Silverado brakes locking up.

[Capt. Delta]

OK I'm at the end of my rope. Don't know much about "forums" but hope somebody out there can give me some feedback.

Own a 99 Chevy Silverado Z71. In Oct. 05 brakes began locking up for no reason. Took to the dealer who said system was contaminated by power steering fluid or something similiar. Charged me $3000 to replace the entire brake system not including pads and rotors. (Wanted another $1400 to replace those.) Day after they replaced system I put new pads/rotors on. Worked fine but I noticed a lot of brake dust on my wheels. Also rotors turned blue within a month. Dealer said could do nothing about blue rotors since they didn't put them on.

Last week my "chirpers" went off. Brakes down to nothing after only 12,000 miles. Put new high performance drilled/slotted rotors and new pads on. Within a day the brakes were locking up again. Not even when I was braking. Just driving down the freeway and all of a sudden the front end starts shuddering. Pull over and smoke is coming off the front brakes.

Took it back to the dealer under the repair warrranty. They gave me the old "could not duplicate" runaround. Even though they admit my new rotors should not be blue in a week. Anyone out there who has had similiar problem. I'm thinking stuck caliper or ABS malfunction but dealer sez they are working fine.

[Blue Bowtie]

Does the truck have hydraulically assisted power brakes? Ask the dealer about the TSB for a brake booster problem.

[Capt. Delta]

No hydraulic assist. It's a 1500 4 wheel drive. I'm beginning to think it has to be something to do with the ABS. It will lock up when I'm just driving on the freeway. Not even touching the brakes and suddenly front end will start shaking. By the time I pull over there is peddle fade from the heat and the front brakes are smoking. I've never seen anything like it. Dealer keeps saying bring it too them the next time it does that. Hell unless I'm right next door the whole thing will have burned up by the time I get there. Thought maybe it might be the proportioning valve but dealer sez the truck doesn't have one. It's all part of the ABS module.

I used to love Chevy's but I'm beginning to get real sour

[corning_d3]

Try pulling the ABS fuse and see if it repeats. It's going to throw a trouble code when you do, BTW.

[Capt. Delta]

Great minds think alike. I was laying in bed thinking about the problem and thought of the same thing. Then saw your post this morning. Will try it and let you know.

[Trucks!]

I have 99 sierra 1500, with the 4 wheel disc brakes, and mine was doing it once in a blue moon, during city driving. DID you get the RECALL about the abs sensor for all 99 to 2001 trucks? If not i would look into that, thats what was wrong with mine i can get you the recall code if you would like also.

[Capt. Delta]

Thanks "Trucks" Yes could you get me that recall code. I'd love to wave it in the dealers face. They said they checked and there was no recall on any Silverado brake parts. I assume a Sierra and a Silverado would have the same brakes.

Here's the latest on the brakes. After the dealer telling me there was "nothing wrong" I got up this morning and drove around the dealership til they locked up. Then drove up to the service door with the brakes smoking and dared em to tell me nothings wrong. They took it in and now tell me the calipers are sticking. DUH!!! This after telling me yesterday everything was fine. The kicker is they say since its 13,000 miles since they did the brake work the warranty doesn't apply. (Their warranty is 12 mo 12,000 miles) This even though my wheels have been covered with brake dust since the day I paid them $3000 to make my brakes right. But as a "favor" they said they went to bat for me with GM and are willing to put new calipers on at no parts charge if I pay the $210 labor. What a crock. I'm in law enforcement and in my line of work they call that "an admission of guilt." Of course they won't do anything about the expensive drilled/slotted rotors and pads I put on a week ago and are now ruined. But I'm over a barrel and will pay the labor.

Thanks to everyone for their input on this.

[Capt. Delta]

Hey "Trucks" Unfortunately i don't think your recall code will not apply to me. I looked on the net and only found an ABS recall for the "salt belt" states. Guess us Ca. people who live near a salt filled ocean don't count. But send me the recall code anyway. Thanks for the help.

[corning_d3]

You mean for $3000 and they didn't touch the calipers? dumbasses.. I assumed with that much money spent, they would at least inspect them for binding....Hell, 3 grand would buy me a complete system.

