OK....drove the A into work, and the front disc look to be sticking. Both fronts were just smoking. I'm in the suite/tie of course......so any quick fix ideas..... or else it'll be in the Orielly parking lot, breaking the bleed screws loose in the shirt & tie. Any other ideas.......oh late model Chevy rotors...etc....Carl Hagan
Did you grease the pistons? Or is there a kink in the brake lines not allowing the fluid to flow back?
If they both are hanging equally, I would look first at the valve in the master not releasing, or you need more free play between the pedal and the piston in the master.
Yeah, I'd check the length of the rod between the pedal and MC. That is where my issue was. I shortened it to get a firmer pedal and then the damn things settled and stuck, backed it off and they are fine.
id say the master is dragging a bit, loosen the master cylinder bolts and see if it lets off the brakes, then you know you have to shorten the brake push rod, or check for free play in the pedal and make sure its not pushing in the master just a bit. jeff
First time out? Been on the road for years? Opening the bleeder screw on one side immediately relieves the problem on both sides?
Splash of water as you pull in the parking lot, or were they smelling burned and smoking the whole way? I would imagine if they were grabbing the whole way you would feel a loss of pedal. Get a small screwdriver in there easilly? Lightly see if the pads are sliding in the caliper? Maybe a shot of lube and a screwdriver wiggle through the wheel to get you home if they aren't moving.
1st time out this summer. Thank you for all the replies. There was smoke coming up & off the front wheels. It all worked fine last summer, so........I'll be on my back at lunch. Carl Hagan
I'll bet that you need a little more brake rod to m/c play. I have seen cars that have a small amount of play in the pedal but when they start to heat up it goes away and causes the brakes to drag. If it has an adjustable rod back it off a bit and all should be well. I would not "Spray a little lube" as suggested as this would undoubtedly get on the rotor or pad surface and then you will have no brakes.
Also take a look at the caliper slide area. We often don't lube that area because it attracts dust but if it has been sitting over the winter and never lubed it could cause the calipers to drag holding the pads against the rotors.
Heck, if a can of wd-40 unloads like an uncontrolled fire hose, may as well spray down the whole rotor so they will slide. Maybe coat the whole tread and slide the locked up front wheels home. I guess the thought of trying to get the straw through the wheel for a "clean" parking lot fix was a little far out. Sorry.
As said, if mastercylinder piston does not return fully back, fluid willnot return to reservior after a pedel depression ,and each time thereafte,r which will load front calipers, this is ever more critical with a powerbooster.....
My first thought was that it has the wrong residual valve in it but if you drove it last year without issues and haven't changed anything that should be out. I thinking that either the piston (s) is/are sticking or that the calipers are hanging up but normally that would probably just happen on one wheel. Emergency/park brake partially on or cables hanging up? Or if it sat with the park brake n all winter the linkage may be hanging up even if you released the handle.
Drove it at lunch after wedging around the calipers with a screwdriver. It loosened up, but like said above......it got worse as the car warmed up. By the time I got back to the lot at work, the fronts are pretty much...super tight again. I backed off the bolt on the pedal, but you can see the backside of the piston that the rod pushes up against and it is definately pushing back out as far as it can, so loosening up the pedal any more, just makes the pushrod floppy. Hopefully, get'r home without burning it down and will loosen all bleed screws and rebleed all for corners. Hopefully, I just wont bleed'm as hard. I did loosen the bolts on the master too, so hopefully that helps a little also.....sheesh.....Carl Hagan "The bummer here is that I really REALLY don't want to burn the clutch up getting it home"
since it worked fine last year,i would say sticking calipers. rebuild or buy new ones.g.m. type? easier to buy new ones than rebuild .but thats just me
I had a head scratcher years back. The flex line on my rears had collapsed. It is doubtful that you have both flex lines plugged, but if all else fails, disconnect your lines and blow them out to be sure there are no obstructions. Take a good look at your master cylinder, rod, and linkage too.
i'd say the pistons are sticking, likely they are rusty, the last time this happened to me was only 2 months ago on my 99 f250, one day there fine and the next there draging, i was quite away from home and all i did was cut the wheels back and forth like 10 times and it would push the pistons back in enough so they didnt drag, then i just used the emergency brake and geared down when stopping, if i did have to touch the brakes i would have to stop and do the wheel cutting again, it got me home and the next day i bought rebuild kits thinking it must have stainless pistons but nope, only plated so i just bought rebuilt calipers and it was fine.
Hate finding posts that are un-answered...... so.......this problem ended up being the Master Cylinder. I could have swore I seen the piston coming all the way back after releasing the pedal, but really.....that piston comes all the way back to the snap ring......ahhhhhh......$80- & the brakes are working again. Nice...... Carl Hagan Thank you for all the replies and My Tie made it, but the shirt didn't....
What happened to me once was a set of calipers that had some "composite" pistons that looked like bakelite or something similar. The pistons were hanging up in the bores. After a few years of age, it didn't take a lot of deposits or buildup from dirty fluid to get the pistons to stick sometimes. A fresh pair of calipers with the usual stainless pistons was all it took to make the problem go away permanently. from a different post- " ............Propositioning valve stuck? ............. " And,yes, if your valve is spending it's time propositioning people, make it stop before you get into real trouble .)
glad its fixed and you can enjoy your ride.but why you guess i didn't show up last year? oh well life with a old car.sorry about the shirt
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