Befuddled over Brakes

Maintenance/Repairs
1

I recently purchased a 1999 4 door Chevy Blazer at a county auction. The vehicle had been sitting for some time. Soon after purchase I had a probem with the rear left caliper. My neighbor who is a mechanic replaced the brake pads and installed a new rotor. The old caliper would not release completely so we installed a new (rebuilt) one. This seemed to do the trick but after a few short trips the caliper seemed to be binding against the rotor and the brakes had a burning smell so we replaced the flexible brake line to the caliper. This seemed to solve the problem, however a few trips later the caliper seemed to start binding again and there was a buring smell. We then bled the brake lines a second time and that solved the problem but once again after 2 short trips the problem returned. There is a second flexible line so we replaced it and that provided a temporary fix but once again the problem quickly returned. I am out of solutions to solve this issue

2

I’d be suspecting that rebuilt caliper. I’d try a brand new one first, before spending money anywhere else.

3

When you say “would not release” do you mean the piston could not be fully compressed manualy? Or some kind of sliding/sticking concern with the caliper on its support /mounting pins.For the later cant these pins be lubed so the caliper slides freely? Was it hard to push the piston back far enough to get the new pads in?

4

You say rear caliper.

Is this an integral parking caliper or is there a separate drum brake for parking?
You pretty much hunted down everything that could be causing a hydraulic drag condition, but have not mentioned any investigation into the parking brakes.

5

Raycrx,

Thank you for your response I was thinking about the parking break, right now the parking break will not set and I think the cable is broke. The vehicle coasts and rolls smoothly when you first use it so I didn’t think that was an issue. I wll ask my mechanic friend about the seperate drum but when I purchased the replacement I only noticed 1 piston. The problem seems to occur after dirving the car for a while and when I drove it this weekend it seemed that both sides may have a bit of a drag. The left side was the problem child before we replaced everything.

Thanks for your help,

Richdan