Front Disc Brakes Drag HELP, Going On Trip In 3 Days
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Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 467
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From: North Ridgeville, Ohio
Front Disc Brakes Drag HELP, Going On Trip In 3 Days
Front disc brakes drag. About once a week for past couple weeks. They wont release all the way. They stop dragging after brakes cool down. Bad on gas mileage. Then the check engine light came on today. Probably because of the strain on the engine?? Everything appears to be ok from outside. Please HELP ASAP, Im going on a trip with the truck on Saturday. Thank You.
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 755
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From: So. California
two most common reasons for disc brakes to hang up are a problem with the brake lines( people sometimes let the calipers hang fron the brakelines while they do the brakes and this breaks the inside of the rubber and causes restrictions.) the other is the caliper slides are not lubricated and cause the outside pad to rub on the rotor. Occasionally a caliper piston will get some dirt in it and cause it to hang up. The fact that it does it when hot makes me want to say the caliper slides are the prob. first place I would look. pins expand when they get hot and the caliper does not slide as easy
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Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 61
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From: henderson, nevada, united states
My two cents - I had a similar problem with the passenger side. Wheel made a grinding noise like rubber dragging on metal - felt like emergency brake was always on while driving. The rotor turned blue from excessive heat!
Long story short - we replaced rotors, needlessly rebuilt calipers (except for the rubber boots that cover the slider pins), installed new brake pads, etc.... then I noticed a small tear in one of the small rubber boots that go over the slider pin on the caliper. When we replaced those rubber boots and regreased the slider pins, my problem was solved. My guess is that the grease dried up from the tear and dirt got in which did not allow the pin to release all the way, thus allowing my brake pad to constantly drag on the rotor.
Like it was suggested above, start with the slider pins and rubber boots before you spend money doing major things. I would have saved a lot of time and money if I had only started out small.
Long story short - we replaced rotors, needlessly rebuilt calipers (except for the rubber boots that cover the slider pins), installed new brake pads, etc.... then I noticed a small tear in one of the small rubber boots that go over the slider pin on the caliper. When we replaced those rubber boots and regreased the slider pins, my problem was solved. My guess is that the grease dried up from the tear and dirt got in which did not allow the pin to release all the way, thus allowing my brake pad to constantly drag on the rotor.
Like it was suggested above, start with the slider pins and rubber boots before you spend money doing major things. I would have saved a lot of time and money if I had only started out small.
