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weird brake issues.. help diagnose please?
this has been going on for a while.. When I got the truck a rotor warped within a few months, I replaced the pads and greased up the caliper slides figuring that was the problem since one was pretty stuck. When it warped another rotor I replaced both front calipers since one looked like it had gotten hot enough to partially melt the piston gasket. Now I'm pretty sure its still doing the same thing. Here's the weird symptom: Somewhat randomly but always when the truck has been sitting for a day or so It will brake REALLY hard with only slight pressure on the pedal. It will actually lock up and chirp tires. It only happens when I'm moving forward and if I ride the brakes while backing out of my long driveway it won't happen. Its a 2001 ford ranger with ABS. Its brakes work perfectly when I'm not just starting out and the ABS seems to work fine as well. Any guesses? My next thought is to replace the master cylinder and if that doesn't work I could bypass the ABS module to see if that fixes the problem but I haul a trailer sometimes so I don't really want to lose ABS.
edit: I replaced the calipers with re-manufactured ones so they came completely compressed. I've done brake work on many vehicles so I'm confident in my work.
3 Answers
- 8 years agoFavorite Answer
the quick caliper warping could be from over tightening the lug nuts....sounds weird but its true.....the hard brake when first starting could be a bad rubber brake line(s) often times they wear down and only allow flow in one direction.....when the lines are just starting to go bad the problem only presents itself when the lines are cold..... when you put your foot on the brake to start your standard or take your truck out of gear you put fluid into the caliper...the bad/cold hose doesn't let any/all of the fluid back out.... then the next time you touch the brakes they behave as if you just pumped them up....as the lines warm up the problem becomes less noticeable.... as the lines get worse they will cause the caliper to hold tighter to the rotor even at warm temps... burning up pads and rotors.....
this is one possiblity.... it is not an expensive fix and many people dont even know it happens...
Source(s): paid tech - 8 years ago
it seems like the job done during replacement isn't proper. Did you remove the excess brake oil in the line once you changed the calipers and brake pads? it might seem silly but excess fluids could case such a problem. During replacement of pads since your new pad is thicker than the older ones you need to remove excess oil from the system by compressing the caliper. if you simply replace the pads such a problem could continue. you don't need to replace master cylinder unless you detect leak.
Cheer
Andrew
Source(s): Personal experience. - RockyD7Lv 68 years ago
You have one of the units' hydraulics that are sticking from what you've described. Try replacing the setup that's sticking on you and if you want the best service switch to ceramic pads at the same time and slotted and cross drilled discs.
Source(s): Live in the mountains and fight disc brake problems all the time.
