*This article applies to changing brake caliper on 2000 Chrysler Neon.

Why do calipers break down? Brake caliper is an important part of your breaking system. It is a hydraulic cylinder which pushes on your break shoes which causes them to expend and stop your car. One of most major reasons why break calipers break down is that they wear out on the rubber gaskets and the fluid leaks out. Most of the vehicles these days have a warning system which checks your break fluid level and the system will alarm you when your fluid level is low. This picture clearly demonstrates what happens when the liquid leaks out and it gets all messy inside of your break drum.

To remove the caliper we remove 2 bolts from the rear of the drum (see picture). Be sure you use the exact size wrench to prevent stripping of the bolt head.

There is also a break line which feeds the fluid to the caliper. We remove it by turning it in counterclockwise direction (see picture of the break line removed)

Here is a look at inside of our break drum after removing the break caliper. Note that all the fluid leaked out and it is noticeable all over the walls of inside the drum. Make sure to remove all this dirt before installing new caliper.

We install the caliper by putting the bolts back in from the back and tightening them with a wrench.

And here is a look at our new caliper in place and installed. Do not forget to also re-install the brake line.

Here is a look at our old and new caliper side by side.

Break drum itself was also soaked in the break fluid, make sure you clean it well before installing back on your vehicle.

Another very important issue after the install is that you need to remove the air which is probably in your break lines. This process is called bleeding your brakes. The caliper that we just installed did not have any fluid in it therefore it is still full of air which will dramatically effect your braking performance.