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Pontiac Bonneville Brakes
donnell_thomas
Member Posts: 1
in Pontiac
I am the owner of a pontiac bonniville, it has been a great car even though it is very old ('89 ) a few months ago the brakes started to grind badly. but the funny thing is, is that there was no sqeeking of any kind before the grinding. I'm very concerned because it makes me wonder how well the previous owners took care of the car, or how well the brake shop fixed the brakes the first time. depending on the temp. of the day sometimes they don't grind at all, but then sometimes they are super loud. I need to know if it is too late to just get the brakes fixed or if it is going to be a costly repair.
frusterated and very concerned car owner.
frusterated and very concerned car owner.
0
Comments
If it's the rear drums and they're not grinding all the time with medium brake application, it may just be dust. I've had sounds from my rears on 98 LeSabre and I found it was just dust. It seemed worse when first starting out slowing and especially backing. And it was noisier when there was more humidity like dew or raining or high nightime humidity.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
My husband has never worked on one before only chevys and buicks. How do you get the brake pads off? Someone said you need a special tool to do it? does anyone know what that is and how to? sure could use some help. thanks
Anyone else have this problem?
The car only has 40,000 miles and no rust or leaks at calipers or wheel cylinders.
The car was taken to a gravel parking lot and made a couple of panic stops to engage the ABS. End result is that the Bonneville now has a full brake pedal with no fading of the pedal. The ABS must have gotten an obstruction on the first master cylinder change.
I would have thought the ABS check the system does where it cycles the brakes at each start up of the motor would have burped the air out!
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Have any of you done this yourself?
Any special tools needed?
Any info would be appreciated
I do have general knowledge of putting on brakes but on up to a 1990 model that I owned.
page 107
I looked up the Buick owners manual. The light does not have a chime with it. It also covers the parking brake not fully released? It could mean failure of part of the brakes but the car is not stopping with only two brakes instead of four and no chime.
Check your fluid level in the master cylinder. It seems to me I had that happen when I owned a 93 LeSabre.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Had a line go while on the road, but was lucky enough to have it happen near a GM Dealership.
Yesterday, I went to put my '03 Bonneville in gear, and the pedal went to the floor.
Again.
Found a rust caused leak in the line going from the rear port on the master cylinder to the ABS.
With my luck, it'll be a "Special Order" part.
I'd like to find a diagram of the brake lines, and try to do it myself.
But with the ABS module involved, I'm concerned about bleeding the system properly.
I was a USMC Heavy Equipment Mechanic, and have a fair idea of what I'm doing.
But I just really don't want to have this sumbitch towed to the Dealership and get rooked.
$$$ is really tight right now.
Well, nevermind. It's on the way to the Dealership.
$111 for the Tow, and we'll see what the damage$ are for the work/parts.
On the good side, the Dealership has a $30 Rebate for the tow!
yippie.
Does the caliper on that side stay hot while driving? If it's dragging it would be very hot even if not used for stopping. Try stopping using the parking brake after driving along at slow speeds. If that front brake is not hot, your problem is the brake caliper on the other side is frozen and not applying. Therefore the left front brake is doing all the work stopping the car. It would wear out the pads quickly because the other side is not doing half of the work. The fronts do most of the stopping work on the car; the rears usually do only a low percentage of stopping work.
But I recall some early GM cars where the rear calipers on the disk brakes would rust up and not do any work. The fronts were doing all the work and people kept having to replace the front brakes often. They didn't realize the back brakes weren't helping any and the problem wasn't the front calipers and pads but was the rear calipers.
I believe your 95 is built like my 93 and 98 leSabres. There is a pin and a rubber grommet on the outside that fits in the caliper ears. The huge amount of rust inside the ears after winter salt for years here in Ohio filled up the space some pushing hard on the rubber which pushed hard on the sliding caliper bolt. Replacing the caliper fixed that. If the caliper wasn't replaced, the ears were supposed to be reamed out with a brake cylinder type hone to remove the rust thickness to free up the rubber grommet.
Check your caliper for sliding action on the other side. See if it's frozen up.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Did you open the line to replace the calipers and leave it off so that it drained?
Do you have a leak?
You need to start with the rears and bleed to the front from the longest line to the shortest.
You may have a leaking rear wheel cylinder on the drum brakes.
MOST LIKELY IS A PROBLEM WITH A CORRODED BRAKE LINE. With age this is becoming a problem on some of the H-bodies.
If you did not let the fluid get down the bottom of the master cylinder you may not have to bleed it. There is a procedure for bleeding it and I am not knowledgeable about it. It may need to be removed to do the bleeding. You should get expert help about the master cylinder and bleeding it, if necessary.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,