Front Brakes Dragging

[Blown&Injected]

I was not near the car when the brakes failed. I was told the front right brake was smoking - car was towed home.

I figured it was just a caliper or a hose but both of the front brakes are dragging. The rear brakes seem fine.

Any ideas? Master cylinder? It is a 1995 Bonneville with ABS.

Thanks

 

[NJTurbo]

I have seen a brake light switch out of adjustment cause that here at the dealer. It effects the fronts first, stick your foot under the brake pedal and see if there is any play as you pull it up.

 

[MaxVO2]

Originally posted by Blown&Injected
I was not near the car when the brakes failed. I was told the front right brake was smoking - car was towed home.

I figured it was just a caliper or a hose but both of the front brakes are dragging. The rear brakes seem fine.

Any ideas? Master cylinder? It is a 1995 Bonneville with ABS.

Thanks

****Gunked up master cylinder ports, proportioning valve issues, rust in the lines due to hydrophilic nature of standard brake fluid over time, etc..

Easiest thing to do would be to flush all the fluid out and replace with clean fluid, after gently tapping on proportioning valve, and the master cylinder metal body a few times to see if it loosens crud up.

If you can feel sediment in the fluid between your fingers, you might want to also pop a caliper off and check the piston for scoring, rust, etc.. If it is really rusty inside, or chunks come out, you can sometimes just pull the bleeder screws out, run clean fluid through them.

Also, the rubber lines themselves may have lost resiliency, and aren't allowing the fluid to retract the calipers enough.. but since both are giving you problems, it may not be the main or even a problem.

If it is only the fronts, I would suspect master cylinder, proportioning valve, or possibly ABS issue.

If you aren't comfortable doing some of the checks above, or at least flushing all of the fluid out/bleeding, etc... take it to the shop - you need your brakes!

Oh, and since the front(s) seemed to have gotten pretty hot, you might wish to check rotors for runout as they may have warped, especially if it got smoking hot down there.

Good luck

Billy
Montgomery Village, MD

 

[turbo buicks]

my 88 toyota camry had the same prob except all brakes would lock up. i put new front calipers o it, it fixed it for a while but then it did it again. i then put a new master cylinder on it and upon removal and inspection of the old mc i found a lot of crud gunked on the bottom ports of the fluid resevoir going into the mc. look in this area for gunk. if gunk is present replace mc and clean fluid resevoir.

 

[Blown&Injected]

Re: Re: Front Brakes Dragging

Originally posted by MaxVO2
[Bhydrophilic nature[/B]

Is that type of language permitted on this board

Problem is I was not in or driving when it happened. The month old master cylinder failed - Advance Auto aluminum junk. The rotors look like crap and I'm sure the pads are dead, the other parts must have heated something awful.

Thanks guys