Audi 80 rear calliper seized.

**rhencullen1989** · 11-02-2008,10:58 PM

Hi all, it seems that the handbrake mechanism on the rear callipers has started to cause problems, basically the arm does not return to its stop on the near side rear calliper, even with the cables removed. You can pull the arms back by hand, its just that the springs are not man enough on their own. I put replacement springs on from a scrapper, but i beleive the handbrake shaft in the calliper is getting tight (probably going rusty). Now about 10 years ago i stripped the rear calliper on my quattro coupe, it had the same problem, i cleaned the shaft and put in a new shaft seal and that cured the problem. Basically what i need to know, is there a quick fix for this problem without stripping the calliper completely, i remember it being a bit of a job before, anyone fixed theirs without stripping the calliper. If not are the handbrake shaft seals readily available.

paul20v · 13-02-2008,01:46 AM

hi
if its the caliper with the 10mm bolt that the return spring anchors on then there is a fix , if you remove the spring then the 10mm bolt you can work the shaft out about 10mm may be a bit more and clean the shaft with wet and dry and wd40 then put some calliper grease on it and work it back in the trick is not to ignore them regular grease and work them with the cables off every now and then , also a bit extra travel on the leaver and arms is good as it lets them move more lots of people over tighten the cables and they sieze from lack of movement
hope this helps

**rhencullen1989** · 13-02-2008,08:07 AM

Thanks for that, i will have a look at the spring anchor bolt as soon as possible, its a 1990 g reg audi 80 2.0 litre sport, it has the 8 valve 3A engine, pretty sure its the girling caliper. The last caliper i did i managed to remove the piston, then the helical shaft which was held in with a circlip deep in the caliper, the handbrake part works by pushing up on a little pin on an off centre drilling in the handbrake shaft, will mine be the same, and can i get new seals or will it be a case of matching a seal to the inside and outside diameters? Thanks.

paul20v · 13-02-2008,08:15 PM

hi
in all honesty i have never pulled one apart as fitting kits and seals etc are getting harder to get hold of ,they want you to buy a new caliper , i would personally match the seal up when removed you know you have the right one then ,
sorry could not be more help
paul

**Dox** · 14-02-2008,12:44 AM

Are they the same as MK2 Golf Gti rear callipers with 38mm pistons? The externals dirt seal under the lever is rubber / steel / ring rubber and allows water, dirt and debris into the calliper. The lever shaft has a machined hole, a cast iron torpedo shaped rod sits in this machined hole and pushes against the handbrake pushrod that acts upon the back of the piston.

The shaft, cast iron torpedo and the back of the pushrod live in grease that ends up a congealed rusty mess and stops the lever returning to its stop. If you don't clear out the congealed mess the handbrake will seize again in a short period of time.

I got the lever seals from Brake Engineering in Wrexham (they needed a bit of persuasion) and 4 years after the rebuild the levers worked perfectly.

Another MK2 Golf trick was to fit stronger external return springs from a Ford Scorpio.

HTH

**scotty33** · 14-02-2008,12:48 AM

It should be something like this inside:

http://20v.org/brakere.htm

I would try Paul's suggestion first, easy fix if it works?!

The ford springs were NLA when I tried 2 years ago...

If all else fails, new aluminium calipers for 102 euros:

http://sites.internet.lu/folders/cus...RS2.htm#BRAKES

**Dox** · 14-02-2008,01:31 AM

http://www.brake-eng.com/

The external Scorpio springs maybe available above.

The poor seal I refer to above is numbered 4 on the link Scotty33 gives

External spring is No2
Lever shaft is No3
Torpedo is No13
The pushrod is No15

**rhencullen1989** · 14-02-2008,01:16 PM

Thanks very much for the excellent info, the stripped caliper looks the same as the quattro one i did years ago. Some bearing manufacturers also stock a good range of seals. What grease would you recommend for the handbrake shaft, copper grease or proper brake grease. Cheers.