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Yup, I use Dot 4 in all of my cars, even our domestic minivans, and I flush the full braking system every other year. ;-)
Best Regards,
Shipo
I had my front rotors turned a year or so ago for around $30. I believe my Buick dealership charges $249 just for a front brake job. Anyhow, thanks all for the input.
I hope it didn't come off that I was being harsh to you.
I tend to generalize my statements sometimes for everyone's benefit and sometimes it may seem like it is directed at one person.
It sometimes bothers me that some of these "chain" places run these specials and all these people go in thinking they are getting a great deal, until the $99 special turns into $600. Only to find out that they could have had a quality shop do a quality job for around the same money.
I'm not saying all chain places are bad, there are exceptions. The key is to find a quality place that gives you personal attention.
My main issue with chain stores is their tendency to over-sell, or sell on fear, and of course the "bait" advertising (the latter being illegal).
My Mazda dealership was running a $19 oil change special a month or so ago. They tried to sell me the 30k service while my van only had 28k. But, they didn't try to pressure, trick, or put a guilt trip on me into buying it... or anything else extra, so no problem.
If I had an old work truck or some such, I might use a chain store to slap on some pads or shoes; but on my primary car, which I tend to drive with elan, I want every inch of stopping power, so I'm either going to tear it down completely and do it myself (yes, including braided brake hoses, etc) or take it to a friend's specialty shop.
Nothing worse that not having those few extra feet of stopping power when you need them.
Brakes are just about the one thing no owner should "skimp" on if he can afford to do otherwise.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
If I personally picked up a 20 year old beater, assuming it was running okay (and I wouldn't immediately be throwing money away), I would do a brake job on it.
New calipers and new brake pads, if the rears were drums...new brake cylinders and shoes.
If the rotors were gouged, had hot spots on them, or if I had detected a pulsating while stopping...I'd replace them as well.
I clean out the master cylinder reservoir, and then fill with new brake fluid and purge/bleed all the lines.
This might cost you 100-200 in parts (which is comparatively peanuts), but you would now know you had all new stopping power and have confidence in the vehicle. You also wouldn't have to be going back into the brakes for a number of years.
Air in the system would be the most likely cause of your soft brakes, and either purging the lines or this brake job would resolve it. If after these new maintenance parts you still had softness, then you could replace the master cylinder. You could replace that as well, but I've owned a number of very old high mileage cars, and have never had to replace a master brake cylinder. I know they 'do' go bad, I've just never have experienced it personally.
One way to test the master cylinder is to disconnect all the brake lines going to it and install brass plugs in the holes where the lines went in. Then pump up and bleed the master through these little plugs (by loosening them one at a time). If your master pumps up and stays firm after bleeding, you can assume it's okay.
Being the first part of the system, by determining that you have a good master cylinder, you can look elsewhere with confidence that you've eliminated one item entirely.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
I first inspected and replaced the rotor and brake pads thinking I had a warped rotor. No change. I also had the tires rotated and re-balanced. No change. Then I replaced the caliper assembly with pads. No change. Finally, I replaced the brake hose, thinking I had a collapsed hose. No change. After I changed the brake hose I put the truck on jack stands and tried to rotate both front tires. The left tire was difficult to turn and only rotated once (i.e, it felt like the brakes were applied). The right tire turned freely (6 - 10 times) before stopping. What is causing this? Could the brake master cylinder be bad?
The vibration at 60mph is that under braking or when just coasting? If it's when you are coasting it may be unrelated.
The squeeling you hear when backing up may be due to rust that builds up on brakes when your vehicle sits for a few hrs. It's the pads clearing off the rust on the bare rotors.
-mike
This will be a long post, so if you are not interested, please go on.
In 2005 we purchased a brand new Dodge Grand Caravan. About 17500 miles, it started making a VERY LOUD moaning noise, whenever we were driving slow, like around a drive through at a restaurant, whenever we made a slow left turn, or when we were coasting to or from a stop. It is loud enough to get bystanders attention.
We took the van in, and the techs thought it was the rack and pinion, they replaced that,it wasn't. Then we were told it was the power steering, and even though it was under warranty, we were told to flush and refill the power steering, it did not stop the moaning.
