The car is a 95 Accord EX
After not driving the car for about 3 weeks (out of town on business), I noticed that the front calipers seemed to have seized up in a closed (clamped) position. So yesterday I decided to work on it. I realized that sure enough, the LEFT Front caliper was tightly clamped onto the Rotor (pretty much destroying it and the pads) and I also noticed that it is VERY difficult to close and open (by hand). When I checked the RIGHT front side, everything seemed normal (normal wear on the pads/rotor) and the piston easily opens and closes by hand.

On the LEFT Front, I also noticed an unusual amount of thick grease coating the inside of my wheels, the Control arm, as well as the back side of the caliper. The RIGHT Front (good side) had no grease anywhere.

So my questions are:
-Is this grease related to my caliper issue? I mean there was a LOT of grease...where did it come from? I noticed that the rubber "accordian flex seals" on the pistons were ruptured, but I didn't see any grease coming from the seals?? I also sprayed a bit of WD40 in there just to see if lubricating the pistons would help opening/closing the caliper a bit easier by hand....It didn't.

-What could be causing the problem? I'm going to try and replace the caliper and then bleed that side, to see if that helps.

Any other suggestions????

 

I doubt the fluid you're seeing is from the caliper, as the caliper locking itself means that it is starved of lubrication (I'll get into that in a second)...most likely you have a torn CV shaft boot. Does it smell really, really bad? CV joint grease smells terrible after prolonged use. Carefully inspect the suspension and drive axle on that side for the origin of our fluid.

As for the caliper, you'll need a caliper rebuild kit from your Honda dealer...I doubt any of the internal components are damaged, so all you'll need to do is remove the caliper, replace all the boots and seals and relubricate everything. It'd be cheaper than buying a whole new assembly. Hopefully the piston isn't rusted in place (pain in the ass).

 

Thanks for the response.
So then the grease has nothing to do w/ the Brake Caliper? Damn.
Well I have a new (rebuilt) caliper on the way, so hopefully that will resolve my brake issues.

But now it seems I have other problems. How difficult is it to replace the CV joint (if that's what caused the grease)? How expensive are CV joints? Any specialized tools? I'm mechanically inclined (I know Vettes and Fbodies inside out....but I'm relatively ignorant on Honda stuff).

 

It's a holy bitch to replace the CV joint, at least on my car. My driveshaft accidentally seperated from the inboard joint while I was doing a routine ball joint replacement and it took 2 hours to get back in correctly, not counting the time it took to get to that point. But it's not an incredibly difficult job, you just need a service manual. But like I said before, you have to verify that's the issue...it could be a tear in the outboard joint boot, inboard boot, or something else.

 

Look under there before you go buy stuff, but like Chris said, tons of grease all over the brakes, usually a ruptured CV boot.

Personally...I wouldn't try and replace the CV joint itself. You can get reman axles with lifetime warranty for about $60-75 for your car, you give them back your old broken one. That way you don't have to mess with the CV, repacking the boot, etc. Lots less work and less chance to mess up while changing it.

I've done two axles so far on other Hondas, not too bad, helps to have an extra set of hands when inserting the new driveshaft.