I was working on a 2016 BMW X3 rear brake yesterday. When the caliper was off the rotor, the electronic parking brake was engaged by me, not remembering it wasn't an internal drum on the rear rotor. Predictably, most of the piston exited the caliper. There seemed to be some fluid loss, but nothing catastrophic. I was able to get the piston back into the bore, and thought nothing else of it. But a test drive revealed a soft pedal.
Even though the caliper is back together, have I catastrophically damaged seals or done something else really bad? I've never reassembled a caliper. Nothing seems to be leaking. No brake warning lights on the dash or anything.
I will bleed the brake caliper later today. But I am wondering if I should order a new one just in case?
If it's not leaking and you didn't get any dirt in it it's unlikely that the seal is damaged. If bleeding the brakes fixes the pedal feel, and it likely will, l than I'd just move on with life.
I took it for an extended drive and I still don't have any brake warning light. It's really wet today so I can't tell if there is any leaking from the caliper, but I suspect that if there were leaks, I would get a low fluid light. I'm guessing it just needs a bleed . . .
It 100% needs to be bled since you let in a ton of air
if level didn't drop, you've just got some air in the circuit, and a bleed should fix it.
It bled and held! Whew . . .
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