1994 overheating wheels
Braker5
07-24-2005, 05:40 PM
When i drive my 94 lumina euro the front wheels sometimes become extremely hot. I assumed it was the brakes, but am not sure. Recently the ABS light came on and the engine seems loud. Anyone have any ideas what the problem might be?
tblake
07-24-2005, 07:31 PM
are your brakes metal to metal? Thats all i can think of.
jeffcoslacker
07-25-2005, 02:17 PM
I've seen bad caliper/hoses seize the brakes so hard, the car wouldn't go over 30 mph on GM FWD.
Drive it around a bit, and after you've used the brakes a few times, pop it into nuetral and see if it seems to roll to a stop unusually fast, like brakes are dragging.
If so, do it again, but bring a wrench the correct size to fit the bleeder screws on the calipers. When it begins to bind up, stop and cut the wheel all the way to one side so you can reach the bleeder screw, and open it slightly.
If you get a pretty good pressurized shot of fluid, combined with a sudden "relaxing" where the car rolls slightly, chances are you are dealing with a collapsed brake hose, and it is not allowing return from the caliper after you apply the brakes.
If you get nothing, or just a slight dribble, you'll have to get both front wheels off the ground with the car in nuetral and see if after pumping up the brakes a few times one or both seem to be dragging. If so, you've most likely got bad calipers that are dragging and creating the excess heat.
Your comment about the motor seems louder sounds typical of what I've heard from customers when they are having dragging brakes, they usually say something like that, or they think the tranny is going bad because of the change in effort/shift patterns they are noticing. That's because driving around with badly dragging brakes is no different than pulling a really heavy trailer, and if not fixed, will cause overheating and tranny failure real quick, so don't mess around with it.
I've see 'em get hot enough to make the rotors glow and the brake pads shatter. It may have gotten hot enough to melt one of your ABS sensors.
Drive it around a bit, and after you've used the brakes a few times, pop it into nuetral and see if it seems to roll to a stop unusually fast, like brakes are dragging.
If so, do it again, but bring a wrench the correct size to fit the bleeder screws on the calipers. When it begins to bind up, stop and cut the wheel all the way to one side so you can reach the bleeder screw, and open it slightly.
If you get a pretty good pressurized shot of fluid, combined with a sudden "relaxing" where the car rolls slightly, chances are you are dealing with a collapsed brake hose, and it is not allowing return from the caliper after you apply the brakes.
If you get nothing, or just a slight dribble, you'll have to get both front wheels off the ground with the car in nuetral and see if after pumping up the brakes a few times one or both seem to be dragging. If so, you've most likely got bad calipers that are dragging and creating the excess heat.
Your comment about the motor seems louder sounds typical of what I've heard from customers when they are having dragging brakes, they usually say something like that, or they think the tranny is going bad because of the change in effort/shift patterns they are noticing. That's because driving around with badly dragging brakes is no different than pulling a really heavy trailer, and if not fixed, will cause overheating and tranny failure real quick, so don't mess around with it.
I've see 'em get hot enough to make the rotors glow and the brake pads shatter. It may have gotten hot enough to melt one of your ABS sensors.
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