I just changed out a faulty brake booster and master cylinder on my 89, which helped pedal feel and responsiveness greatly. I have noticed, however, that the front right is braking harder than the left. It doesn't really pull, but there is much more brake dust on the right, it gets a good deal hotter than the left, and when I brake hard only the right abs kicks in. I have bled the brakes several times and there are no leaks. All I can think of is keep bleeding them or maybe change the left caliper. Any suggestions?
Uneven brakes
- Thread starter darkside88T
- Start date
Sounds like a sticking caliper to me. I would disassemble both sides and grease the slides. Check the calipers over and make sure nothing looks too rusty, etc.
good awnser,
but make sure if you disseble them to be carefull when puttin them back together, you can cut the seal for the piston, and cause a leak,
also you dont sant to sand the pistin but a scotch pad should clean it up the bore shouldn't matter to much unless debree is ectruding into the pistin path, or any at all usauly there good, but you may find dirty or rusty ones,
rebuild kits are also aviable, new seal and boot.
usin your air compressor is a nice way to get the piston back it, but dont put the nossle in the whole, hit it from a few inches back just to straigten out the seal, if it seals and the nossle is to close you might fine your hand is pinched or bleeding from it hittin the table.. or other side of the caliper,
but make sure if you disseble them to be carefull when puttin them back together, you can cut the seal for the piston, and cause a leak,
also you dont sant to sand the pistin but a scotch pad should clean it up the bore shouldn't matter to much unless debree is ectruding into the pistin path, or any at all usauly there good, but you may find dirty or rusty ones,
rebuild kits are also aviable, new seal and boot.
usin your air compressor is a nice way to get the piston back it, but dont put the nossle in the whole, hit it from a few inches back just to straigten out the seal, if it seals and the nossle is to close you might fine your hand is pinched or bleeding from it hittin the table.. or other side of the caliper,
Thanks for info! I'll tear into them in the next day or two and see what I can do. When doing the fronts, will I just need to bleed the front ones or is the system set up so that all 4 need to be bled again?
rebuild kits are cheap. the pistons are not. see if one is scuffed up. if it pulls to the right it may be the left is not engaging quickly. or the right piston is not going back in all the way. could even be rust and debris in the caliper plugging up the fluid hole and not letting the fluid back up into the line. i had a similar problem with mine but when i pulled the abs fuse it went away.
try pulling the abs fuse and see if it brakes correctly like mine did. If it does not pull any more then the abs is screwing stuff up. i replaced the magnetic sensor on the suspect side but no change. Also cleaning off the iron filings of the magnet may help. it ended up the abs disc on the knuckle (the ribbed disc) was not perfectly round anymore after a bearing install. the abs disc has to rotate very close to the sensor. my disc was bent slightly and i had to bring it back out to round using a sensative caliper mounted on a magnetic stand. as i turned the disc the caliper would show how many milimeters the disc was warped out of round. i pulled the low sections back out into spec.
try pulling the abs fuse and see if it brakes correctly like mine did. If it does not pull any more then the abs is screwing stuff up. i replaced the magnetic sensor on the suspect side but no change. Also cleaning off the iron filings of the magnet may help. it ended up the abs disc on the knuckle (the ribbed disc) was not perfectly round anymore after a bearing install. the abs disc has to rotate very close to the sensor. my disc was bent slightly and i had to bring it back out to round using a sensative caliper mounted on a magnetic stand. as i turned the disc the caliper would show how many milimeters the disc was warped out of round. i pulled the low sections back out into spec.
Adjuster
Supramania Contributor
Yep, tone ring to sensor clearance can sure cause all kinds of issues. 
Your ABS warning light should have been on however if the system has problems IIRC.
