Hello everyone. I've been stuck on this issue for about a week or two now after tearing my brakes down. Heres the story. I attempted to use a C clamp forgetting that is was a screw type piston (which I read honestly doesn't matter on the Fiero) so I tried using vice grips to compress it. It kept turning, but not going in. So at that point, I tried cramming it on my rotor with the new pads, but due to the piston being out, it wouldn't slide over, and I couldn't figure out the noise/vibration dampening clip and how to put it back on. I checked to make sure the parking brake was fully released, it was. At this point, there was fluid leaking from where the parking brake lever and outer seal sat. I went on to purchase the rear brake compressor tool, and it came yesterday. I tried to use it but then had the same issue. Then I noticed something while messing with the parking brake and turning it. When the piston turns, the brake engages when I turn it. At this point, I was not in a good mood and regretting even touching the brakes. And now I have a caliper sitting in my living room, and the brake line draining the contaminated fluid on my driveway. Can anyone help me out with this, be it a rebuilding guide, or some tips to fix it? I don't have a whole lot of money right now, so I can't get a new caliper. Thank you in advance!

New seals and pistons are available but your best option is get a rebuilt caliper at your local parts store. Do not hand your old caliper in till you get the new one installed, some times they have the wrong brackets on them. Thread about new pistons: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/140716.html
Go to the Ogres cave, do a search, plenty of info about rebuilding calipers. The seals go on the cylinder rather than the piston. Seemed pretty easy.

quote Originally posted by wftb: New seals and pistons are available but your best option is get a rebuilt caliper at your local parts store. Do not hand your old caliper in till you get the new one installed, some times they have the wrong brackets on them. Thread about new pistons: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/140716.html Go to the Ogres cave, do a search, plenty of info about rebuilding calipers. The seals go on the cylinder rather than the piston. Seemed pretty easy.

The worst part is I can tell this is a reman one too. The piston design is different, so I might have been a bad reman as well.

Rear Pistons are pushed in by C clamp but you need to remove the level and cover the parking brake screw.
See my Cave, Clamp Method notes and rest of section.

DIY "rebuilding" the rear often fails now or soon because rear piston was never made to rebuild. Many "Store Rebuilt" have a long history of problems because of same but many tried and failed or just reused a piston and hope need fail right away. Some new rear rebuilds are better and have long warranty. Get from AZone or elsewhere locally.

Seal kits for the rear may help IF you just have a bad seal like hidden seal for parking brake screw.

Yes, You can get a Seal kit to "Rebuild" the front but many have no idea and often create more problems like people trying steel pistons, "honing the bore" or worse both.
Honing w/ aluminum bodies often just ruins the part and rebuild them anyway. You don't need hone most iron bodies either because nearly all Disk pistons do not contact the bores.

You need new washers for hose ends. Is very likely you need new hoses. See https://www.fiero.nl/forum/F...HTML/129208.html#p27 Raybestos PG Plus and some others use most better SAE J1401 hose.

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave

quote Originally posted by theogre: Rear Pistons are pushed in by C clamp but you need to remove the level and cover the parking brake screw. See my Cave, Clamp Method notes and rest of section. DIY "rebuilding" the rear often fails now or soon because rear piston was never made to rebuild. Many "Store Rebuilt" have a long history of problems because of same but many tried and failed or just reused a piston and hope need fail right away. Some new rear rebuilds are better and have long warranty. Get from AZone or elsewhere locally. Seal kits for the rear may help IF you just have a bad seal like hidden seal for parking brake screw. Yes, You can get a Seal kit to "Rebuild" the front but many have no idea and often create more problems like people trying steel pistons, "honing the bore" or worse both. Honing w/ aluminum bodies often just ruins the part and rebuild them anyway. You don't need hone most iron bodies either because nearly all Disk pistons do not contact the bores. You need new washers for hose ends. Is very likely you need new hoses. See https://www.fiero.nl/forum/F...HTML/129208.html#p27 Raybestos PG Plus and some others use most better SAE J1401 hose.

Would you trust Rockauto if it is cheaper than Autozone? And I am probably going to tear down the caliper just for my own reference. And I do not need hoses since those were replaced back probably in 2017 to early 2018 from the previous owner, who also got a reman caliper, which is the broken one. The previous owner also did the hard lines too, so those are fine. But I will probably need a brake fluid flush since the rear fluid reservoir is full of crystal clear contaminated fluid. So if you have any tips on doing a flush as well, please send them my way.

May seem cheap then add high shipping to many parts make this not a good plane.
Also RA gets parts from Anyplace and getting them to honor any warranty have many problems even if the honor them at all.
If you have Core charge too then you pay to ship and hope you get money back in days. Small core charge then RA hopes you won't bother to pay to ship the core.
Look at RA ship weight then USPS UPS etc to see rough price to return anything.

Even buy online, AZ and some others stores will handle core and warranty returns. Just Read AZ, advanceautoparts.com, and others return policies.
Plus often buy online gets many discounts like currently AZ next day ship orders over $35 and SPRING20 gets 20% off $100 and up. And can often use codes many times at many online stores.
Plus Most AZ Store brands are Cardone Wells and other well known good quality parts.

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 04-16-2019).]