It has been in for other repairs, like ABS going out, ABS sensor going out, and just last Friday, they replace the rear wheel bearings, and the half shaft broke, while I was leaving my driveway, which they had to tow. There have been other things, but, the moaning is still there. We have 20 minutes of recordings of the moaning. It can happen when we drive 10 miles, or it most definately happens when we drive for over an hour. The service guys have refused to ride with me 2 times when it happens, I have made a beeline to the dealership when it is really bad, but when they try to duplicate it, without letting me do it, they say it doesn't happen, and I don't believe them when they say they can't, because it happens every time. Yesterday, I took all the recordings to the dealership again, and mind you, my warranty expired Saturday.
The service manager said there is a problem with 1 in a 100 T&C's, Dodge GC'S and Chrysler Sebrings making this noise, which he now says could be the whole braking system, and Chrysler Dodge will not authorize what could be up to a $4000.00 repair. This noise happened again today, when I passed a garbage truck, that had stopped, and I swung into the other lane, and it MOANED!!!!! All my friends hear it when the are with me, the dealership manager is stumped, and they have run me until my warranty has expired.
Has anyone ever heard of this.
Now, take a drive with me...... I drive for say 40 minutes, to the nearest large town, doing sometimes 70 MPH on the interstate. I get to town, stop at a store, spend 15 minutes, get back into my vehicle, get on the street, go to the first stop light, and as I am coasting to a stop, the car makes a loud moaning from the rear. I stop far behind the vehicle in front of me, then when I inch forward, with each wheel revolution the van makes a loud moaning noise.
I then go to a drive through, and while I am inching through the drive through, the van is moaing, loudly. :mad:
I get back on the road, and at every single light, the van moans, it is hot outside, the van is hot, and moaning. ( I am thinking i could sell the sound effects for adult movies)
I get back on the 4 lane highway home, exit, and on the exit, as I am slowing down, I have pressed the brakes, let them off, the the van is moaning. It happens all the time.
Has anyone EVER heard of this. :confuse: I have 20 minutes of recordings of this, I have had the van in 7 times, and they won't fix it. :sick:
Please let me know if you have any ideas.
Well, if you have work orders/repair orders showing that the vehicle has been into the dealer for this problem before the warranty expired, then it is considered an "ongoing" problem and should be covered under the warranty, as the problem occurred before the warranty was up and was never resolved. They are still on the hook for it, provided you kept the documentation.
That being said.....................
You stated,
as I am coasting to a stop, the car makes a loud moaning from the rear.
Your vehicle model came with rear drums or rear disk brakes.
Since you said the noise came from the rear, I am assuming that you have rear drum brakes.
Can you tell which rear brakes you have?
I know this may sound odd, but if they won't warranty it, the my suggestion would be to find a reputable independent shop and pay them to do the diagnostics on it (set a price of $100 or so) and have them go for a ride with you.
If they won't go for a ride with you to see what the problem is, then find another shop. But to be honest, I don't know very many indy shops that won't.
If they hear the problem and can tell you what their diagnostics are for $100 or so, then you are money ahead.
Explain to them you are battling a warranty issue.
They may help you out with it.
But be sure if you do, that you set a limit on diagnostics and for goodness sake, make sure it is noted on the work order that you sign. Make it noted that if the diagnostics proceeds past X amount of dollars, that they must get authorization to proceed.
Thanks for your help.
Thanks for your reply.
I didn't go back and read your original post again, but has anyone done a visual inspection of the rear end to look for potential problems? It sounds like from your post that the problem is related to braking, so that's kind of the tack I'm taking here.
I have a classic MGB that, just occasionally, on one of the drum brakes on the back, it will stick when the parking brake is released. I don't know if it's the cable not releasing or a weak return spring or someting else, but it makes a noticable "moan" when the car is moving slowly. My solution is to rock it back and forth a little until I can hear mechanical clunk when it releases. Someday I'll get industrious and fix it.
I copied this from Dodge, Grand Caravan SXT ($26,995) is powered by a 3.8-liter V6 and comes standard with four-wheel disc brakes with ABS, low-speed traction control, 16-inch tires and aluminum wheels, so I guess that means there aren't drums in the back???? :confuse:
I am at a loss, and literally do not want to drive this, considering the half axle broke while pulling out of my driveway, (I know, different areas, but leaves me with little trust)and now they can't diagnose this noise, that has lasted about 20k miles.....
-mike
Thanks for your response, but, they replaced both rear wheel bearings last Friday, which was attempt number 7, at trying to stop the noise, and it did not work. We have driven the van 3 times since then, and recorded the sounds, just like they were before the attempt was made. We are baffled, because they say describe the noise, we did better than that, we recorded it, and there is still no diagnosis......
