saw the new upload, got the coffee ready. Time to watch, thanks Eric!
Moisture from condensation, combined with single digit temperatures making the seal stiff… Now put the sealing edge on a tiny little rust pit in the piston… Heck yeah, that'll get you a one time leak.
Little note on holding the brake pedal down. It can be a good idea to pull the fuse for the brake lights if it will be pressed for an extended period of time. Other than battery drain, they can pull a good amout of current and generate a good bit of heat at connections. Depending on vehicle the circuit might not have been designed with the intention of dissipating the heat from extended illumination.
Probably not as much of an issue with LED, but definitely something to keep in mind with incandescents.
These extreme cold snaps could "shrink" the seals. We've hit single digits here in Oklahoma and a few times i had a couple coolant leaks that fixed themselves
Piston shrank several thousands in the very cold. So did the caliper and the seal. All together, just enough to leak until it warmed up. Could test in a freezer.
I think maybe the seal was worn just enough that when it got cold and shrunk a bit it started leaking. The rust spot was probably just in the right position on the seal for this to happen and that's why it went away with heat and use.
I see this many times a year when the temperature gets below 10 degrees they will leak. I think the seal shrinks causing a leak. Then it heats up and goes away. The same thing happens to radiator hoses transmission cooler lines and power steering hoses
Most people dont inspect a puddle and leak until it is bad. You caught it leaking before most would. It would have been a big leak eventually.
lube the seal ring and boot with silicone grease, if you lube them with brake fluid it will rust the picton or cylinder like happened to you
Eric for spring/summer you need to bring back the strap sandals and the let’s wrap shirt! You can probably tell how long I’ve been a viewer 😂
Try speedi bleed brake kit. They have honda specific master cylinder adapter and it fits like a dream. No other brake bleeder brand has the honda specific adapter fitment like speedi bleed does. With speedi bleed my brake bleeding job has become super convenient.
How many brake fluid changes had old calipers seen during those 5 years?
Welcome back Eric I always enjoy watching your channel I don’t know why I didn’t get a notification for your new video watching from South Africa
Autozone came up first in my search for honda element calipers. In the sponsored it was detroit axle. Google is notorious for censorship now and altering search results. I would surmise you searched while logged in. They saw that you went to 1A Auto before and that's the search results they tailor to you. That's great but they have been untrustworthy in pushing disinformation sites such as those that support the Iies of the pIandemic
Eric, you know better than to let your ex-girlfriends change your blinker fluid! Now you know how it got into your brake lines…
🤣👍
Who is TRQ? Strange not to keep OEM NISSIN calipers. Sandblast+ powder-coating and will be fine next 5 years.
My 2020 Pilot had a fluid leak on the rear driver wheel. I didn't think it was the OEM factory caliper, assumed it was the axle boot or rear differential.. After watching this video, it seems that it was the issue. We've had warm rain in the daytime and freezing temps in the night time in the northeast. I'm pretty confident it's the same issue as yours. Had a decent sized puddle for one night and never happened again. Thanks for the video.
Why paint calipers?
Extreme temperatures could cause lots of condensation that froze. Enough to cause the leak?
I'm assuming the reason Mitivac doesn't offer a cap for Hondas is the same reason Motive products doesn't offer one: it's not that they don't care about Hondas, it's that they were unsuccessful in developing a cap that would pop right onto the reservoir and hold pressure.
Great detective video!
I had a heck of a time bleeding my Element with a vacuum device. I think it was a minivac. The problem is when the bleeder is loosened, the vacuum sucks air around the bleeder threads.
I tried just letting gravity work and drip out awhile.
I agree with your theory. I am just wondering if you replaced the piston and the two seals. Do you think it could have been ok to use? I do understand that replacing the caliper would be better.