2002 Ford Ranger barke problem. Please help.

[matt803]

My wife came to me the other day and said her brakes have been making a grinding noise. I went out and looked and ya they where shot. Long story short is i went out and got new pads and rotors. I put them on the same way they come off. We took it for a test drive to make sure everything was working. Well when i put on the brakes it started to pull to the right and felt like there was air in the lines. Its kinda hard to explain it on here. its like when you hit them it will jump and make a sounds like there is air someplace. So then we bleed the lines and everything looked fine. Took it out again and the same thing happened. I have never had a problem with brakes before so i have not idea whats going on here. If anybody out there can help me please let me know asap.

Thanks
Matt

 

[Red FX4]

Are you sure you got the brake pads on correctly? If one of the pads is backwards it will do something similar to what you are experiencing. Believe me, it can happen to the very skilled.

 

[matt803]

I found out the problem. It was the ABS system. I took out the fuse for it and its working fine when i stop. Now i just have to solve this problem

I will have to play with it a little more. Any info anybody has on this would be great.

Thanks
Matt

 

[matt803]

Ok now that i have a little more time to talk here is my problem now.

After i replaced the brakes i would get a pulsating feeling when i hit the brakes. It would also pull the the right side. At this time i had no ABS light on. I was reading the forums and saw a post that it might be the ABS System and to check disable it by taking out the fuse. I did this and it now works fine but i have no ABS.

I really dont understand why this happened because no light came on to tell me anything was bad. I thought it might be the left sensor because it was pulling to the right but when i went to the parts store they said they only had a front and rear sensor.

So i guess what i am wondering is where should i start looking. Like i said its pulsating and pulling to the right when ABS is on. What would make it do this?

Thanks
Matt

 

[dla]

I'm not a mechanic in real life, nor do I play one on TV. But it sounds as though the ABS sensor is disconnected, which means you screwed up when replacing the pads.

If the sensor thinks the wheel has stopped, it thinks you are in a slide, so it pulses the brakes. Some vehicles have sensors on all wheels, some don't. I don't know what the Ranger has.

So check the sensor.

 

[Red FX4]

Some Rangers have a what I think is called a "tone ring" in the rotors. This ring is what the ABS sensor reads. Check to see if the new rotors have this "tone ring" or if it needs one. If it needs the "tone ring" and it is not there, the sensor will read no rotation and activate the ABS system. Also, you may have damaged a sensor in the process on installing the new rotors.