Brake nightmare and ?s

[hotwhip9]

Ok so I was replacing my front brakes last night...

Unbolted the calipers took them off, left the brake lines connected, c-clamped the pistons back in, put some new rotors on put the new pads on, greased up the back of them, bolted everything back up. No big deal, right?!
That's what I thought. Front driver side pad some how comes off, the one on the inside of the vehicle. That's the first of my problems, so I pick up the pad, park the car undo that side, compress pistons again, and tighten everything back up. Everything is good, so I think. Drive it again around the parking lot and the brakes are stickin when in drive, no foot on the brake. Really HOT rotors and calipers.

So my roomate thinks the system might be too pressurized, so he loosens the bolt on the caliper to release some of the fluid while I compress the pistons on the caliper. As I'm pushing the pistons in, he tightens the bolt back up.
so we do this to both sides.

Pedal now is really soft.. I'm thinking air in the lines? But they still hold while in drive and its even worse in reverse. You can hear the whining of the friction. So now it sits there hopelessly.

Could the pads and rotors be too thick? The pads are bendix and the rotors are from summit. - if this is the case, it would explain the friction but not the soft pedal.

Help!

[TraceZ]

Ok so I was replacing my front brakes last night...

Unbolted the calipers took them off, left the brake lines connected, c-clamped the pistons back in, put some new rotors on put the new pads on, greased up the back of them, bolted everything back up. No big deal, right?!
That's what I thought. Front driver side pad some how comes off, the one on the inside of the vehicle. That's the first of my problems, so I pick up the pad, park the car undo that side, compress pistons again, and tighten everything back up. Everything is good, so I think. Drive it again around the parking lot and the brakes are stickin when in drive, no foot on the brake. Really HOT rotors and calipers.

So my roomate thinks the system might be too pressurized, so he loosens the bolt on the caliper to release some of the fluid while I compress the pistons on the caliper. As I'm pushing the pistons in, he tightens the bolt back up.
so we do this to both sides.

Pedal now is really soft.. I'm thinking air in the lines? But they still hold while in drive and its even worse in reverse. You can hear the whining of the friction. So now it sits there hopelessly.

Could the pads and rotors be too thick? The pads are bendix and the rotors are from summit. - if this is the case, it would explain the friction but not the soft pedal.

Help!

There is no such thing as too much pressure in a brake system. By opening the bleader, all you did was put air in the system. You will need to bleed the brakes.

How can a brake pad simply fall out after the caliper is bolted back in place? It sounds like something is seriously put together wrong.

[hotwhip9]

I figured i'd need to bleed the brakes now, what a pita. The pad falling out, remains a mystery too me. Maybe i had too much alchohol when i was doing it?! hmmmmm I would have noticed putting the caliper backon if the pad wasnt there! At least i think.

[hotwhip9]

Is it ok to drive now though? Would the system needing to be bleed make it so theres too much friction though?

[SFC AL]

working on your BRAKE system while drinking? *shaking head* MAN I AM GETTING OLD


I would have to say something got put together wrong too


AL

[hotwhip9]

Whats the easiest way to bleed the brakes, undo the bleeder screw, have someone pump the pedal letting the fluid out, tighten screw and continue to pump to build the pressure back up?

[Kevin - Blown 95 TA]

You might want to take the calipers apart and look at the pins that the calipers slide on to adjust. They might be bound up. They should be cleaned and lubed so that the calipers can move around to center themselves.

[N20LT4Bird]

Whats the easiest way to bleed the brakes, undo the bleeder screw, have someone pump the pedal letting the fluid out, tighten screw and continue to pump to build the pressure back up?

WHen you bleed - You pump first, hold the pedal down, and THEN release the bleeder. Next, close the bleeder, let the pedal up and then repeat until you see a nice clear stream of fluid with no bubbles.

As far as the pads sticking, I would be inclined to agree with Kevin. ALways free the sliders and put fresh grease on them when doing front brakes.

If thats not it, the next question I have is - did you open the bleeder when you pushed the piston back in with the c-clamp? SInce the vehicle has ABS, this should always be done. 9 out of 10 times you'll get away with it, but I have seen valves in the ABS module hang by forcing pressure through the opposite way.

[hotwhip9]

well i drove it to the firerobbers. I mean firestone. The drive there, the brakes were sticking, pedal was still soft and the smell of the pads gave me a headache. It's less than a 2 mile drive to the firestone here on base. Hopefully its nothing big, I told them to flush the brake fluid and inspect the front brakes. I can only think that the pads and rotors are too thick. Why else would they be sticking? Anyways, who knows! It's in the shop, along with my s10 extreme. The truck is getting the coolant flush, it was dirty. I'll let everyone know what they said about the brakes.

[hotwhip9]

They said the slider pins seized up. All of them. hmm. I looked at it while they had it up on the lift and that is what happened. They have to replace those and the caliper mounting bracket. What would cause those to seize up all of a sudden?

[SFC AL]

120 oz of budweiser?

[raroZ28]

quick tip on bleeding...

I use a powerade bottle. Drill a hole in the top of the cap, run a piece of hose in it, fill the bottle with brake fluid, then put the hose on the bleeder, and the other end in the bottle.

This helps prevent mess and makes bubbles easier to spot. If there's bubbles the fluid will bubble in the bottle. If not, you'll just see dirty liquid and no bubbles.

Good luck.