break trouble

[Leoaviles]

98 chevy blazer
ok so i have been hearing all week a kind of grumbling noise when i break.

i checked the rear break and the disk looked pretty scratched. This mormning i was driving back from school and my car fishtailed and i nearly crashed the blazer. i stoped at a gas station and i checked the break and it was smoking. when ever i would accelerate it seemed as if the breaks were pressed because the car was having trouble accelerating.

i stoped at a little mechanic place and they told me it was that the calipers were sticking to the disk, he told me that it could be a contamination in the break fluid.

my girlfriends dad was the only one that touched the break fluid and i didnt know what this was.

guy is charging 350 to bleed the system out and the loaded calipers are 149 each so for the two rear it is 300.

what do you guys think? was it the fluid or is there something else that could of caused this?

[Allbert]

Is it both rear brakes that sticking or just one side?

[Leoaviles]

Originally Posted by Allbert

Is it both rear brakes that sticking or just one side?

well only one was ssmoking andscratched but when the dude tried turning the tires when he had it jacked the smoky one was the main one stuck

[Allbert]

I guess if this was my vehicle, I'd probably go ahead and replace the caliper and pads on the wheel that stuck (pads on both sides of course), and probably the rotor too since it may have gotten a little hotter than it should have. Then I'd bleed the brake system from all four corners until the whole system was full of fresh fluid. After that I would drive very cautiously in areas with no traffic until I was sure that the problem did not recur. Calipers are super easy to R&R and as low as $43.00 at AutoZone. Rotors are around $100. $350 sounds really high just to bleed the system, and if it was only one wheel that stuck, I don't know that you would need to replace both calipers. Again, that's probably what I'd do if it were my vehicle.

[toenailclippers]

I recently hadthe same problem with my blazer. do this...go to Advance auto part (or the local part store) caliper shouldnt bemore than about $50 apiece, rotors the same, butmake sure you replace the rubber lines goingto the calipers, because if one of those hoses are collapesed, oull go through it all over agin. and youll save a ton of money if you do it yourself. I sat and watched my wife while she did it, and it was done in less than 2 hours.

[BlazerLT]

Also, could be the emergency brake stuck on.

[Leoaviles]

so should i just go ahead and try to do this by myself?
i am ok when it comes to taking things off and putting them back togeather.
1.change roter.
2.bleed system
3. change caliper. and rubber

any other recomendations or tips while doing these things. Something that i should watch while doing this. anyone ever changed them if so how long does everything usually take?

Also how wold i go about bleeding the system? the guy told me that he would have to put some kind of alcohol to clean it out. Iknow this is not the same alcohol for infections is it? thanks guys

[BlazerLT]

Get the repair manual!

[Leoaviles]

i checked the break fluid botle and it was the dot 3 break fluid from oreilys that was put in. it didnt look dirt or contaminated. do you guys know what could of caused this?

[Leoaviles]

i have had a problem with the manual break cause it doesnt work all the time. if it was the manual break wouldnt it affect both of the rear breaks instead of one and also wouldnt the break light be on.