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Relationship between calipers and transmission

Joined
August 23, 2004
Messages
36
Reaction score
5
Location
Goose Creek SC
City, State
SC
Year, Model & Trim Level
1994 Explorer XLT 2 WD
Hey y’all. My SUV is a 94 Ex XLT 4.0L OHC 2WD 4DR 300,391 mi.
The following symptoms presented on 3 occasions between May and Aug 2019 on roads with speed limits of 55 mph and under.
  1. steering pulls to the left; shakes some
  2. steering wheel drives 15° rt of center
  3. won’t shift into 4th gear
  4. driver wheel is too hot to touch
  5. grey dust on center of driver wheel
Is there a relationship between a locked up caliper and transmission? For it to happen three times boggles my mind.

The day of the first incident I took her to a shop that fixed my brake lights. The mechanic told me, “Your transmission is about to go and the timing belt needs replacing.” He also said that’ll be $88 ma’am... (I since learned that no one else has heard the classic bad timing belt noises).

She shifts, steers and brakes fine otherwise.

Thank you for any help.
Nancy
 



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Run from that shop
93 explorer has a timing CHAIN no belt

The auto transmission does have a vacuum modulator that is connected to manifold vacuum, the brake booster also uses manifold vacuum
Otherwise the brakes and transmission are not connected in any way
He may have smelled your transmission fluid and saw it was brown and burnt
Or he may have road tested the truck and decided the auto trans was in poor condition
But to tell you that the timing belt is about to go out, is an old tactic, shops like to take advantage of customers that do not know better OR hes a complete dumbass and mistakes some lifter noise for a loose timing belt in an engine that never used a belt.

Either way keep your mouth shut if you have no idea what you are talking about!! Sounds like hes trying to make $$$ off of you
I would call and ask him "how much to replace the timing belt" and see if he corrects his mistake or tries to gouge you....
 






It seems your left front brake is hanging up. This is causing you to use more of the accelerator than you usually do, and that condition will keep the transmission from shifting into 4th, which is overdrive. Fix the brakes, and the rest should fall back in line. Do it soon, please... if it so bad it is pulling you out of your lane, it is too dangerous to drive, in my opinion. It could get dramatically worse and cause a bad accident.
 






It sounds like your LH brake caliper piston is stuck way out which can happen when your brake pads wore way past where the should. Also if it is just a LH problem then that would indicate that the caliper is damaged and been sticking for some time and needs replaced along with the brake pads. Some Mech/Techs would recommend replacing some parts, especially brake parts, in pairs.
 






Thanks for your replies allmyexes and roadrunner777. I called a shop my daughter takes her newer Subaru to. He wanted right around $700 and 2.5 days to change all brakes and replace both front calipers. I saw this Brakes 4 Less ad and on Wed. ya get an add’l 15% off! I’m going with the $309 pkg hoping that servicing the calipers will suffice. If they need replacing it’ll still cost less than the first quote, and, done in 2-3 hrs!
As always, Serious Explorations has the most generous like-minded members.
Nancy

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It seems your left front brake is hanging up. This is causing you to use more of the accelerator than you usually do, and that condition will keep the transmission from shifting into 4th, which is overdrive. Fix the brakes, and the rest should fall back in line. Do it soon, please... if it so bad it is pulling you out of your lane, it is too dangerous to drive, in my opinion. It could get dramatically worse and cause a bad accident.
Makes perfect sense. I have ADHD and my brain just isn’t satisfied til it makes sense.
 






$309-. Does that include replacing the front calipers?
 






Hey y’all. My SUV is a 94 Ex XLT 4.0L OHC 2WD 4DR 300,391 mi.
The following symptoms presented on 3 occasions between May and Aug 2019 on roads with speed limits of 55 mph and under.
  1. steering pulls to the left; shakes some
  2. steering wheel drives 15° rt of center
  3. won’t shift into 4th gear
  4. driver wheel is too hot to touch
  5. grey dust on center of driver wheel
Is there a relationship between a locked up caliper and transmission? For it to happen three times boggles my mind.

The day of the first incident I took her to a shop that fixed my brake lights. The mechanic told me, “Your transmission is about to go and the timing belt needs replacing.” He also said that’ll be $88 ma’am... (I since learned that no one else has heard the classic bad timing belt noises).

She shifts, steers and brakes fine otherwise.

Thank you for any help.
Nancy

He might be thinking of the SOHC version of this engine (never offered until 1997) which is notorious for bad timing CHAIN tensioners and guides. There is no belt on the OHV, which you have, its a chain and this engine AFAIK has never had it as a problem. If he pulled the VIN he would have known that. The "mechanic" is a phenomenal idiot or he is just talking out his ass.

However, lifter tick is very common on these motors and though it can be loud it's not detrimental to the engine. (Trust me, there is a huge difference between the sound of lifters and a bad timing chain guide.) Some people run a slightly thicker oil (10w-40) to quiet it down.

The A4LD is known to have problems with the vacuum modulator and the governor. Both can cause a 4th gear issue, but it may be more serious. Go to reputable transmission shop and get it diagnosed.

As for the brakes, it does seem like you have a locked up caliper on the driver's side. $310 isn't bad for a 4 wheel brake job, but be aware that the front driver's side disc may need to be replaced rather than resurfaced due to the fact that the excessive heat may have caused it to warp. Also most brake parts should be replaced in pairs, so if something is wrong on one side, its likely they will want to replace the other.
 






$309 is a good deal! Expect that to go up slightly when they want to replace some parts instead of "service" them

As MRQ pointed out "Servicing a caliper" is basically cleaning it and re greasing the slide pins, usually new slide pins or a whole new caliper is needed when something is hung up
 












I'd be getting an actual quote from that shop before having them do any work. Notice where it says "starting at" $309?

It's pretty easy to have well over $300 worth of parts alone into doing brakes on an Explorer. I did a quote on AutoZone's website for what I'd consider a relatively complete front & rear brake job - new rotors, drums, pads, shoes, calipers, wheel cylinders, hardware kit and front seals. Came out to $406. That's assuming the front wheel bearings are good, spindle bearings and seals are OK, no seals are leaking in the rear and all the hoses are in good shape.

Add shop markup, labor, shop supplies, etc on top of that. "Starting at $309" quickly becomes hundreds of dollars more - it is simply their sales tactic to get you in the door. If your brakes are really neglected, don't be expecting to get it repaired cheap!
 






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