08 Ford Escape Front Brakes Locking Up

realsvcmgr

Just as the title says. Background: couple months ago son in fastfood drive thru where naturally one must "ride" the brakes while waiting in line. Pays for chow goes to leave, front brakes locked up solid. He was able to limp it home since only about 4 miles from home but was a long 4 miles as when occurs naturally the engine is fighting the locked up brakes and at 20mph it revs out around 6k rpm, not good in of itself! Was very intermittent at first primarily occurring naturally in a heavy braking environment like city driving. Tells me heat is the motivating factor simply because now that it is summer, even though the vehicle has sat overnite, when get in it first thing in the morning, and the outside ambient temp was in this occurrence 99deg with a heat index of 106, simple depressing the peddle to put the vehicle in to gear locked the front brakes up solid. The wife, against my orders, snuck the vehicle out couple days ago to go to town, this case 40 miles away and got stuck in said town coz the brakes locked up. So had no choice but to take to a garage that was only a block away. IAW that guy both front rubber brakes lines were collapsed. Weirder things have happened but have a hard time believing "both" collapsed simultaneously. Positive is but a band-aid fix and the issue will reoccur. Now Ford Tech Assist knows full well about HCU (hydraulic control unit) problems, ABS problems from their pisspoor tone rings all the way up to the module overheating itself placing the vehicle in to ABS mode when simply driving down the road. Master Cyl cap leaks causing fluid to get on to the module connectors causing a slew of problems, etc. (that they've actually issued a recall on "some" affected models at least). I have been in the auto svc industry for over 20 years since military service and have worked in GM dealer shops from tech to service writer to foreman to service mgr. I'm putting this out there coz people need to know as much info as possible especially in the wake of a rash of OEM's finally getting held accountable for confirmed safety issues that have cost human lives, can anyone say General Motors, Toyota, and especially right now Ford with vehicles burning down & rolling over easily? The all mighty dollar rules the day with auto manufacturers same as any other large corporation, human lives be damned as far as they're concerned. Will update the progress of this 2008 Ford Escape brake issue. Please don't tell me to R/R the pads! Gimme a brake, pun intended. Pretty sure what the true culprit is, just need more time with the poj. Vehicle doesn't go in to ABS mode while driving down the road for no good reason because of a bad caliper, brake line, master cyl, etc. which is another thing it's doing. Like I said will update when get more info. Thanks

thecardoc3

realsvcmgr said:

Just as the title says. Background: couple months ago son in fastfood drive thru where naturally one must "ride" the brakes while waiting in line. Pays for chow goes to leave, front brakes locked up solid. He was able to limp it home since only about 4 miles from home but was a long 4 miles as when occurs naturally the engine is fighting the locked up brakes and at 20mph it revs out around 6k rpm, not good in of itself!

That wasn't very smart forcing this home like that, about the only thing worse than that was this not being addressed right then.

realsvcmgr said:

"
The wife, against my orders, snuck the vehicle out couple days ago to go to town, this case 40 miles away and got stuck in said town coz the brakes locked up."

I'm having a problem with the idea that this wasn't repaired immediately and completely at the first sign of trouble with the brakes.

realsvcmgr said:

So had no choice but to take to a garage that was only a block away. IAW that guy both front rubber brakes lines were collapsed. Weirder things have happened but have a hard time believing "both" collapsed simultaneously. Positive is but a band-aid fix and the issue will reoccur.

Based on your description the first thing that I want to look at is the rubber seal for the master cylinder cap. By chance is it distorted, and maybe swelled oversized? You can take a photo and upload it.

realsvcmgr said:

Now Ford Tech Assist knows full well about HCU (hydraulic control unit) problems, ABS problems from their pisspoor tone rings all the way up to the module overheating itself placing the vehicle in to ABS mode when simply driving down the road.

