Front brakes again

[Steve Adams]

As you may recall I had a full front brake job done in August after 10K miles of use. Last replacement was in June of 10.

Yesterday, on the way home from that rally we experienced a nearly seized caliper (mucho smoke and now we know what that god awful smell is being caused by) on the left front wheel. We were less than a mile from our storage facility and just as close to a Les Schwab so I went there.

Schwab says caliper is toast, rotor is toast and pads are toast. I called Pacific Power Products who did the replacement in August (605 miles ago!) and they offered to have it towed to their facility in Ridgefield at no cost to me. They also said they would "make it right" if this was caused by their technicians. Off it went to Ridgefield.

At the service seminar Gerald mentioned it could be a bad brake booster (I have air over hydraulic brakes). Is there anything else I should have checked out? Obviously everything on the left wheel is being replaced. Should I replace the right caliper while it is there?

As much as we love this coach, if this keeps happening it's going on the block.

Thanks, Steve

[Gerald Farris]

Steve,
First you need to determine the root cause of the brake failure problem. There are a number of possible items that can cause the problem you experienced. First, why did the brakes fail with only 10,000 miles. If they did not determine the reason for the first failure the brake failure was not properly diagnosed at the repair 605 miles ago, so you should not be responsible for this repair.

If it was the same wheel again, I would look at something like a restricted brake hose, restricted line, or seized caliper. If it was a different wheel, it will be harder to narrow down.  If it is both front wheels, the booster becomes more of a suspect.

As for replacing the right caliper because the left caliper locker-up, that is usually a waste of money unless you have something like the Ford ceramic piston caliper that is a known for a very high failure rate and you are replacing it with a different design like a stainless steel piston caliper.  

Gerald  

[Steve Adams]

Gerald,

Thanks for the follow up. Pacific Power Products starts their investigation Monday (tomorrow) morning. I will post more as I hear from them.

Thanks again, Steve

[Karl Welhart]

Steve,

I and many others have faced this same situation....  Gerald pointed out some very valid points, however IMHO determining the exact problem is going to be very difficult.  In some cases it just trial and error.  The most likely cause is excessive heat buildup in the caliper.  The piston becomes enlarged and will not retract in the caliper, then all kind of bad things happen...

Best solution is replace both left and right calipers, rotors, pads and make sure the tech checks the bearings and seals.  It is very important to flush all four brakes and replace brake fluid with either DOT 3 or 4.  One other thing that is very important is annual maintenance of these brakes.  Front pins must be cleaned and re-lubricated with proper grease.  The rear brakes must have the slides cleaned and re-lubricated.  This service is extremely important in coaches that are not driven frequently..

Good luck,

Karl

[Richard And Babs Ames]

Replace any rubber brake linrs. Interior degrigation can make them check valves causing the brakes not to release.

[Steve Adams]

FYI, Picked up the coach yesterday from Pacific Power Products in Ridgefield, WA.

They found that the left caliper clamped down and would not release but they could not get the issue to repeat itself. In their words they "troubleshot the entire braking system and could find no culprit."

They replaced the left side rotor and pads and rebuilt the left wheel bearing again along with replacing calipers for both sides. Additionally, they were able to troublehoot the ABS system and found two bad wheel sensors which they replaced and the ABS system is working again.

I feel they went out of their way to get me back on the road again.

They ate the cost of the left wheel ABS sensor, rotor, pads and caliper and labor for those parts plus the tow which I understand was $875. At this point I have nothing but good things to say about their service. I guess time will tell if my braking problems continue.

Steve