I smelt a burning smell when I got out of my car yesterday but didn't really think anything of it. Today I drove from work to the house then back to work and got out and it was a really strong burning smell. So I sniffed around everything and realized it was coming from my driver side rear wheel area. It smelt like my brake pads/rotors were on fire! I called my dad and we guessed either a sticking caliper or emergency brake. I drove home and had my dad meet me outside with the temp gun. The diver side said 290-314 degrees and the passager side said 160-180. So is a pad to rotor problem.

My question is-

How can I test weather its a sticking emergency brake or just a sticking brake caliper. If it is a sticking brake caliper is their anything I can do to fix it or am I going to have to buy a new one.

If I have to buy a new one is a autozone one as good as oem or no?



thanks,
Josh

 

I doubt the cable is sticking. If it you want to see if it sticking you should be able to pull off the wheel, pull up the lever to see if the cable moves. There might be a dust shield that needs moved but overall pretty easy

I have a good OEM rotor with cable for 65 shipped. came off a car that had 27k

 

You mean caliper.

 

yikes. Multi-tasking owns me

Yes I have an OEM caliper with ebrake cable. Complete assembly

 

remove the rear wheel, and see if the rotor will turn with the e-brake released. Also check to see if you can move the caliper side to side or if it is cocked to one side. You should be able to move it side to side a small bit with the e-brake released. It is likely a case of a rear guide pin ceasing up on you, always keep the pins lubed to avoid this issue, 1-2 times a year is safe maintenance schedule.

 

I concur.....

Utah

 

I talked to a local that has a caliper for $25 that has under 30,000 miles on it. I'm going to pick that up and then see if that fixes it. If not I'll have to look into the cable.

 

either way make sure you lube the guide pins as it can still happen with a new caliper installed if the guide pins are ceased or sticking due to being dry or corrossion.

 

What kind of lube? Just normal grease

 

lithium