Front Brake overheating problem

[alpine41]

Left front brakes gets hot to the point of smoking after driving 20 miles or so, then starts pulling to the right. What I have done is: replace rotors, calipers, bearings, left hose. Rear brakes appear to be working and the linings are good. I did not flush the system when I bled the fronts. When I take the hoses loose from the calipers, fluid doesn't run out of the hose, but will do so when manual bleeding. Also, I can disconnect both lines at the M/C and fluid does not run out. Do I have a bad master cylinder? Thanks, Mike

 

[buckwill]

your obviosly getting some kind of drag, either from pressure, not likely or from a sticking caliper,, sand all sliding caliper surfaces and pins, lube them and reassemble let us know
buck

 

[alpine41]

Buck, thanks for the response. I did all that with the old calipers as well as the new ones. Everything at each wheel is brand new. Left side becomes hot, hot, hot!

 

[tweakedlogic]

It could be also that you have water or air in that line. When it heats up it expands. Buck is probably right though.
You know that thick sticky crap they sell you to put on the back of your brake pads? That is very high temp lubricant. Use a little on the caliper slides.

 

[alpine41]

Thanks Tweak for the response. I did all that when I replaced the calipers, etc. This one really has me going especially why, with both lines off, fluid doesn't drip out of the M/C. I've never seen that before. That's why I'm leaning toward the master cylinder, but I hate to keep throwing parts at it and hope something works. I was hoping someone had seen this before. Thanks again Tweak.

 

[tweakedlogic]

Master cylinders are cheap. Except for the Motorcraft, most are in the $40-$60 range. If you replace it now, you don't have to worry about it for a long time. Skip it now, and you may have re-bleed the system in a short time.

When it comes to the inexpensive, high failure parts, I'm a big believer in fix it before it fails. For instance I know there's about 80k miles on my water pump, I'm going to replace it soon so it won't leave me stranded.

So, you did replace the calipers? Have you bled the system and tested yet?

 

[alpine41]

Thanks Tweak. Yes, calipers new, bled, etc. I'll test drive tomorrow to see if I can get them hot. If the left side heats up again I'm going to pop the bleeder to see if I have pressure there, at rest, right after stopping the car. That should tell me if there's something in the M/C that's not letting fluid back in. I'll post tomorrow. Meanwhile if anybody has any ideas........................?

 

[Marv]

Check the rubber brake hose. Hose will deteriorate with age, swell and plug up allowing
fluid to go into the caliper with enough brake pressure, but the caliper does not have
enough pressure to push the fluid back through the plugged hose.

Marv

 

[alpine41]

Thanks Marv for the input. Hoses replaced. Everything is brand new up front. 20 miles of driving, especially on a warm day, and the left front gets almost red hot (smoke, etc.) and then starts pulling right. Perplexing! I want to replace the M/C but doesn't really make sense, but what else could cause this??!!

 

[huntman58]

I have had the same thing happen and believe it or not it was not the brakes so to speak that were doing this but the wheel bearings. The 1st gen are known for a some what bad set up as in the lock washer tab not working really well once worn some as mine have shown . If my bearings back off a tiny bit the brakes heat up on that side and will pull just as you are saying. Not say that is what’s wrong but if you have changed clapirs, hoses, sanded and lubed the sliders not much left mechanically but the bearings and then master. I will say and I am bad to say thing but my calipers, hoses, and master have never been changed and I am showing about 230,000 now. But the bearings have helped me wrap a few rotors and destroy some pads way before there time. I also have found that I have to relube the sliders about every 10,000 miles or they do stick but I live in an area with a lot of blowing dust and sand so they get bad fast and start to grind more then slid by then. Just a thought.

 

[Anime]

Even new or rebuilt calipers can have defects. Tolerances on the internal stuff is such that a bad piston can cause such issues. You might want to take the calipers back and do an exchange before you wind up doing a lot of other work only to wind up needing to replace a defective part.

If it's not the calipers or the pads, it's usually the slide pins. Make sure they are lightly greased with CALIPER SLIDE GREASE (either buy a tiny packet for 99cents at the parts counter or get a tube of the stuff for a few bucks, DON'T use regular grease). The calipers should have come with new ones and they should be a bit smaller than the stock ones and be snug but allow just enough side to side movement under brake pressure that the caliper can float and not get stuck. If your calipers didn't come with new pins and you re-used old ones they might be too big (the rubber insert between the pins expands over time) and are preventing the caliper from floating.

Also it's always a good idea to completely bleed the system, flushing all the old dirty brake fluid out in the process so all that's left is new, clean fluid.

 

[jp1985]

Help!!!!

I am also having this issue :frustrate .

It is only on the drivers side front break.

I replaced everything as well and lubed and sanded everything down.

I also replaced everything in the front and all the back brakes, but it still heats up like burning hot and smells burning hot and puts out so much break dust.

I have done everything i could think of for it other than buying a M/C like the OP said he hadn't done yet either.

Has anyone found the salutation to this issue? If so would you please please let me know. I need my truck to be working again so my family can have use of it again.

thanks

JP1985

 

[larrydd999]

Not trying to hijack the thread, but if the problem is drag on the left front wheel, why would the vehicle pull to the right? Wouldn't any drag on the left front result in a pull to the left? Just wondering...

 

[ld50]

I was thinking along the same lines as huntsman. Wheel bearings can heat up pretty good when they go. Also, you should check the bearing anyway, because all that heat can cook the grease out of them.

A side story: I bought brand new brake cylinders for my rear drums. One failed and the subsequent heat did in fact cook the grease from my bearing on that side so I had to replace that too. (I have a 9-inch [The axle, not bragging])Turned out there was a piece of slag on one of the push cylinders that effectively made it stay where it was pushed to, keeping one of the shoes in contact with the drum. Unfortunately I did the work just before a long road trip..

 

[2stroke]

I have never got a good answer on why a vehicle can pull the opposite side of the brake that's sticking. If someone knows, please shake. I've been in trucks where it has done exactly that. In my 94 I have never had it happen. One thing that has happened is the pins have worked themselves out, and it will pull to that side. Another thing that has happened is I have accidentally put the pins in upside down. Its just something to check.