[Capt. Delta]

Thats my point Corning. They DID replace the entire system in Oct 05. Master cylinder, lines, ABS etc. THEY decided to rebuild the calipers to "save me money" Only thing they didn't do was the rotors and pads. Wanted an additional $1400 for that. I'd had enough. Whats it take 5 minutes to remove the caliper bracket put on the rotor once you already have the car apart. (By the way lest you think I'm just dripping with money most of this was paid for by my insurance company but thats another story.) I put on Raybestos rotors and Duralast Gold pads the day after I got it back from the dealer. When I took it back to them 2 months later cause the rotors were blue their excuse was it must be the rotors and pads I used. Now even though they're admitting the calipers are sticking they refuse to admit its what caused my pads to wear out in 13,000 miles or the problem began while it was under warranty. By the way I don't tow anything, I don't live in the mountains, and I don't have a heavy brake foot.

[corning_d3]

That's the reason I enrolled myself in an auto service class at my local tech college. Now, the parts are the same price, but the labor is free!! I don't think all dealers are rip-offs, but over 80% I've been to are..

[Capt. Delta]

Well here's the latest in the smoking brakes saga. Left it with the dealer to put on new calipers. (That was after I drove in with smoking brakes and they finally admitted something was wrong) Reiterated to them I thought it was the ABS. They later told me the on board computer gave no indication the ABS had activated. Wife picked it up cause I was at work. Paid the $210 that should have been covered under warranty. Got up the next morning to drive to work. Brakes locked up within 5 miles. At that point it wasn't just the brakes that were smoking. I should have taken your advice Corning, instead of believing a thing the dealer said. Pulled the ABS fuse and the brakes unlocked. Been driving it all weekend with no problems other than the ABS/brake lights being on. Will be at the dealers door first thing Monday morning to get my pound of flesh. I'm sure they will say "you were a thousand miles out of warranty so we're doing nothing. Even though they put in a new ABS when they replaced the original brake system. I'm thinking now they misdiagnosed the whole problem back in Oct 05.

Nobody likes to pay the exorbitant dealer costs but when you do go to them you expect you're getting experts to work on it instead of a bunch of buffoons.

I'm sure I'll be replacing the ABS on my own. I have a friend who owns an auto parts distributership. He'll get it for me at cost. Anyone replaced one that can tell me how hard it is to do.

[Sonny01]

This is the place to go for all ABS problems http://modulemaster.com/gmabsrepair.html
He saved me about $1500. The ABS system is in three parts...the sensors, EBCM computer and ABS pump. The sensors or on the two front wheel hubs and one in the back. The EBCM is on top of the ABS pump on the frame rail about where the drivers door is located. Throw a blanket down or use a creeper and you can look up and see where about seven brake lines go into a metal box...that's the pump. The good news is if you need the EBCM worked on you can still drive the truck...you just have to wrap plastic over the pump housing after you remove the ECBM. The ABS light will stay on and you won't have ABS protection. The torx bolts that hold the ECBM on are steel and probably rusted so you have to cut them off. Modulemaster sells stainless steel bolt replacements. What I did was have Gavin at ModuleMaster rebuild my ECBM while I drove the truck...he sold me a refurbished ABS pump and when I got the two units I swapped out the old ABS pump and reinstalled everything and it worked great...for awhile. I kept having the ABS pump come on at low speed and I almost ran into several cars. It was a bad sensor which I replaced the entire hub and now everything is fine. GM had an ABS recall about the sensors and they paid me back for the hub ($150) and replaced the other sensor.

[corning_d3]

At least you found the problem, but if your luck with dealers is as "good" as mine.....Reminds me of having to fight with my ins. company for shoddy paint work..I've been going around for a month now.

[Capt. Delta]

Thanks for the input "Sonny. I'm going back to the dealer tomorrow to do battle. I'm sure they will tell me to pound sand. The recall only applies to "salt belt" states or at least from what I've read. I'm thinking it is the speed sensors. This is based on the fact the ABS light never came on. I've also never heard the ABS motor continue to run after I turn off the vehicle as many have described in thier complaints. Somewhere in all the Internet research I've done I read that when the sensors go bad it will not show up on the vehicle computer. The dealer said there was no record of ABS malfunction or trouble codes. The dealer also said they replaced the ABS motor/module when they did the work in Oct 05. In the recall bulletin for the speed sensor it lists the things the dealer is supposed to do. Remove sensor, clean all rust off, apply rust inhibitor/grease etc. Since you've done one is there much too it? I've looked at its location in the shop manual but thats as far as I've gotten