Smoking driverside rear brake

[RigsLS]

Imagine my surprise sitting at a red light and seeing smoke along side the rear of Frosty.

... get out and ohh yeaahhh she's smoking from the rear driverside wheel,
ran around other side, all ok there.

light turns green, jump back in, make the turn and find a spot to pull over.

Still smoking from the wheel, stinks like carbon burning, your typical, over-
heated brake smell.

Paniced, I start thinking about how my wheel bearing, sliders on the calipers
and more are enjoying this trip.

I get back in the car, emergency brake is all the way down.

used it last Friday when I parked on an incline uphil, never used it before that.

Janked it up and down a bunch of times. Put the car in reverse and hit the brakes.

Get out, have another look, doesn't seem to smoke any longer but still stinks
and burned my index finger from "oh it's smoking, let me touch and see if really hot"

Blonde move ... yeah it's f*cking hot ... you Canadian !!! (don't even bother!)

Continue on my little trip (5min) and keep an eye on the rear end in the mirror.

checked it at the next red light ... not smoking, still hot.

get to my destination for dinner ... no smoke, not so hot, still stinking.

call my buddy mechanic ...
Q: "where you driving with the e-brake on?"
A: No, I'm not a retard ... but did use it past day.

ok, I'll order you some new pads and bring in new calipers in case you need em.
He'll check the emergency brake cable as well. free it up ...

Front brakes are new OEM since date of purchase, have receipt, previous
owner had to put new front brakes on for safety.

rears were not touched ... POSSIBLE sticking emergency brake cable.

After dinner, on the way home, did a hard brake at a red light, got out,
checked both wheels, warm but not hot, no smell.

Using no brake, on our long country road (paved) to our house, rolled slowly
through four way stop, not using any brake at all, until I got to drive way.

checked both rear wheels, rotors and calipers ... cool to the touch.

I'm in for rear brake work service, he'll stop by after work tomorrow,
we'll pop the wheel of and see if any heat damage.

I'm thinking emergency brake cable sticking from not enough usage.

Does the LS use a seperate brake shoe on the inner side of the rotor,
on the driveside only like my old GMC Jimmy 4X4 or does it use the caliper
and pad set to apply parking brake force ?

thanks in advance !

 

[dNyce LS]

Uses the regular rear brakes. No shoes inside the rotor
I had that issue on my passenger rear. Mine was the caliper

 

[hite337]

Yes I have the same issue. The caliper is sticking when the E-brake is used. Something is wrong with the E-brake mechanism inside the caliper. The cable is not locking up on mine.

 

[RigsLS]

Hmmm, interesting ... Ok, thanks guys, we'll dig into it tomorrow after work.
might be able to just free it up and get it to move freely. if not new parts on thier way.
I get mechanic discount on all parts anyhow, so no sweat of my ..lls

The E-brake only locks the driver side then ?
not both sides ? thus the smoke on the one side only ?

Probably burned the rotor and pads though ...

 

[hite337]

You can free up the E-brake by hitting the part where the cable attaches to the caliper. The E-brake works both rear calipers, its likely that only one of your calipers is locking up. And you probly will need to replace the pads, maybe the rotor depending on how many miles you drove like that. The pads will be cracked slightly if they got too hot.

 

[2002_lincolnLS]

I had the smoking on the same wheel. The caliper was seized up I bought all new brake hardware (pad rotors) and haven't had the problem since then. I also use my parking brake rather often as my drive is on an incline

 

[urbomlevi07]

I've never had that problem, but reading your story made me laugh. Hope you get it fixed soon though

 

[RigsLS]

I've never had that problem, but reading your story made me laugh. Hope you get it fixed soon though

Yes, blonde jokes are always a lot of fun, specially Canadian Blonde jokes.
(can't beat them, join them)

 

[LDM]

I had the same issue with smoking from the rear brakes. Both rear caliper pistons were stuck (driver & passenger side). Put on new calipers/pads/rotors and it's been fine since.

 

[RigsLS]

New rear calipers and pads, problems solved.
cheap parts so may not last but resolves my issue for now.

We checked it over and over, could not get it to stick again,
was working freely and I'm 100% certain, I did not have the E-brake on when this happened.

it was the first thing I checked when I got back in the car after seeing the smoke at the intersection.

it was all the way down, only afterwards, did I click it all the way up, then returned it all the way down.

somehow it had to have been stuck ... but I used it 3 days before, didn't use it on the day this happenend.

these things happen, we could have cleaned it up a bit and just put the pads on but when discounted
mechanic parts are sitting ready in the box and you look at the troubled old stuff on the car
... you just can't help but do the right thing and re & re.


Labour was a few beers and some good laughs.
I can do stuff like this myself but when you've got good friends, why worry getting dirty.


Problem solved, next chapter ....

 

[M4rk]

Old thread bump.

My RR caliper is sticking a tiny bit due to the parking brake lever on the caliper not releasing fully. Sometimes the lever only releases to about 2mm short of full (it should touch the bracket it rests on), causing enough friction to make the caliper drag.

When operated by hand, the lever returns to fully released position every time. I am starting to think it might be the cable.

 

[M4rk]

Can't go without a video of the problem for those who are visual:

[video=youtube;-19EajoXK-w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-19EajoXK-w[/video]

 

[Telco]

When you don't use them, the parts will corrode in place because they are exposed to the elements. You either need to use it regularly, or forget it exists. I've gotten into the habit (after recs from this board) of putting the car into neutral, then putting the parking brake on every time I park. I do this mainly to eliminate the hard clunk when I get in the car again, but it also ensures that the parking brake parts move regularly and operate properly. A little caliper grease on any moving parts and any spot where cables go into sheaths wouldn't hurt either.

 

[M4rk]

Yep, I've been using mine regularly since getting the car. Driver side caliper works flawlessly.

I've greased where the lever attaches plus into the cable a few weeks back, only to have this happen again. My next course of action will be to grind a little into the hook on the bracket. If that doesn't fix it, new caliper.

 

[RigsLS]

Cool sounding 2nd GEN LS e-brake. 1st GEN don't sound like that.