91 front brake drag

91 Corolla. Neighbors car. SHe had stopped at a light on her way home from work tonight, when took off from light she had to push the accelerator to the floor inorder to get anyplace and could not get above 20mph. The brake pedal was hard when applied. She finally pulled off the road about 1/2 mile from the light and saw smoke/steam off the wheel. She did not hear any noise so i don't think it is the bearing.

Called a wrecker to get it towed home, went back to drop off the key and tryed backing it up and drove forward a few feet without any problem, brake pedal was back to normal, thinking either caliper or brake line hose.

Temperature got up to 30*F today and she had been driving for approx 6 miles with numerous stop and go light aong the way.

The hard pedal is what puzzles me.

thanks for input

Took it apart today, the top bolt was frozen inside the slider pin on the caliper. Cleaned up the pins with emery cloth and sand paper, lubed the pins and bolts with anti sieze and installed new rubber boots. Test drove with multiple stops at 25mph without any problem. Hopefully fuxed.

Neighbor stopped by tonight and mentioned that going to work no problem but on the way home she felt it do the same thing again tonight inthe same area as before (About 4 miles of in town driving.) She stopped and backed up, then rest of the way home (about 4 miles) When she got home she say some smoke/steam from the left wheel again.

When I pomped up the brake yesterday after the work I did (took caliper off the sheel and cleaned up pins and bolts and pressed the piston back into caliper with a c clamp without any resisstance) it seemed to take excessive amount of pomps of the brake pedal before the pedal felt right. The fluid level was proper in master clyinder. SHould also mention that when I removed the wheel the rotor backing plate was close to the rotor and when i touched it to move it back it fell off, rusted off.

Not sure if I shound replace just the caliper pins $6.00 (The shorter pin still not move as freely as the other but did move), complete caliper $35 or the brake hose $25 (Oreillys). She cannot afford to just throw parts at it.

Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

Question: Do the slide pins have a flat rubber ring around the ends? If so, I bet they have become swollen and are causing the sticking. Had the same thing happen to my Camry. New slide pins from the local parts store don't include new rubber parts, which I think help keep the pins and caliper in line and reduce metal-to-metal friction. Double check inside the slide pin bores to be sure there aren't any remnants of rubber in there.

I'd suggest buying new slide pins from the dealer (~$7 per side...not bad) so the surfaces are new and smooth plus new rubber pieces (haven't a clue what the real name is!). I'd also check that the brake pads are wearing evenly. Any crooked wear means the piston is not moving straight and causing sticking/scoring of the caliper bore. Inboard/outboard wear difference indicates slide pin sticking. New pads and buffing the rotors should help seat them. And adjust those rear brakes especially if they are drums!

If the rotors were heated up enough they may be warped and need turning...~$15-20 each if they can remain in spec for minimum thickness.

Try those first and report back....good luck!

Thanks jdmccright,

I worked on it today again and decided to install a reman caliper from Oreilly's, new guid pins and bolts everything moves freely now.

Promblem is after I installed the caliper and went to set the caliper piston on the reman caliper I cannot get any pressure to build up to set the brake. After all the pomping of the pedal I have yet to add fluid to master clyinder resorvoir. Am I missing something or is the master clyinder faulty??

One of the sliding pins was froze up again, no one had the pins onhand and would have to order so just replaced the caliper. Vehicle has 197K on it.

I removed the brake line from the front of the master cylinder and pushed the brake pedal, no fluid was pushed out of the opening telling me that the cylinder had lost its prime for the front brakes. After using the procedure I found in the Camry service manual link on the Camry forum, Remove brake lines from master cylinder, push pedal to floor, place fingers over line openings and release pedal, repeat procedure 3 or 4 times and primed the master cylinder. Then after pumping pedal for at least 10 minutes and periodically beleding air from line it finally built pressure seating the caliper and brake pads.

If problem continues to exist I will change flex brake hose which will more than likely involve replacing steel line from master cylinder to flex brake hose because of rust conditions. I am afraid the steel line will twist off when removing from flex hose even tho I have liberally applied PB Blaster.

Hopefully problem is solved, should know by end of day tommorrow as it usually show up when she deiving home from work.

Thanks for help.

UPDATE: Tuesday I replaced the passenger side front wheel bearing because of a growling noise in the front end, did not completely solve the problem so I replaced the drivers side wheel bearing and hub and solved the growling issue. Tonight the neighbor lady planned on stopping at walmart on her way home, on her way she stopped at several stop lights enroute to wal mart. She did her business and left for the rest of the journey home and the brake pedal was again very hard with a serious brake drag again, which side unknown. She stopped on the shoulder and backed up a little to see if that would help and started motoring on home again with the brake still dragging for about approx 2 1/2 miles. After braking and stopping at the second stop light,once driving again she felt the brake had released.

