97 Grand Caravan brake drag

'65 Polara · 06-10-2007, 07:15 PM

Hello to all of you! This is my first post here. We bought a '97 Grand Caravan about two weeks ago. It's mostly for my wife to drive around with our two kids, ages 5 and 10 weeks. It passed inspection, but the day after we got it back the left front wheel locked up after a short drive. Fortunately it happened in our driveway. I came home early from work and checked it out. The caliper had locked up and the pads were all worn down. I replaced the pads, rotor, and caliper, and thought I had fixed the problem. I noticed that the pads on the right wheel were nearly new. I thought it kind of strange, and figured the inspection station must have pulled the right front wheel. Well, after a test drive of several miles, I got back and the left front wheel was very, very hot, smelling like brakes, and smoking. Something must be putting excess pressure to that wheel, but I don't know if it could be the master cylinder not releasing or the CAB or the HCU. Anyone got any ideas? Thanks!

'65 Polara · 06-10-2007, 09:57 PM

Upon viewing some previous posts, I see that the problem could be in the flexible hose going to that caliper. I think I'll replace that and let you know how it turns out.

'65 Polara · 06-11-2007, 10:19 PM

Today I replaced the brake hose and it cured the problem. Just wanted to let you all know for future reference!

RIP · 06-12-2007, 02:08 AM

Wow. Except for one other post, I've never heard of the flex line fixing this. It's usually the caliper. Was there anything visibly wrong with the flex line? Thanks for coming back with the fix. Cheers!

'65 Polara · 06-12-2007, 07:40 AM

No, it looked O.K. and didn't leak or anything. The damage must have been internal.

RIP · 06-12-2007, 01:20 PM

Looks like another case of having to swap parts till it's fixed. I don't see a way to troubleshot it to a bad line until it's the only part left, as you found out. Thanks for the info.

RickMN · 06-12-2007, 01:32 PM

It's not as rare as you might think. Sometimes when technians replace a caliper, they clamp off the brake hose to prevent draining the master cylinder. That works on a fresh hose. But on an aged hose where the rubber is brittle, the crimp doesn't release. When you apply brake pressure, the fluid squirts past the crimp and gets locked in the caliper, constantly applying pressure. Bottom line, don't crimp brake hoses.

chauhanviren · 02-25-2008, 07:34 PM

I have same problem. I changed everything and problem of driver side front disc brake keep continue till I show this post. I changed the hose and problem gone. Thanks.

bluebox · 04-22-2008, 10:20 PM

I have a 96' Grand Caravan and now it has the EXACTLY the same problem as '65 Polara's van.

It happened on the front left wheel too! It smell and smoked badly when the problem happened for the first time. I had the caliper changed and thought the problem was solved. But a few weeks later it smell and smoked again! I went back to the workshop and the mechanic couldn't figure out why. He just replaced with a new caliper due to warranty. Now it happened again!

The situation was that the brake wasn't always clamped. Even it smell and smoked in the evening it was OK the next morning. In winter time it only happened after a long drive. But recently it happened after only a few kilos. I'm not sure if '65 Polara had the same problem.

Anyway I'll show this post to my mechanic and ask hime to replace the hose. I'll come back and let you guys know if it works.

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