I knew my wife's A4 had a sticking rear caliper so thinking I was taking the smart route I tried to rebuild the caliper and discovered that beyond the piston seals the rear on this car are not really rebuildable.

New reman calipers on both sides of the rear bled the brakes and all was good, for four days.

The wife called me this morning and told me her brake warning light is flashing and beeping at her again. When I had everything apart I checked and the handbrake cables seem to move freely so I don't believe I have a seized cable. The only thing I can think of to replace at this point would be the lines at the rear. The car has 143,000 miles on it so I'm not surprised it's having issues I'm just frustrated that I can't nail this one down and trying not to think that if the lines are the problem then the calipers were probably $200 worth of un-needed parts.

Fronts are working great so I don't think I probably have a MC problem. Anyone else have any ideas?

 

The flexible lines may have deteriorated internally and preventing the brake fluid from returning, thus making the brakes drag. Also, keep in mind that the brake light will also come on if the pads are worn.

 

I agree with Pete I would take a first hand look at the fronts to make sure they aren't worn...

If they were still sticking and dragging she would smell burning....... the car wouldn't roll in drive or slightl clutch roll off on it own. You would need to gas it just to move

 

Well it has new pads and rotors on all four corners within the last 5 thousand miles. I am going to do the lines then since they are inexpensive and all of the pads are good and thick and everything else seems to be in order.

Thanks for the replies.

 

Well that's what I thought too. I am not sensing any real dragging, there's no rotor obvious warp and things don't seem to be wearing faster than normal. No smells and no sounds from the brakes, just that damn warning light and the accompanying beep.

To be clear I am talking about the light and beep that would come on if the handbrake were still on while the vehicle is in motion.

 

I am not sure about your car, but in most cars the hand brake lamp is also used to indicate low brake fluid level, and problems with the master cylinder.

 

I really hope it's not an MC problem. I keep the fluid level high but I will check that out when the car gets back home today. If I can't solve this one pretty quick it's going to a shop to be someone else's headache. I know when I am stuck in a corner.

 

When you changed the brakes did you lube the slider pins? Also make sure all your pad wear sensors are nice and snug.

Seams to me that replacing the lines wouldn't really have much effect on brakes dragging, you would have a better chance of them bursting over getting slightly clogged.

Jason