the dreaded seized rear calliper! or is it....................

[uncleben]

hi all! right, my golf (an '89 gti 8v) is going for its mot tomorrow, so just to be nice the rear caliper has decided to seize up   its been working fine until friday morning when (after the coldest night so far) i tried to pull away and the drivers rear wheel was locked solid, and the handbrake was all loose and floppy! after a couple of minutes driving (hurting my poor clutch) the calliper slowly released but was very hot! after a couple of miles everything was working as it should. it was fine on my journey home and i left the handbrake off over night and it was fine the next morning (even colder than the night before) but last night i forgot to leave the handbrake off and needless to say this morning the calliper had seized on again doing a quick search i found a reply by rubjohnny saying if the rubber boot on the handbrake cable has perished water can get in and freeze the mechanism up, could this be the problem here as it only seems to happen when very cold and works after a little while as if the heat slowly thaws the calliper out? if not its new calliper time   how easy are the mk4 callipers to fit, are they a straight swap? searching the forum it seems as my golf is post '87 they will be but some say i need to use different hoses/unions etc? any help will be greatly appreciated

[Thom89]

Quite a common problem on many cars in extreme cold. and snow, I would have thought it was just the handbrake freezing...

Thom

[Reasty]

Quite a common problem on many cars it extreme cold. and snow, I would have thought it was just the handbrake freezing...

Thom

+1 this is a common mk2 problem in the freezing weather,two ways around this are 1. dont forget to not put the handbrake on or 2.
(bit more expensive) fit mk4 rear calipers,they will fit straight on but you will need a conversion kit which iirc can be purchased from
goodridge.

[Ben Lessani]

Usually the cables themselves that freeze on.

I just had to suffice with leaving the h/b off and leaving it in gear and carrying a couple of bricks around with me over winter!

[the_stink]

This is pretty much what i experienced this morning! although it was the passengerside rear wheel that was siezed! not too fun as it was bloody hard going up the hill next to my house.

So the best way around it is to leave in gear with the handbrake off?

[Ben Lessani]

This is pretty much what i experienced this morning! although it was the passengerside rear wheel that was siezed! not too fun as it was bloody hard going up the hill next to my house.

So the best way around it is to leave in gear with the handbrake off?

If you don't live on a hill, yes

Otherwise, its a case of replacing the cables and perhaps the callipers - depending on which is at fault.

[The Mighty Elvi]

I had this problem.  I brushed all the crap off and out of it and lubed up the spring and cable.  Then gave it a fair whack with the MK1 Persuader.

Works now.

 

[the_stink]

the coul-de-sac i live in is flat so no worries there hahah

[rubjonny]

if the handbrake is floppy, its the cable(s) that have iced up. look at the rubber boot on the end and i bet its all split. water gets in, freezes and locks the rear calipers. if it happens again, lever the cable off the caliper to release the brakes. replace the cables, dirt cheap and pretty easy to do. the only issue you might have is the cable siezed into the metal tube, if you end up pulling the tubes off the car need to have the carpet up behind the lever to get em back in. not too hard and can do it with only the rear seat out tho fiddly!

[the_stink]

handbrake didnt feel floppy? i dont know might just get the bus to work instead!