Hello,

Some time ago, while driving normally, my right front brake slowly began to lock up me- eventually locking up completely. After the thing cooled down, I bled the brakes hoping this was the problem. No such luck- after about a mile the same thing happened.

Caliper, caliper, everybody told me it's the caliper. Stupid me bought new calipers before taking apart the old ones. So here I am in the exact same boat, except with new calipers now.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? I would guess the abs has something to do with it, but I'm not familiar with how the thing actually works.

If it was the master cyl, it would not be possible that only one corner would be effected, correct?

Thanks for any ideas, I'm stumped.

 

I dunno but the 90 max didn't come with ABS

 

define locking up completely?? u mean that wheel does not move at all?? or the brakes are dragging?
is the rotor overheating?
or when you step on the brakes the right side would just lock up like a screech?
Dan

 

Here is the whole ugly story:

The problem:

After driving the car for about a mile, the right front brake starts to drag. The problem becomes progressively worse until it's nearly locked up Smokey, stinky, and hot!). When the parts totally cool, all is back to normal and the wheel spins completely free.

I have tried:

Bleeding the brakes. Several times actually. Everyone said "It's obviously the caliper, stupid". They were right, I was stupid because I just took their word for it and went out and bought new calipers/pads. No dice.

Several have also suggested that the problem may be some type of debris or a kink acting as a check valve in the line. This seems somewhat unlikely to me. I would think that the brake would start dragging sooner if this were the case. I can sit there and pump the brakes all I want, as long as I'm not moving the problem doesn't appear.

Others have suggested that it's something to do with the master cylinder. This too, seems rather unlikely. The master cylinder has two "circuit's" front and back, no? It wouldn't make sense that only one corner would not release. Please tell me if I'm wrong.

I tend to think the problem has something to do with the ABS, probably because it's inner workings are pretty much a mystery to me. Besides, what else is there? It was my impression that the ABS could only release the brakes, however.

I would also like to note that the problem seems to be related to heat. I can't think of any way to determine if this heat is merely a symptom or part of the cause. It seems feasible that there is a pad that starts to rub and as more and more heat is produced the situation snowballs, eventually locking up. Possible?

If you have any suggestions, ideas, or require more info, PLEASE do not hesitate. I'm really stuck (literally).

 

You're not the first to tell me this, though you might be the first that actually owns the same year.

 

You might want to try this: Take the wheel off...Take the caliper/pads off...take off the pin that is keeping the rotor on and screw that "nut" off....slide the rotor off and take a good look at it....does it look warped at all? When you brake under normal conditions, does the pedal vibrate? Even the slightest bit? Your solution might be one of two things...1.) "Turning" the rotors or 2.) depending on the rotor, relpace the rotor (about $60, maybe less) Take a look at it and tell me what you see....

 

Just a polite request here.. would you mind dropping the image size on your sig pic? it's a nice car, but it fills 1/2 my screen, and I'm running 1028 resolution!
If you need someone to do it for you, I'd be glad to drop it to any size you want..