Try cleaning up your slid pins, lube them and make sure the bellows on each are in good shape. After you are done cleaning up the calipers and slide pins, with the calipers up and out of the way, carefully clean both sides of the front rotors with new/clean paper towels and brake cleaner. (Saturate the towel, and then wipe down the rotor face with a clean side of the towel, then throw that towel aside, and get a new towel for the other side of the car. This should remove all oils from the rotor faces, another possible cause of brake issues. Clean your pads too, but you can spray them off with brake cleaner, and them them air dry. Try not to touch any brake surface with bare hands, dirty hands or dirty gloves when your putting them back together. Any oils can cause problems, especially if it's embedded into the pad material.)
If your calipers are dragging, your pads will be worn with a serious taper to them. Either replace the pins, or get rebuild calipers and new pads. (Loaded is what they call them, and the prices are not too bad this way, you can even choose pad types in some cases.)
Your ABS warning light should have been on however if the system has problems IIRC.
Try cleaning up your slid pins, lube them and make sure the bellows on each are in good shape. After you are done cleaning up the calipers and slide pins, with the calipers up and out of the way, carefully clean both sides of the front rotors with new/clean paper towels and brake cleaner. (Saturate the towel, and then wipe down the rotor face with a clean side of the towel, then throw that towel aside, and get a new towel for the other side of the car. This should remove all oils from the rotor faces, another possible cause of brake issues. Clean your pads too, but you can spray them off with brake cleaner, and them them air dry. Try not to touch any brake surface with bare hands, dirty hands or dirty gloves when your putting them back together. Any oils can cause problems, especially if it's embedded into the pad material.)
If your calipers are dragging, your pads will be worn with a serious taper to them. Either replace the pins, or get rebuild calipers and new pads. (Loaded is what they call them, and the prices are not too bad this way, you can even choose pad types in some cases.)
Great info guys! I inspected the driver side caliper... its in BAD shape. I'm kicking myself now for not catching it when I swapped my rotors. The guide pin is badly worn resulting in lots of play. I have another caliper and bracket on the way so hopefully that will take care of it, though I will check the other things you guys mentioned while I'm at it.
Squid699 said:
Heh... too bad my beraings won't be in till Friday.
Yeah, apparantly the freeze plug behind the timing cover decided to spring a leak a few days ago(still unconfirmed, but 90% sure thats what it is). I was driving the car and started seeing little spots of tan sludge on my windshield, then immediately after that my temp gauge started to climb... I then pull off the road, the engine shuts itself off, and I get out to be greeted by a sludge covered front bumper. It seems that the viscosity remained good enough to keep my oil pressure up during the ordeal... which is good because it kept the parts sort of lubricated and bad because that crap is everywhere in my engine now. So Squid and I yanked the engine the other day and I'm waiting on a fresh set of rod bearings for it. I checked the ones in it, which seem ok for the most part, but I'm not taking a chance considering how cheap the bearings are, how easy they are to change, and how pissed I would be if I didn't and the old ones decided to fail. The oil/coolant mix made it up into my turbo and intercooler pipes so I guess it bubbled up through the PCV at some point, which would be the reason for the engine shutting off. As of now, I plan to clean up the bottom end as much as I can before putting the oil pan back on, changing the rod bearings, cleaning out my oil cooler+lines+intake, putting it all back in, doing a 5min run, changing the oil and doing a 15min run, then changing the oil again and proceed to continue breaking the engine in even though I JUST FINISHED breaking it in before this crap happened. How many miles should I break in with just a bearing change, 500?
yea, with just bearings you shouldn't have to go overboard.
I'm still laughing about our little 'incident' today
I'm still laughing about our little 'incident' today
I got my brakes in order a week or so ago. I replaced both front calipers and brackets (thanks 7Mboost), cleaned the metal shavings off of the ABS sensors, and cleaned up the rotors and pads. I also fixed my freeze plug problem and changed the rod bearings. I have about 700 miles on it since and its been running and braking beautifully. Thanks again for the info.
haha pulling out an engine and replacing rod bearings. you and i seem to be experts at that now....