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[Andy B]

My daughter has a 61 plate Yaris. The other week she asked me to look at it as she was just about metal to metal on the pads on one side at the front.
The pads on the other side had loads of life in them as they were not moving in the caliper/carrier. Cleaned it all up & fitted new pads.
Yesterday she phoned to say the same wheel hub was red hot so am assuming a seized caliper. I can't believe the huge price difference for a new caliper. The dealers are around £180, a local motor factor is quoting even more but then there are calipers available for less than £40

I knew I should have let her take her car to a garage when she first needed pads 

[Shackeng]

Assuming a standard caliper, with no damage, a good clean, then seal and fluid replacement should fix it a lot cheaper.

[Nick W]

Assuming a standard caliper, with no damage, a good clean, then seal and fluid replacement should fix it a lot cheaper.

Not worth the time if a calliper is <£40

[Shackeng]

True, it’s just the meanness in me. Calipers are basically such simple devices.

[Varche]

That isn’t meaness, more like thrift. A bit more of that and you could pass stage1 of entry to Yorkshire. 

[STEMO]

That isn’t meaness, more like thrift. A bit more of that and you could pass stage1 of entry to Yorkshire. 

Steady on, Varche. Stage 1 took me about five years.

[YZ250]

Did the piston back off ok when you put the new pads in, and was it free on the sliders. I would open the bleed on the offending caliper as I was levering the pads apart just to check that it is indeed seized. If you can open the pads with the bleed open, after closing the bleed I would press the brake pedal to see if the pads went back ok. I would then use a tube in a bottle or eezibleed to make sure that fluid was passing through the abs pump and out of that caliper. I know this is obvious to you but I recently misdiagnosed, on initial inspection, a seized caliper, which on my second inspection turned out to be a faulty abs pump not letting the fluid through. This was different though, as the left hand caliper wasn't working at all.
I found Brakes International in Rochdale very competitive for remanufactured/rebuilt calipers and their customer service was spot on.

Edit:
Just reread this part of your post so it makes the checks above, regarding pumping fluid through the abs pump and out of the caliper bleed, even more relevant.

.........
The pads on the other side had loads of life in them as they were not moving in the caliper/carrier. ......

[annihilator]

I freed off the front caliper on a neighbours seldom used Rover 400 a few months ago and it's now seized again so went on good old eBay and got a complete new caliper for £22.

[Nick W]

True, it’s just the meanness in me. Calipers are basically such simple devices.

That's especially true of sliding ones. But if one has actually seized, then I find spending the time on one to be worth more than the money. I would also recommend buying new sliders as they rarely come with a cheap calliper, and could be the real problem. Cleaning them up is only for a car that you're not going to keep

[Andy B]

Did the piston back off ok when you put the new pads in, and was it free on the sliders. I would open the bleed on the offending caliper as I was levering the pads apart just to check that it is indeed seized. If you can open the pads with the bleed open, after closing the bleed I would press the brake pedal to see if the pads went back ok. I would then use a tube in a bottle or eezibleed to make sure that fluid was passing through the abs pump and out of that caliper. I know this is obvious to you but I recently misdiagnosed, on initial inspection, a seized caliper, which on my second inspection turned out to be a faulty abs pump not letting the fluid through. This was different though, as the left hand caliper wasn't working at all.
I found Brakes International in Rochdale very competitive for remanufactured/rebuilt calipers and their customer service was spot on.

Edit:
Just reread this part of your post so it makes the checks above, regarding pumping fluid through the abs pump and out of the caliper bleed, even more relevant.

.........
The pads on the other side had loads of life in them as they were not moving in the caliper/carrier. ......

I did move the piston back quite easily when I fitted the pads, & the sliders were all free to move (and greased up on assembly) but i get your point. A seal kit from Brakes Int is only a few quid so I've ordered them already so hopefully if that's all that's needed I'll have the bits to sort it.

Brakes Int are only down the road from me. 

[Andy B]

Assuming a standard caliper, with no damage, a good clean, then seal and fluid replacement should fix it a lot cheaper.

Not worth the time if a calliper is <£40

but is a £40 caliper cheap because it's shite? Or is a £180 caliper 4 times better? 

[johnnydog]

Did the piston back off ok when you put the new pads in, and was it free on the sliders. I would open the bleed on the offending caliper as I was levering the pads apart just to check that it is indeed seized. If you can open the pads with the bleed open, after closing the bleed I would press the brake pedal to see if the pads went back ok. I would then use a tube in a bottle or eezibleed to make sure that fluid was passing through the abs pump and out of that caliper. I know this is obvious to you but I recently misdiagnosed, on initial inspection, a seized caliper, which on my second inspection turned out to be a faulty abs pump not letting the fluid through. This was different though, as the left hand caliper wasn't working at all.
I found Brakes International in Rochdale very competitive for remanufactured/rebuilt calipers and their customer service was spot on.

Edit:
Just reread this part of your post so it makes the checks above, regarding pumping fluid through the abs pump and out of the caliper bleed, even more relevant.

.........
The pads on the other side had loads of life in them as they were not moving in the caliper/carrier. ......

I did move the piston back quite easily when I fitted the pads, & the sliders were all free to move (and greased up on assembly) but i get your point. A seal kit from Brakes Int is only a few quid so I've ordered them already so hopefully if that's all that's needed I'll have the bits to sort it.

I recently thought the front calipers had seized on an old Triumph 2.5 PI that I was recommissioning after a few years of being off the road, as the pedal application was harder than normal for these cars.. On removal, the pistons were moving fine, but when refitted with new pads, first application of the pedal, the pads were binding. Turned out the flexi hose had collapsed internally allowing brake fluid to pass under pedal pressure, but not returning when the pedal pressure was released.
Two new flexi brake hoses cured the problem.

[YZ250]

I recently thought the front calipers had seized on an old Triumph 2.5 PI that I was recommissioning after a few years of being off the road, as the pedal application was harder than normal for these cars.. On removal, the pistons were moving fine, but when refitted with new pads, first application of the pedal, the pads were binding. Turned out the flexi hose had collapsed internally allowing brake fluid to pass under pedal pressure, but not returning when the pedal pressure was released.
Two new flexi brake hoses cured the problem.

Good point.    This was something I read about when I was searching for the problem on my daughter's car. You can disconnect in-line and reverse flush to check if that is the case.

In my case:
Daughter visits and says that the car is pulling badly to the right, so I suspect lazy or seized left caliper. I jacked up that wheel, turned the wheel while my daughter pressed the brake pedal, and I could still turn the wheel, hence my seized caliper conclusion. I whipped off that wheel and still concluded that the caliper had seized, as the pads could be forced out but wouldn't come back in when I pressed the brake pedal. I must have had it on my mind when I went to bed as I woke up in the early hours and thought, shit, I didn't do a full and proper diagnosis on the system. When I connected a pipe in a bottle with fluid in, no fluid came out of the bleed on that caliper when I pressed the brake pedal. Pedal pressure was rock hard. I then found that this was a very common problem on Corsa's built between 2006 and 2014 and four zillion other people had suffered the same problem. A remanufactured abs pump sorted the problem in this case. 

[Doctor Gollum]

If it has cooked the hub, a new one is in your near future...

[Andy B]

If it has cooked the hub, a new one is in your near future...

that thought had crossed my mind too ....