Caliper & Brake Problems

nghtshd88

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Just recently had to change a rear lower control arm on the drivers side. A week or so later today Im driving and the transmission keeps acting confused and it feels like a good misfire. Pull over and the car wont move. I hit the gas and the rear drivers caliper is locking up...

Flip the ebrake on off and drive a little more its okay. Then the same thing repeats itself a mile later. I have rebuilt rear calipers from rock auto about 2yrs old. I guess thats not the best idea as now im out of service? I happen to use the ebrake the night before not sure if its possible the cable can lock up? Or can this be something ABS related?

Plan to turn the caliper in and see if it happens again if so get a new OEM caliper. My experience with the LS is the rear calipers seems to stick.

To top it off I have a horrible creaking noise from the master cylinder area when depressing the brake pedal.

Some claim this is the guide pins not being lubed or the rotors.. i have fairly new OEM rotors and pads. Took it all off and and greased it again no difference.. any ideas?

Is there something else in the linkage to lube? Or is this what a bad cylinder sounds like? Front caliper and boot is totally fine & was able to compress the piston easily. Maybe grease the piston? Can always swap rotors & pads but doubt that is my issue.

Trying to see what I can do before going to the shop. Had this creaking once on my mustang but it went away.
 
Since you replaced the LCA... you may want to check the routing of the E-brake cable on that corner. You may have accidentally re-routed it differently during assembly... which may be causing the brake to drag on that corner. Then it heats up and causes your issue.

Do NOT grease the piston. No grease on brake parts that see extreme heat. It will fubar any friction surface. Only grease the slides inside the booted area where the pins are.
 
And since you replaced the rear drivers LCA... take a close look at the bottom of the coil spring on that same corner.

You may find the spring has a bent, cracked, or broken spring tail. That's usually what causes the drivers rear LCA to fail.
 
And since you replaced the rear drivers LCA... take a close look at the bottom of the coil spring on that same corner.

You may find the spring has a bent, cracked, or broken spring tail. That's usually what causes the drivers rear LCA to fail.

To be honest both rear LCA's went out immediately after someone someone over 200lbs sat in each corner lol. Maybe coincidence but think that finished them off. Bushing definitely looked bad before that. Will check the ebrake cable but doubt that happened. Recently did the rear shocks and springs.
 
Did the RA calipers come with the brackets... or did you re-use the OEM brackets?

One of the guide pins in the bracket may be worn or corroded inside the boot... and sticking. That would cause the brake to drag and heat up.
 
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And don't rule out a collapsed brake hose. Brake hoses often fail internally, especially when calipers are allowed to hang by the hoses during a brake service. You won't necessarily see a collapsed hose, but it will act like a one-way valve internally. One way to check for this is to see if you can compress the piston with the bleeder screw closed. If not, then open the bleeder. If the piston now compresses normally, the fluid is not able to freely return to the master cylinder, likely due to a bad brake hose. This is a bit trickier with a rear calipers that use a ratcheting e-brake, but still possible.

-Rod
 
Yup. That was going to be my next suggestion... but I've been waiting for nghtshd88 to respond.

Also... many cars with ABS have check valves in the lines. If the caliper piston is compressed too quickly when doing a brake job... the check valve can stick or be damaged.

Both this and a collapsed brake hose can cause a dragging caliper, and hard brake pedal.

The check valve issue may be rectified by doing a full ABS pressure bleed. Normal cost for that at a local Ford service center is $100.

The bonus to the bleed... is that you get all new fluid... and any contaminates flushed out.
 
After digging through forums the creaking noise pointed to the caliper. Before this happened when I had an oil change I was not able to freely rotate the drivers wheel so the piston was already dragging. I guess this is what it sounds like before it seizes 100%... again like my last cars it went away on its own but still got a new caliper. $50 at autozone lifetime guarantee.. WISH I had done this on the rear and not used the shitty FORD OEM rebuilt caliper..

