I own a C3 and I am having a problem with lock up in myright rear caliper. The prior owner recently changed from silicon brake fluid to dot 4. Could this be the problem?

 

yes it could and many other things.brake fluid could have gotten on the pads from bleeding.is the cali. sticking.try bleeding to see what comes out of right rear.is the left side working

 

Left side works fine. I tried to bleed but didn't help.

 

pull the pads see if they have any stains on them if ya get willing to work a little ,swap the the pads from left to right. i had a 74 i got brake fluid on one side and it pulled,i tried soaking them in alcohol,brake clean. nothin helped till i put new pads on.check basic eg cali. slides,any diff on pushing the pistons back in the cali.

 

Thanks for the advice I will try this though I won't be able to get to it for a couple of weeks. When I do I'll let you know what happened.
thanks again.

 

Are you sure it's the disc brake? if the parking brakes have'nt had any attention I would be real suspicous of them, they deteriorate quickly and can jam up and cause lots of noise. My '78 is a automatic, I gutted the parking brakes and don't plan on running any.

 

I've done that and parking brake is working normally.

 

OK on the parking brake, If it were me I would flush the brake system, install new or rebuilt calipers on both sides and refill with DOT3.

 

Calipers on a "C" 3 need to be serviced a lot more often than we would like. There are 4 pistons per wheel and they will leak or bind up every now and then, 78 buckshot gave you the best advise, change both left and right calipers, install new pads and all the rubber lines while your in there and you will be good to go!
I changed everything in 2000, and have changed a leaking caliper on the rear once since than and I just went back to Auto-Zone today for a replacement front left caliper. They are the best for me and my daily driver- they gave me a no charge caliper and free pads for both sides in the front.
As far as the brake fluid, GM calls for Dot 3 and thats what I use. PG