The brake is getting hot enough to smoke just a little bit. It doesn't smoke a lot or all the time but it smells like something electrical is burning though. I can't see a trail of smoke while driving. The only reason I know about the smoke is because the cop at the gate said something when he checked my ID. There isn't any noticable shaking or pull when I brake. It doesn't appear to be stuck or anything because higher speeds don't affect it. It only has a problem when I use the brakes a lot such as hilly or winding roads or I'm behind idiots that can't drive.

Any help with this odd problem is greatly appreciated.

 

I know after I replaced my rear drums, there was smoke coming from behind the tires. Im thinking that it was from the oily stuff on the outside of the drum to keep it from rusting before installation. Yes, I used brake clean on the inside. Sorry, I bet that doesnt help.
Your rotor and pads in good shape?

 

The pads and rotors were replaced about a year ago. They haven't been touched since then. They do appear to be in good shape from what I can see. There aren't any noises either.

 

I had the same problem with my 97. It was the caliper on the front right.
The sleve in the piston is made of plastic and would get hot and swell. This caused the pads to not retract and drag. It got bad enough that I had to replace the caliper.
Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for letting me know about that. I'll have to keep that in mind if I can't find anything else.

 

if your truck is 2wd it could be your bearing seal. It is on the rear of the rotor and hard to see if grease is coming out with the wheel on.

 

King James, the electrical burning smell describes exactly what I experienced just the other day on my '97; complete with what I swore was a puff of blue smoke. But since I was on an off-ramp, I couldn't inspect it. A quick look once I could get out didn't reveal any noticeable problems and there is no discearnable difference in the feel or effectiveness of the brakes (I went the rest of the ride wondering if I had some sort of electrical problem.) Later, sticking my nose around a little I isolated the smell to the left-front brake. I'd be interested to know what way you go about your problem as I may very well follow suit.

Fsusammons, you say you had a similar problem and ended up replacing the brake caliper entirely. Was there a reason you decided not to just replace the sleeve itself?

 

97 F150 Lariat with 82000 mi.
For some reason my left front pad acts as if that it has no ABS. At slow speed and coming to a stop it locks up. I dont know what could cuase this other than perhaps the ABS sensor for that rotor is going bad or the caliper is screwed. Any ideas guy?

I had my sife take the truck in for brake service when I was in Iraq so I did not have any control over how it was done. When I came back home a month after the work was done is when I noticed the problem. Bad brake job or just a normal ocurrance of something going bad? Need some advice here if you guys have any.

Thanks

Joe

 

Like I said, It got really bad and basicly locked on me one day. It fried the pads. The shop I had work on it said by the time they rebuilt the caliper back to Ford spec and replace the pads I could get a loaded caliper of better quality and not have any more problems. Plus the new caliper was in stock and the rebuild parts would have to be ordered and it was only a few more dollars. These guys have been doing my brakes and front end work for better than twenty years so I trust them.

 

My Grandpaw's 94 Chevy pickup did the exact same thing. The mechanic said it turned out to be a pinched brake line on the opposite side of the brake that was actually locking up. Seems it puts all the pressure on one side when you apply the brakes.

 

I am having the same problem.
98 F150 2WD SC
My left caliper, I assume, has been sticking for a while. When I come to a complete stop, I can take my foot off the bake pedal and the vehicle would't roll. Also, I was getting an abnormal amount of brake dust on that rim. Yesterday, I heard a weird noise and then started feeling a shake in the steering while braking. I decided it was time to do something about this. I got new rotors, calipers and pads. When I changed the left front, the rotor was fried! There was a crack from the outter edge all the way to the bearing housing and the pads were almost gone. However, the right side was just fine. I assumed I had a bad caliper on the left side. A few moments ago, I just bled the front and a weird problem occured. I couldn't get any fluid to come out of the left line. The right side bled fine. So I took each line off from the master and the proportioning valve. Each line would have fluid squirt when the brake pedal was depressed. I inspected the lines from each valve down to the caliper and they checked out OK. Hmmm
Eventually, I got the line bled. I have no idea why it took so long for the fluid to get there. I pumped almost an entire pint through before I closed up the system. Well when I took it for a test drive, I can tell the caliper is still sticking!!!!
The only thing I can think of are the caliper slides. They seemed fine when I was changing out the caliper but what else could it be???? It's a brand new caliper so I am ruling out a sticky piston.

EDIT:
Turns out my problem was the left brake hose. I talked with a Ford master mechanic and he said it's not uncommon for the hose to internally bubble thus stopping the hydraulic flow. Oddly, I noticed that in my area (west chicago suburbs) most parts stores carried the left hose in stock but not the right. I was a parts manager at Ford for many years and I never remember selling that part. Weird.

 

I am going to replace the caliper on the left and pads on both sides. It has gotten a lot worse. I couldn't drive over 50 one day because it shook so much.

 

just make sure you grease the pins well and tighten the caliper bolts to proper spec.

 

Hey, replace both rubber brake lines to the calipers. My friend had the same thing happen on his GMC 1500. We had replaced the rotors, pads, and calipers. the problem came back. The rubber lines swell up inside and block fluid flow and dont allow the calipers to release properly, then the pads hang on the disk. Beware it can burn the wheel bearings if it gets that hot. On his GMC the aluminum wheel turned slight yellow from the heat. good luck The problem was gone after we replaced the lousy $10 brake lines. this was a new one on me, I have been doing brake jobs for 30 years.

 

you should flush and refill your fluid every few years. it gets old and absorbs moisture etc...lowers boiling point etc.. calipers end up getting stuck etc... i had my right front lock up on me scared the hell out of me.