HELP: BRAKE GREMLIN

[Meck]

HELP: Brake gremlin

This morning, I took off down the road in the Tercel after having not driven her for a couple of weeks. I got no more than a couple of hundred feet when all hell broke loose in the area of the right front wheel. There was a tremendous grinding along with a rhythmic metallic sound. I figured the disks were rusted up from setting up, so I went on a few hundred more feet with my foot riding the brake. The sound didn't change with braking and it didn't get better, only worse. While backing back up to my house, the sound was even worse.
After jacking it up, I tried to repeat the sound with no success. While on the jack, I ran the car in low gear putting the brakes on and off. There was no noise. I took the tire off, made sure the rotor dust cover wasn't touching, and checked the caliper and rotor. It was moving okay. (The caliper, rotor, and pads have 1200 miles on them). I also checked the wheel bearing and the axle/constant velocity joints (all also with only a few thousand miles on them).
I put the car back down off the jack and started down the road. After a couple of hundred feet, I touched the brakes, and here it went again. Every time I get it back home and jack it up, everything is fine, there's no noise, and it does okay until I get a short distance and hit the brakes the first time. The only time that I've gotten it to stop without the jack-it-up routine, I had shut the motor off for a minute or two and coasted down a hill toward my house.
Can anybody give me a hint as to what to check? It's undriveable as is, and I need to get it on the road. Any advice will be appreciated.

[ARCHINSTL]

I ran into something kinda similar last year (although maybe not as loud); oddly, also on the RF wheel.
See my last post in this thread: http://www.tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtop ... ake#p34822
When resolved, be sure to post the result.
Tom M.

[takza]

If the metal shield on the front rotor is bent and/or rusted...it can make a major racket.

[Petros]

There are only a few things that can make a grinding noise, bad bearings, CV joint (usually you get klunking with CV joint), bad brakes, or something that is rotating is rubbing against something that is not. Check all the rubber mounts and bushings, a bad one might allow it to get far enough out of alignment for rotating parts to grind on something. this would not show up when it is jacked up. My first thought was a really bad and wobbly front bearing, allowing the rotor to contact the caliper housing, but you say the bearing is good. Double check it.

It would seem it has to be something changing when there is weight on the suspension, and the brakes are applied. Whey you apply brakes it makes the wheel want to move backward on the suspension, putting tension on the sway bar connection, and compression on the lateral link. I would jack it up and put a large pry bar to these suspension parts and see what might be moving. Also check that all the mounts are solid, not rusted out or broken.

Once you find the cause it will likely be something easy to fix, that has been my experience with similar sounds. For example, when I got my daughters '86 CRX running for the first time in some 4+ years of not being driven becasue of a blown engine (by the previous owner), the front brakes make a terrible metallic squealing sound. I replaced the brakes, and found it was just the splash shield bent up against the rotor from allow it to sit on the garage floor without the front wheels on it.

Good luck.

[Meck]

Thanks for the well thought-out responses and the reference to the previous thread. I'll get on it this morning and provide feedback when I figure out what is going on. Appreciate it--

[Meck]

Okay, I goofed up and now have to admit to my stupidity. I would say that I feel bad about it, but I've done so many really dumb things in my (long) life that by now I'm used to looking like a fool. The deal was that my problem wasn't in the right front wheel at all.
After wasting a lot of time and finding nothing that was dragging, scrapping, or whatever in the wheel area when the car was jacked up, I got my wife to drive it slowly forward and back in the driveway while I walked along beside it. It was immediately clear that the noise was not in the wheel at all but behind it and further toward the center of the car. It was the shield between the catalytic converter and the body that had gotten bent and was touching the driveshaft. A simple fix.
I appreciate the help from you all on this forum. You've bailed me out more than once and helped to keep the tercel on the road. I do apologize for wasting your time with my goof. Thanks.

[ARCHINSTL]

I do apologize for wasting your time with my goof. Thanks.

Not a waste. The more we talk about something, the more ways we understand things.
Tom M.

[Petros]

hah! see it was something simple. And it did not cost you a thing to fix either. Live and learn, we will all know for next time.

I once changed an electric fuel pump (inside the gas tank) on a fuel injected car when the reason it would not run was it was out of gas. Talk about stupid! (Well it was on my sloping driveway, and the fuel gauge was not quite at empty).

Why did you think it was undrivable because of the scraping noise? Did it just sound to scary to drive it?

[Meck]

Yep, the noise was horrendous, sounding like something major could let go at any time. Enjoyed your fuel pump tale.