• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Help with caliper spring

B

bobbyw

CEG'er
Joined
Apr 17, 2008
Messages
145
Location
Bloomingdale, IL
Today I brought my car into a local mechanic to have my front upper strut mount replaced. They did that fine, but the first time I went to stop, I heard a loud clicking coming from the front right wheel, the side that the mount was replaced. So I went back and he thought the caliper spring was on wrong, which it was. He put it inside the bracket instead of on the outside. So I took it out and the pedal almost sunk to floor before I got any stopping power. So I brought it back and he bent it a little to make it work the first way he did it(inside, the wrong way), and it was fine, no clicking. Until I got to my house, it did it again. I read on here that the pedal can feel spongy if the spring is on wrong, and it did the first time. But the second time, the springs were on right and the pedal fell almost to the floor. What can the mean? And is the clicking normal for having the springs on wrong, or could it be something else? Any help is appreciated. I paid $180 for a strut mount replacement, and end up with a brake problem. :nonono:
Thanks
 
There used to be a picture floating around here showing proper installation of the springs. I hope someone can post a link. It does sound like it hasn't been installed correctly yet. I guess it is even possible that the springs have been damaged and need to be replaced. It would also be wise to bleed the brakes, both at the calipers and at the master cylinder. You really should be holding the shop accountable for this. They need to make it right. Call them up and ask them to tow it in at their expense as you don't feel it is safe to drive.
 
Yea, I found the picture earlier. I put them on the way they were in the picture, the right way, when i got home and thats when the pedal went almost all the way to the floor. I put them back on the wrong way, but at least it has stopping power, althought, still a little spongy. I really dont want to go back there but i may have to. The guy couldn't drive my car at all. Every stop was like a rev up to 2k and a quick drop of the clutch. And he made a turn at about 20 mph and shifted into first after the turn. the revs shot up to about 5k and it bucked back and forth terribly. If its something as simple and cheap as springs, Ill settle for the condition my car is in and do it myself.
 
If the mechanic bent the springs to make them fit better when on wrong, they are no longer good. You need to replace the springs before driving the car any more at all. And don't ever go back to that mechanic again. The spring clips on the contour are a common design on most of the calipers supplied by ATE / Conti-Teves across MANY OEM platforms, not just Ford, and if he can't get those right, god knows what else he can screw up.
 
If placing the spring INCORRECTLY provides more stopping power then you obviously have a problem. This "increase" in stopping ability isn't real, its only caused by an incorrect placement and as soon as that spring pops out (from being on wrong) or bends (from being on wrong) now you're SOL again.

If the correct placement doesn't work, and the pedal is soft, then you FIX the problem (more accurately, you have THEM fix it because they screwed it up...) however with their ineptitude you should have them refund all of your money for this problem, and pay for a tow to ANOTHER shop.
 
Ok thanks for all the help guys. Im having my uncle come look at it today, he's a mechanic. I'll probably try to pick up some new springs and im hoping that will fix the noise. If not, I'll have to talk to shop.
 
Well, we got new springs on it, and the same thing happened. The pedal travels a long way until it starts braking, then firms up as you pump it. So my uncle thinks theres air in the lines. Im gonna take it back to the mechanic tomorrow and have them bleed the brakes, only because they have a lift and i dont really want to do it. Ill be in the back with them watching, making sure nothing else goes wrong. I'm hoping bleeding them fixes it. If not, I have a more serious problem.
 
Well, the mechanic was too busy today and couldnt do anything for me until monday. So i grabbed a friend and jacked it up and bled the fronts. No air out of the lines whatsoever, no improvement :(
So I guess air in the lines is eliminated, and it has new springs on it the correct way. So what's next? I could just take it to the mechanic and have them fix it, but honestly I'd rather not leave my car there. It might just come back with another problem
 
You should also bleed the master. With all that is happened, you may have collapsed the cups in the master, and if you have, it will need to be rebuilt or replaced. There is also a chance that you have air in the ABS control module. If you do, you will not be able to purge it without invoking the ABS. That can be done with Ford scan tools, but an alternative is to find a spot that is very slippery (water on slick concrete, moss growing it, or something like that) and brake hard enough for the ABS to chatter (cycle on and off). Once you have done that, you may still need to bleed the system. I also remember reading (I haven't tried it) that you can get the ABS to chatter by having a wheel off the ground (rear would work better for this), have someone spin it as someone else pumps the brake pedal. At this point it would probably be wise to stay away from that mechanic. He should be willing to work you in to resolve his come-backs, not put you off. Even the best mechanics sometimes have come-backs. How they handle them is part of what separates true mechanics from hacks.
 
Have a look at your pads.

I lost a spring once, and didn't realize it for quite some time. When there is no spring, the caliper shifts when you brake, and it wears the pad on one side, and doesn't touch it on the other. This creates a wedge-shaped pad that works fine for a caliper that is shifted sideways, but then when you straighten it back out, there isn't enough material to brake correctly.

Once I got a new spring and installed it correctly, I had the same symptoms you describe - pedal to the floor and no braking.

New brake pads solved the problem.
 
Well, new pads fixed it up. I'm so glad it was only a 20 dollar fix. And I dont have to deal with the shop anymore. I guess the previous owner drove with the springs on the wrong way for a while, and it made the pads wear unevenly. Thanks a lot andy.
 
espguitarist91 said:
Well, new pads fixed it up. I'm so glad it was only a 20 dollar fix. And I dont have to deal with the shop anymore. I guess the previous owner drove with the springs on the wrong way for a while, and it made the pads wear unevenly. Thanks a lot andy.
Click to expand...

You didnt have a warranty on the pads to just swap them out?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top