Thanks for your suggestion, but already done.
But since it is disk rear brakes, did they replace the rear rotors with the new updated rotors or did they just turn them?
If they didn't replace the rotors, then there is a Service Bulletin #05-002-05 for pulsation (which would cause a growl) and the cure was to replace the rotors with part# 05019981AA
This is something that they should have attempted a long time ago. I am suspecting that either this is the problem or you have a rear suspension problem.
Usually on rear disk, the cause of a growl/chatter/groan is most often either a loose caliper, cracked or warped rotor or loose rear suspension.
Thanks so much, and I will let you know what happens this time!!!
My mech replaced the master cylinder and this did not change anything. He tried all he could think of with no result. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what to do?
Sure, a loose vacuum hose could cause you grief.
You might also check to see if you have abnormally low brake pad wear. This might cause the brake pistons to push out much further than they usually do, and that might affect pedal feel.
The symptoms sound like a vacuum loss, which could be the vacuum hose from the intake to the booster or a likely suspect is the vacuum booster check valve (the plastic piece that pushes into the booster and the hose connects to it).
The check valve is about $8 or so.
Check the condition of the vacuum hose and see if there are any cracks.
If the check valve and the hose are not the problem, then get a hand vacuum pump, hook it up into the port the check valve goes into and see if the booster holds vaccum.
If it does not, then the booster is faulty.
Thanks all
-mike
For a bleeding proceedure which is time consuming but one of the most failsafe methods is to use a bleeder hose into a container with a 1-way valve or a container with some brake fluid in it already with the hose submerged. Then have someone pump up the brake pedal and hold it while you crack the bleeder, let them push the pedal to the floor w/o pumping it, when they hit the floor have them keep it there and let you know, then close the valve and let them pump it up hard again. Repeat this and make sure to keep checking the resivoir to make sure you don't run the master cylinder dry.
-mike
I'm new to this forum and I'm not sure if this the correct
place to share my Problem.!?
I just couldn't find my truck Model under the menus...!
Anyways;
I have a toyota Pickup truck 4WD SR5 1991 with Extra Cab.
I have this Problem starting out of the blues driving
I get this light on my dashboard "Rear Anti-lock"
When I got to work turned it off and after I came back to
go home turn it on and no light was on.
After Couple days later on I got the same thing.so
I did the same thing when the first time.
Started happing more often until now that this light doesn't
go away any more no matter what, it's there all the time.!
But, the worse thing, it's that now if I drive my truck
with that light on after few minutes driving starts to hear
this anoying noise like some cracking metal and
if I stop and don't use my truck for a day then it will be
fine, but after few minutes of driving the noise comes back
????????????
Any ideas how can I fix this ABS Brake system light and
make it go away and shut off the horrible noise....!
What's going?
What's the problem??
Any help will be really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance
Freddy
So, I hope this forum is close enough. In brief: The plastic cover for my rear brake lights has simply fallen off. I'd normally have to buy an entire brake light assembly to replace it, but instead have tried the local junkyards with no luck.
Ideas? FYI, this is a '02 Chrysler Town and Country EX.
Thank you for your time.
Sure ABS tends to shield poor drivers from stupid mistakes.... but ABS also makes people drive faster than they should in many dangerous situations.
Also, if brakefluid is not changed at least every 2 years, the hydroscopic nature of brakefluid will corrode the expensive ABS components from the inside out. This makes ABS systems significantly more expensive to maintain and repair than the simpler systems they replace.
You asked for advice... You have already replaced all the components which should have been affected by overheated brake on that corner of the vehicle. There is an outside chance that the new (rebuilt) caliper is defective. But you may be faced with replacing ABS components. AND THEN CHANGE BRAKEFLUID EVERY 2 YEARS REGUARDLESS OF MILES... forevermore on all vehicles you own
I'm taking the car elsewhere to have the brakes looked at before doing anything but can anyone tell me if $ 1,100 for brakes at 21,000 miles sounds reasonable.
So, if it is a dealer doing the work, the estimate sounds about right.
Now, whether you actually need new brake pads or not, that is a tough call. If you do a lot of stop and go driving or a lot of driving in hilly areas, you possibly could need new pads.
But your thoughts of getting a second opinion are good ones.
-mike
I think all Benzes require rotor replacement if the rotor is in any way distressed, regardless of thickness. They don't want you to turn them.