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right rear brake is dragging hard!

Posted: November 24th, 2007, 3:05 am
by jason5151
the temperature outside dropped from 10 degrees to -10 degrees my brakes were working fine until i pulled e-brake then i pulled out of a sloped drive way at my relatives place ,normally my car would slowly roll!
but not today,so have come to the conclusion that my brakes are stuck on .....
anyway so i drove off home a few kms away to see if it would release the pads off the rotor and it did a little but when i got out of my car i went around to see where the heat radiated from stuck caliper ,and found it to be the right rear ....
so my question to any knowledgeble members here is do you think its the e -brake cable that is sticking or the caliper is not returning to off the rotor position?and if either how do i go about fixing this problem any trouble shooting tips appreciated. I hope to keep this thread going till problem is resolved. :?

Posted: November 24th, 2007, 3:39 am
by Whisper
Did your e-brake get frozen shut due to the temperature drop?

Although if it's just one of the wheels, and not both, I'm guessing a stuck caliper.

Posted: November 24th, 2007, 9:35 am
by 94mx3precidia
well seeing as how our back e brake cables break from one cable to 2 seprate cables for each of the back brakes. I would say that your e brake cable is seazed beacuse of moisture in the cable. Its pretty obvious, you said that when it went from 10 to -10 and your problem started from there. I dont think its a seized caliper because really the only factor that would have caused it to randomly seize would be the fact that it went down to -10. If it did seize because of the cold, the caliper should have let go already because a dragging brake causes alot of heat and that head would dicipate into the caliper its self.

I would try parking your car somewhere warm and see if that helps your problem. While your somewhere warm spray some wd-40 down the e brake line, wd-40 is a very good water repelliant and it will keep water out of the ebrake cable.

All the water is really doing is getting between the tiny strands of metal that make up your ebrake cable. When the cable swells due to the water freezing the cable becomes the same diameter and the outside wall of the e brake cable housing and thus it seizes in place. If your lucky, you may not have broken the outside housing.

Thats just my .02 Cents.

Posted: November 24th, 2007, 6:54 pm
by wytbishop
Brake fluid is agroscopic. That means it attracts water from the atmosphere. Although the brake's hydraulic system is a closed system, mosture does collect in the brake fluid over time. Especially if it has ever been overheated.

Bleed your brakes, lube your cables and you should be fine.

Posted: November 25th, 2007, 7:50 am
by mx3autozam
Its probably the cables are old and the ebrake will sticking. Maybe get some new cables. and really grease up the lever for it on the back of the caliper. I had a similar problem with my car last year but it was the caliper itself was sticking it was actually the slider pin was screwed. I bought new ones and greased them up. You may want to do that as well.

Posted: November 25th, 2007, 12:52 pm
by wytbishop
The point about the floating pin on the rear calipers is a good one. Mine were seized and the calipers had to be replaced. If it's gotten to the point where the pins are seized, there's probably lots of other possible reasons for your brake problem.

My entire rear brake recon cost me about $400.

Posted: November 27th, 2007, 1:55 am
by jason5151
going to take 94s advice and try to spray wd-40 down the cables the best i can and spray the cantilever on caliper before the winter goes into deep freeze,hope that this works! will report back in afew days ,or when weather gets cold...

Posted: November 27th, 2007, 8:13 pm
by 94mx3precidia
like i said before. Park it somewhere warm for the night. Above freezing and take it for a drive and see if its still dragging.

Posted: November 30th, 2007, 3:18 pm
by jason5151
not dragging any more,found boot at end cable broken on right rear cable
sprayed wd40 right in there and no more sticking e-brake so far but now my rotor is warped from heat!next!

Posted: December 19th, 2007, 1:32 am
by jason5151
problem came back,just my luck it turned out to be the right cable needed replacing, $100 for this part! now snow drifting is possible yea!