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Sticking Brake

D

donwa1

Be Gentle I'm New Here
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Messages
4
I have a 1995 2.5L SE with ABS/traction control that has an intermittent problem. The left front brake will stick on for no apparent reason. When this occurs, the car shudders at ~40-50MPH, and there is a loss of power. The brake pedal becomes hard, however the car can still be stopped. The left front brake will smell hot in comparision to the other brakes. I have replaced the caliper and hose on this brake two weeks ago, and it happened again today. When it happened today, I could not even drive the car, it was completely frozen in place, so I had it towed home (I tried to move the car every 10 minutes or so while waiting for the tow, but to no success). The rear tires were free wheeling fine when being towed. As a side note when we took the old caliper and brake line off, there was only two drops of fluid that fell out. I am suspecting an ABS problem, perhaps a sticky valve or something. Under normal circumstances I drive with traction control off. Sorry this is long winded, but I wanted to give a complete discription.
 
Yes it did. My dad is a mechanic, and he was doing the bleeding while I operated the pedal. We were both baffled we there was no fluid in the lines when we removed the hose and caliper.
 
It kinda sounds like a pad is coming loose and jamming up. You're sure the clips were put on right?
 
By clips, do you mean the front "spring" clip that fits into two holes, and is a beast to get in the correct position (which it was, verified by looking at old caliper, and by my dad), or clips on the back of the pads. The rear pad has a clip and is snapped into the brake cylinder, the front pad, had not real clip, but just sort of fit on the bracket.
 
Yes I meant the spring clip. It seems to be a common problem either installing it incorrectly or leaving it out and having problems soon after.
 
Ok, thank you for that. The spring clip is installed correctly. I was aware of the pitfalls of installing them incorrectly (we have had in our family 5 contour/mystiques). Unfortunately this is beyond the common problems (thought we would have eliminated the problem with the caliper/hose replacement). So the next logical areas to look at are ABS valve sticking being held on or something with the master cylinder. The master cylinder seems unlikely because only one wheel appears to be sticking and there are only two ports that come out of cylinder on ABS systems. If it were the master, I would expect two sticking brakes
 
If it was the master I dont think either brake would stick since it usually loses pressure and engages them less than normal.
 
have you looked at it when it locked? so the tire doesn't spin even with the car off? if so have you removed the wheel and see what is actually holding it? the caliper should loose pressure with the car off. i would inspect the clips holding the pads, and the sliding mechanism. make sure the caliper can slide in and out freely. i believe there are metal clips that the caliper slides on, grease them up and/or replace them. according to autozone.com, a dragging brake could be a missing clip or worn master cyclinder, so i wouldnt rule that out.
 
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