Using a c clamp to move the caliper piston on the passenger side I found it to be very tight and I got it moved into caliper enought to mount back on the bracket. (without opening bleeder valve) Once everything was back together I test drove and found the problem still existed so Wednesday I replaced the driver side hub and bearing again using the same method of retracting piston into caliper without any problem (remanufactored caliper) but when I pumped up the brakes to make sure brakes were functional before driving I needed to pump the brake a good 15 times before I got any pressure, this was just like when I installed the reman caliper. Test drove it with multiple stop and goes without any problem.

Tonight after being made aware of problem again test drove it again but could not duplicate the issue. She is going to drive it to work again tommorrow/ I have removed the hub caps so if the problem rears it ugly head again hopefully she can feel the wheels for any heat factor to help diagnose it. I am thinking it is a brake hose prioblem on the drivers side. She has spent more than she wanted already just to get her by for another month or so until she can afford to get something better so I am trying not to just thro parts at it, so any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

thanks

Sounds to me like that passenger side brake hose has an obstruction. If the caliper moves freely, and the master cylinder is full and primed, then something in the line is preventing pressure buildup.

If the car is pulling to one side when you depress the brake, then that side is functioning okay...the other side is being "lazy" because it can't apply equal pressure at the same time as the good side. Once she is stopped at the light, the extra time allows the pressure to equalize. Then when she starts again and lifts off the brake pedal, the lazy brake can't depressurize, resulting in brake drag and the steering pulling to the bad side.

If you open the bleed valve and pump the brake pedal, fluid should squirt out, if not there's an obstruction. If only one side does it, it is probably a blocked hose. Both sides may mean the master cylinder is failing.

I don't think the second hub & bearing change was necessary, hope that was under warranty.

Change out the bad front hose and do a complete brake fluid flush if you can. Make sure you use a new banjo bolt if it doesn't come with the hose...many times old fluid will cause the small hole in those bolts to rust shut.

Hoses - $24 each
Fluid - $7
Bolt - $2?

thanks again jdmccright, I think you may have misunderstood about the second hub and bearing change. The change was necessary, the bearing was bad and had badly worn the hub. The passenger side which I changed first was dry and a little rough but was not worn like the driver side. These were both original bearings to my knowledge. SHe said that it did not pull to either side when braking. Last nights test drive I could feel a warped rotor when braking but no pull either. Maybe it is the master clyinder since I again had to pump the brake numerous times in order to get any pressure to push out the caliper piston to seat the brakes after retracting the piston to reinstall the caliper. See what happens on here jopourneys today to and from work.

One thing that I did notice and does not make sense to me is that at times engine is idling when sitiing and you turn the steering wheel the idle speed increases. I have not inspected for any causes but would not think it should apply to brakes unless it is a vacuum leak that affects the booster.

thanks again

When you say you have to pump the brakes...do you mean the pedal goes to the floor the first time you step on it? If so, that would mean a bad brake master cylinder. If the brake pedal is very hard, then it is probably the brake booster. Calipers don't ususally stick simultaneously...either one or the other.

Keep the bleeder screws closed and suck out the fluid from the reservoir, then remove the MC. You don't mention if the car has ABS and I'm not sure if it was an option on that Gen...only V6 versions as I read. But you don't want to let the ABS unit go dry.

Bench prime the new MC and install, then flush the lines with new fluid...start with farthest wheel, end with the closest. Good luck!

Yes the pedal went to the floor after retracting the piston in the caliper on the driver side and it took several pumps with pedal going to floor before it seemed to pressurize.

She returned home from work a while ago and both sides front wheel lug nuts where hot to touch. She has to make a right hand turn at a yield sign about 1 mile from home and this is where she noticed that it seemed to be brake drag again with no pulling to either side. By the way the no ABS on vehicle. At this point she is going to just drive and if it becomes a problem again we'll have to deal with it or get a different vehicle. She does not want to spend any more money on it because she wants to get a different vehicle with money from tax return.

thanks again for help.

Tell her to file early then...hate to see her driving around with bad brakes while waiting for the gov't to pay up.

Neighbor told me again today that front brakes seemed to be dragging and getting the wheels hot. She did mention that the pedal was hard but had good braking ability, I think it is the booster. I looked for vacuum leaks with a can of brake cleaner but the engine never changed rpm's, so I don't believe there is a vacuum leak. I had the engine idling and stepped on the brake pedal, when pushing on the pedal rpm did not change but as soon as I let off the pedal the rpm would jump 200 rpm and settle right back to where it was idling. To my knowledge this is not normal or am I wrong? Is there a valve someplace that will not release the pressure from the booster and keep pressure on the brakes causing the overheating of the wheels and such? The stop light switch wouldn't cause this would it??

She has filed and waiting for coin from gov't.

thanks

The problem got bad again yesterday. Her boyfriend had it towed and they said three of the 4 brake hoses were collasped. SHe says the brakes don't drag right now but the pedal doesn't feel right. SHe what she says when she gets home from work today.

The problem still exists, now they have changed the master cylinder. She mentioned that the pedal seems to be better. Hopefully problem solved now.