Within a year and a half the drivers side got roasted. Pads melted down. Pin seized up caliper also.. the passenger side still had life on it and the AF caliper looked and moved like new still. The FORD side looks older then the car itself... $50 for an autozone one again. I had planned on rear brakes before winter but yea got done earlier. Shortly after my rear wheel bearing went out again..

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After digging through forums the creaking noise pointed to the caliper. Before this happened when I had an oil change I was not able to freely rotate the drivers wheel so the piston was already dragging. I guess this is what it sounds like before it seizes 100%... again like my last cars it went away on its own but still got a new caliper. $50 at autozone lifetime guarantee.. WISH I had done this on the rear and not used the shitty FORD OEM rebuilt caliper..

Within a year and a half the drivers side got roasted. Pads melted down. Pin seized up caliper also.. the passenger side still had life on it and the AF caliper looked and moved like new still. The FORD side looks older then the car itself... $50 for an autozone one again. I had planned on rear brakes before winter but yea got done earlier. Shortly after my rear wheel bearing went out again..

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the Ford OEM is way better than anything aftermarket you're going to get, you probably put it on incorrectly and caused your issue.
 
Actually... from what 88 said... i gather that a caliper slide pin froze up... and wouldn't allow the brake to release.

The main giveaway on that... is what he is pointing to in one of his pics.
 
Yeah pitting in the rotors is a dead give away that the calipers are frozen in place.
I had this problem with a 88 Regal years ago. Bad brake design in the front. Stainless steel pins would still freeze up don't matter how much you greased them and made sure it moved easily. Even a class action lawsuit for it. Cleveland winters didn't help either.
 
They weren't true stainless... but most likely a carbon/stainless mix. Stainless steel is much softer than carbon steel... so true stainless caliper slides would wear out quickly.
That may be true. The calipers certainly weren't stainless and the clearances were small for a caliper pin. I happen to have half of one still that I used to turn down some adapters that I needed. I don't have a hardness tester but I could subject it to some salt water and see if it rusts.
 
Check it with a magnet. Even stainless is slightly magnetic because it has a small amount of carbon steel.

If not magnetic... then the guide is most likely aluminum... which would wear fast and bind.

If aluminum... the guides sticking would make sense...due to dissimilar metals, (galvinic corrosion). That's what happens on the guides on the LS, (steel guide and aluminum bracket).

Unless the bracket is aluminum too on the Regal. I haven't had the priviledge of doing brakes on that vehicle.
 
Not sure how you can put a caliper on incorrectly. Ive done brakes countless times. It froze within a few months because I had it off for wheel bearings beforehand. Not sure if the pins/bracket supplied are different then oem. Boot wasnt broken. Odd.. whatever the case $50 for the lifetime of ownership is a good deal. Unfortunately the timken wheel bearings werent the best choice either..
 
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They are magnetic. They are the sleeves not the bolts. Looks like they changed them a little bit since then. The relief in the center wasn't there. I remember beating them out of the calipers after two years. My neighbor had to true up the ends on his lathe since they were soft and a mess afterward.
Sorry if I got off topic here.
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Surprised to hear that about Timken. I had good luck with their hubs on a different vehicle in the past.
Yeah I just put one on my f350 a year ago also, hope they are still good! Thought timkin was the best.
 
Timken used to be the best... before they started outsourcing some bearing manufacturing.

SKF has done the same thing.

Interestingly... I have ordered Timken rear LS wheel bearings... and found USA made SKF bearings in the box.

Go figure.
 
Hi so i was wondering if anyone would be able to help me out i have a 2006 lincoln ls and i was changing the brake pads and rotors i was able to do both back brakes just fine but when i got to the front calipers idk if the guy before tighten them to much but both of the top caliper bolts are stripped and ik i could probably buy a bolt extractor kit but the only problem is that its the front top bolts and i cant fit a ratchet between the caliper and the control arm
 

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