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Brake Problem

jurick

Active Member
Joined
November 30, 2007
Messages
87
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City, State
Maryland
Year, Model & Trim Level
97 Eddie Bauer
Vehicle specs- 1997 Eddie Bauer, 4.0 SOHC, 2" suspension lift, 3" body lift.

I have run into a problem with the brakes on my truck. When I press the pedal it just does not want to stop. I cant lock the brakes up or even get the ABS to kick in. I even tried locking them up on gravel and I just slowly came to a stop. This all started though after I put on new pads that I got from autozone, the pads were the Performance Friction Carbon Metalic Pads. Now I think that it is rather wierd that as soon as I put these pads on my brakes decide to stop working as well. Is it possible thats these pads are not creating enough friction to stop the truck or is the problem deeper within the braking system?

Any help is greatly appreciated as I am planning to tow a trailer with the truck in the near future and with the brakes like this I cant.
 



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Those pads are excellent as far as quality, so I wouldn't say that it's the problem. It's possible that air got into the lines. Bleed the brakes, and make sure that you cycle the solenoid block with the correct tool.
 






Well that is one thing that I forgot to state I actually did recently bleed the brakes. I am not quite sure what you are talking about when you say cycle the solenoid block though. I just did a basic bleed is there some special tool that I need to do a full bleed?

Thanks for your help
 






Air gets trapped in an ABS system within the solenoid block. A special tool is used to cycle (open & close) the solenoids to allow the air to purge from the system while bleeding it. Some scanners are capable of doing this, although there are tools made just for this purpose. It's only necessary on 4 wheel antilock systems. RABS could be bled in the conventional way.
 






Thats what I thought you meant but wasnt guite sure and as of right now I don't have a way to cycle it so I am going to bleed it again and see if it helps any.

Thanks for your help
 






If you ever allow the resivoir to suck air while bleeding the system you must bleed the ABS. As stated earlier, a special tool. I too used the Performance Friction pads while awaiting the arrival of my "HI end" brakes. They worked great. Id look to bleeding or possibly grease inadvertantly getting on the discs while changing pads.
 






If the pedal is solid, it's probably not air. Let me ask you this...did you do a complete brake job? Did you turn or replace the rotors? Do they have the recommended finish on them? Did you properly burnish the pads and rotors? Because it is possible that everything has glazed and you are correct...there isn't enough friction to stop the car. You might also try heating them up good and see if that helps. You may have the wrong compound on the car. I have seen this before and it usually comes back to wrong materials and procedures used. It's also possible only the rears are applying. That should be checked with a brake pressure gauge.

My family hates it when they bring their vehicles to me for brakes. I flat refuse to work on brakes unless I do an entire brake job. That's rotors, calipers, hoses, and hardware...and sometimes master cylinder. It isn't cheap. But they keep bringing me their cars because when it's done, the car stops and works like new. I don't screw around when it comes to brakes. It's all or nothing. I couldn't live with myself if something failed because I was cheap or lazy and someone was hurt...or worse.
 






Well all rotors and pads were replaced at the same time with the most high quality parts that I could find. The rotors where cleaned with brake cleaner before installation and then after installation was complete I did what was recommended by the brake pad company on how to wear in the brakes.

The calipers were working fine as far as I could tell when I took the pads off.
As you said though it is possible that somehow they glazed over. I have to take all my wheels off sometime to figure out what the vibration that I am getting is coming from. When I do so I will be sure to clean all the brake components and hopefully that will fix my problem. It is possible that I didnt clean them well enough in the first place but I thought I did.

Thanks for your help.
 






If you put on new pads and rotors, you should be fine. New rotors rarely have the recommended finish the pad manufacturer wants...but that is usually a squeaking issue and not what you're having. What you did should be fine and eliminate a problem in that area...especially where you burnished the pads as recommended. This is strange. Since the pedal must be solid, and you didn't introduce any air to the system, I guess if it were me, my next move would be a pressure check. Weird. Keep us posted with what you find.
 






Those pads are excellent as far as quality, so I wouldn't say that it's the problem. It's possible that air got into the lines. Bleed the brakes, and make sure that you cycle the solenoid block with the correct tool.

That's interesting. could you describe this tool and where to get one? Because my brakes have been less effective since the Stealership did some work on my Ex.
 






Well I am leading towards a friction problem. When I clear out my shop and get my vehicle in there I am going to clean all 4 rotors and brake parts and reassemble. Hopefully that will fix the problem.
 


















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