You have an eight year old, almost nine year old car that has some problems, and at the least one of them is that it needs to be serviced better. If you think this isn't fixed yet, then park it until it is, now. This isn't Ford's fault and as someone who is claiming knowledge and experience ...

realsvcmgr said:

I have been in the auto svc industry for over 20 years since military service and have worked in GM dealer shops from tech to service writer to foreman to service mgr

You need to set a better example. JMHO.

The rest of the things you talked about that can go wrong are just a car doing what cars do, they break and need repairs on occasion. The tone rings breaking is nothing more than a minor annoyance compared to what GM's used to do with entire wheel hub issues. (Think Colorado for one of their worst faux paus)

The master cylinder cap leakage can happen to any car when someone overfills the master cylinder, and then someone replaces the brake pads and pushes even more fluid back up into the reservoir without planning or checking.

realsvcmgr said:

Will update the progress of this 2008 Ford Escape brake issue. Please don't tell me to R/R the pads! Gimme a brake, pun intended. Pretty sure what the true culprit is, just need more time with the poj.

Either you know what the problem is right now or you don't. Time and again people try and push the idea that "anybody can do brakes", and that's just not true. Being able to "do brakes" requires being able to figure out what is wrong when problems like this occur. Just being able to slap a set of pads or shoes does not make someone competent at repairing a vehicle's brakes.

realsvcmgr said:

Vehicle doesn't go in to ABS mode while driving down the road for no good reason because of a bad caliper, brake line, master cyl, etc. which is another thing it's doing. Like I said will update when get more info. Thanks

So have you put a scan tool on this and monitored the wheel speed signals? Have to looked to see which ABS solenoids are being actuated? Lots of cars today use the abs system as part of the stability control, and traction control systems. (aka.. GM's stabilitrack, Toyota VCS etc.) Is the ABS operation when not braking the result of the system falsely thinking it has a wheel spinning issue?

Kimberly1905

I have a 2003 Ford Edge Pick up 6 cyl. 5 speed standard.  Was driving yesterday about 55 mph. when all of the sudden it was as if i had a blow out.  I tried to pull over, but even though my clutch was in all the way, I was in neutral while braking.  I skidded to the side of the road.  Got out all tires were fine.  I started it up and eased it up the shoulder when all the sudden it stopped sudden llol y.  I couldn't go or roll.  Every time we try to go it screechs to a sudden stop and will not roll.  Can someone give me a thought as to what I can do besides having it towed to a mechanic.  In other words does anyone think perhaps this will be an easy inexpensive fix (wishful thinking?)

Thanks.....

Misslisatn

I have a 2008 ford escape....the break pedal vibrates and the front brake fills like its sticking alot of times i go to stop....my ABS light and traction light come on and off all the time too but its not like the breaks act crazy only when lights on....they both do their thing whenever....ive had to break suddenly and that was fine but its more like when i go to stop at light or park

Mary808

2012 Ford Escape brakes locking up

I have a 2012 Ford Escape with 92,000 miles
the brakes locked up so bad out of no where, it was a screeching loud sound and we were barely able to get it to a shop. They said (last time AND this time) the brakes are so locked down they couldn’t get them open with a crowbar. the pistons shattered and everything including the calibers needed to be replaced. So we got them replaced and 2 months later we are experiencing the same problem!
currently there is no recalls but we have submitted a safety concern and I hope they determine what is the problem because I do not have money to replace all this crap every 2 months.
My car is well maintained. I change my oil at the recommended times. I have a platinum Dealership warranty and platinum dealership maintenance plan so I sure as hell didn’t do anything to cause this and if ford themselves has been maintaining my car then why are we experiencing these problems?
over it and $750 into this problem which is not including our current predicament which will be another $500 out of my pocket! 


The more people who submit safety concerns the better!
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/

thecardoc3

Is the shop looking at this now the same one that did the previous work? The normal day to day job having a car come in and needing the brakes redone, calipers pads and rotors isn't a notable event. Unless something pops up and doesn't work out correctly there may have been nothing to alert the technician to the underlying concern. Now two months removed there is another failure. Sometimes it takes something like that to make them go take a closer look at other components that initially appear to be working correctly.