Caliper, Line, or Fluid?

Thinking out loud a bit before I go play with fixing my car here. On cold days ~40 or below I have an issue with the front brakes sticking on my car. The parking brake is releasing as it should, but I can feel the extra resistance when I roll up to a stop on cold days. So much so that while in neutral on a slight incline the car does not roll forward. On a warmer day, there seems to be no issue and the car rolls with less resistance. The caliper slide pins are greased and moving properly. Of course, I have time this weekend to take a look but the temperatures are up and I probably won't find my problem.

Does this sounds like water in the lines? I have not flushed the brake fluid since I've owned the car and it is a 98'. My other ideas are a bad flex line holding pressure on the brakes. A quick look around says I can check this by cracking open the bleeder and checking for fluid to spurt out, and a wheel that is easier to turn. My final idea is the caliper itself not retracting.

probably should flush the lines and replace the rubber hoses at this point. Cheap insurance against bigger problems.

I'd flush the fluid and re-grease the caliper slides. Could be the wrong grease was used and it's thicker than it should be. I think it's a long shot, but I've had the long shot bite me in the buttocks before so I don't rule it out.

I'd be looking at the mechanical part of the calipers as well. I really doubt it's water in the lines, although a fluid flush is never a bad idea.

The caliper square "O" rings may be getting old and hard and not retracting as they are designed to. With warmer weather they may be soft enough that they do but in colder weather they may not. Does the problem go away as you drive the car and get some heat into the brakes?

I've always tried to reason out the problem before spending money. Logically, it's always the caliper.

...but it's always been a new rubber line that fixed it.

YMMV

May not be anything...Do you move as freely when you are cold?

jimbbski wrote: The caliper square "O" rings may be getting old and hard and not retracting as they are designed to. With warmer weather they may be soft enough that they do but in colder weather they may not. Does the problem go away as you drive the car and get some heat into the brakes?

My drive to and from work is only about 8 miles, and in that short time I don't build enough heat to loosen up the brakes.

Anything I should know about bleeding brakes on a GM car with ABS?

hmmm,, makes me wonder how badly the brakes are dragging. A badly dragging brake can build up a LOT of heat in 8 miles

I mentioned flushing the fluid as a first step since we should all be doing it every few years, more for cars that get the fluid hot. If that doesn't cure it, then I'd suspect the caliper. For that reason, remove the slides and clean/lube them.
As far as bleeding, unless you open the ABS, then the ABS isn't a concern. Just bleed them as normal, farthest from the master cylinder to the closest.

similar problem with my Integra ... back story ... the car doesn't get driven all that often . '01 with 80k .. the front OEM calipers reached the point that they wouldn't retract, could sit on slight incline and not move, having to use much more accelerator than usual, lots of heat radiating from the rt. front after a 10 mile drive .. time to rebuild ... actually just turned them in for core, and replaced with OEM calipers ... all good

I know the Fiat 124 was/is notorious for warping their front calipers. They would stick, but still allow you to brake straight.. you could rehone and rebuild them.. but in a month or two, you would be back to pulling to the right or left as that caliper started to stick again.