Brakes

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 11:18 pm

Well, driving home today, and I start smelling a foul odor. I have no idea what it is, but it appeared after a kind of hard stop and didn't go away. Being the dork I am, I went and felt my brakes (yeah, I touched them) and they were just quite warm, untill I got to my driverside front. I touched it, felt some sizzling (and heard it) and after the mere fraction of a second my finger was on there, I pulled it away and then feel stabbing pain. What the he77 just happened??? I asked myself, then looked at my finger in the light.... GASP!!!!! a literally dime sized blister with a spot of charred flesh has developed (elapsed time roughly 1 minute) Well, I got inside and showed my folks who promptly asked what happened and pushed my finger under a stream of cool water, which turned to cold and there I was for 5 minutes. Now I'm typing with one hand and the other in a glass of cold water. This is going to hurt, I can say that much.
Any idea why it would've gotten/stayed that hot? It wasn't pulling like a dragging brake, so what do you think was happening?

takza · Post by **takza** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 8:37 am

If you have one that is that hot...it was probably "stuck" & also melted the inside of the flexline. R&R the front calipers with new flexlines? Won't get any better....

I burned a couple fingers as a kid messing with my chemistry set....had to go to supper...so I put them in a glass of milk...big blisters...healed pretty fast with no scarring. Might have been the enzymes or something in the milk...yea...I had to drink it.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 11:17 am

I'd think it was the sticking scenario except for the fact that there was no pulling to either side. the steering wheel didn't try to move either way against me.
How hard is it to put on vented brakes? I don't want this to happen again and blow my tire or something. And its just safer on many counts.
Heck.. How can I cost effectively just improve brakes all around?

Finger is okay, as long as I don't touch it hehehe

takza · Post by **takza** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 7:26 pm

If you check over in the brake writup, I think there are some vented rotors that will fit.

A seized caliper won't necessarily pull to one side....just drag.

I'm using a pair of $12 each Chinese rotors that work just fine.

My Tercel brakes as well as a sports car...you just need good calipers, pads, and rotors. Good tires help. It isn't correct to say that they don't have good brakes.

MootsMan · Post by **MootsMan** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 8:24 pm

Sorry I can't add anything to the brake discussion, but put aloe on your finger...it'll heal much faster !

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 12:19 am

Thanks Moots.
Well, Going from 100 to 0 takes a while.. That first segment of stopping is very fast (brakes somewhat cool) but the slowing slows over the stop (brakes heat up)
I'd like even better braking power, but what is more important to me is keeping those rotors cooled as best as possible. Cooler rotors are more efficient and thus stop better. Heck, all brakes are are converters meant to take rotational energy and turn it into heat energy.
I bled my front brake today, got some wonderful sediment out, along with the rust-colored brake fluid. I bled thru a whole container of DOT3 just to clear all sediments out and freshen the fluid up as best as possible. I would've done the other front brake, but they both have their bleed nipples broken off, so with the one I did I had to remove the whole caliper. Made it interesting to try and keep air out of the lines. I hope a problem does not arise.
The pads and rotors both look like they have less than 5k miles on them, so I do not think replacement with higher quality parts is fully justifiable.

GUESS WHAT! I broke my thumb removing the caliper! Just the tip of the bone though. Hairline fracture. Nothing big.
I think my baby is getting back at me for all those burnouts and donuts.

Gasoline Fumes · Post by **Gasoline Fumes** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 5:22 am

Typrus wrote: GUESS WHAT! I broke my thumb removing the caliper! Just the tip of the bone though. Hairline fracture. Nothing big.
I think my baby is getting back at me for all those burnouts and donuts.

Wow, I don't think I'd go under that car anymore!

takza · Post by **takza** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 6:10 am

You can bleed calipers thru the brake lines at the caliper in most cases. They probably won't take those calipers as cores though.

Might look into some stainless mesh mechanics gloves????? :ph34r:

Adelard of Bath · Post by **Adelard of Bath** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 10:50 am

What's the best way to bleed brakes at the caliper, pressurise and unscrew the line slightly? I have yet to have a car where the screws didn't break off. Except for newer cars

takza · Post by **takza** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 1:02 pm

With Japanese cars they tend to cadmium plate the bleeder screws...maybe not a problem?

I just find a stick or something that will fit between the brake pedal and the seat cushion front...adjust the seat so the stick holds the pedal down good....insert the stick solidly...then loosen the bleeder or brake line...until the flow starts to stop...close it...remove the stick...then do it all again...

......helps to hand pump the pedal slowly a few times.

...piece of carpet or a rag over the seat cushion avoids tearing it up.

Adelard of Bath · Post by **Adelard of Bath** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 9:38 pm

Hmm...clever!

I have this pressurised bleeder thing that I bought for another car, you screw it onto the master cyl reservoir and it has a bottle you fill with brake fluid, then basically you pressurise the thing with a tire or something..works cool but I can't ever use it on Toyotas cuz the cap doesn't screw on, so it won't take the pressure, it just pops off. Which is too bad, but the "stick on seat" method sounds cool enough...albeit tedious

Maybe I can engineer a machine to do it for me...kinda like....the mechanism from the windshield wipers, it would push the pedal, then hold it, until you used some form of remote control to make it release, then just cycle again...hmm I am liking this idea.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 10:34 pm

Lol. My thumb turned a pretty color. (just a big lovely bruise, one of those dark purple bruises... I need a bandage for it.. Didn't realize how many time I hit my thumb on little things during the day until today

)
Both my front calipers bleeder valves are completely severed. Just gone. previous owner tried to weld the tip on but damaged the metal in the process, making it crumble when I tried to loosen them. I would try to drill and tap it, but custom bleeders and potential damage come into mind.
I got back at my baby by rally sporting on one of the back roads we have up here... It did surprisingly well... Hmmmm..... I'm getting some ideas?

Adelard of Bath · Post by **Adelard of Bath** » Mon Jan 24, 2005 11:39 pm

last time I dealt with the broken bleeder situation, it was on my Volvo, and I learned the hard way that I have two choices:
a ) screw around with it forever, eventually removing it from car and trying to drill it out etc etc and basically screwing it up completely, thus requiring me to mail order a new one and throw the screwed one in the scrap metal cuz I destroyed it so bad they wouldn't take it as a core
b ) just forget it and mail order the new one, before I screw it up....cuz either way, I figure I will be ordering a new one, and if it is just a broken screw, I am sure they know how to get them out, they probably do it all day every day. But if I mess with it, I will end up just messing the whole thing up and then I am out an extra 25 bucks or whatever the core was

At least that's how it went for me last time! Doesn't help that the calipers on that car have THREE bleeder screws...and they do a good job of finding the TINIEST screws they make. Why don't they just make those out of stainless and save me alot of pain? Maybe somebody somewhere makes stainless ones and I can buy a bunch and put them in all my new calipers. Or maybe I could use my lathe to make my OWN stainless ones...heh or brass, nothing machines nicer than brass I tell ya what

Oh I just remembered....that costs money, and you don't have alot of that floating around...hmmm yeah I know how you feel, I would just do like Takza said then and bleed it through the fitting.

takza · Post by **takza** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 8:54 am

The stick bleeding method works faster than you'd think...even faster than someone sitting in the seat.

I have a vacuum pump that has fittings & container for bleeding brakes...can use it for testing vac gizmos too...and as a vac gauge. About $30. Had to use this with the Tercel when I redid the brake lines.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 9:23 pm

I need flex lines with rotating fittings, like on a garden hose. So the whole line doesn't twist when you unscrew them. I don't mind disconnecting the calipers too much, its just having to turn the caliper, line, and wrench when I do it that gets a little bothersome.
I'm going to try one of those screw remover things my dad has.. You drill it into the center and it is supposed to break it free. If nothing happens in the first few secs I'll leave it alone untill I can find me some vented rotor/caliper assemblies..