I call this one the "Silver Streak". Brakes were getting very wobbly and I determined that I would change the warped rotors next job. They finally started grinding and I tackled the job on June 14, 2019.
The calipers are very friendly and are held on with a 13mm bolt. You have to hold the nut with a wrench while you loosen the bolt. Take the top one out and just loosen the bottom one a little bit. The inner portion of the caliper will swing down, either with or without the pads. In either case, pull out the pads and the old clips that the pad frame rides in. The new clips are left and right; it matters which one is on the inside and outside. It is obvious if you pay a little attention to it, and dry-fit a pad. Once clipped in properly, apply a little caliper grease and wiggle the pads into place. The piston does not rotate as it is depressed, so you can use a C-clamp with a socket placed inside the piston to have something less deep to push against. Lube under the rubber piston cover and depress it in. The assembly will now go back up and you can tighten everything back up. Mission accomplished.
The driver side front pads were worn thin but not to the rivets, and the rotor was fine on both sides, so I didn't replace that one. The passenger side front was a different story. The inside pad was worn down and metal had scored the rotor very badly. Now things become more complex. The other caliper bolt has to come off now and the caliper can be stuffed up above the transaxle for safe keeping. There is a metal fence over the edge of the rotor that is held in place by two large bolts that do not want to come off. A 13/16 socket can be tapped onto them and a breaker bar attached. I have realized that pounding doesn't really do the trick and now have learned that steady pressure on the breaker bar is the answer. I positioned it so that I could use my foot on it from laying under the front fender. I was able to put a lot of pressure on it, and voila! They come loose with much reluctance. It is almost as hard tapping the 13/16 socket off the bolt head as it was loosening them, but now the fence comes off and we can remove the rotor. This is also difficult because the rotor has been on there 106,000 miles and is corroded on. If you hammer it too hard, you can fracture it and now you are in trouble if you can't get the rest off! Penetrating oil and a gear-puller will do the trick. The gear puller is put on the spindle with the grabs on the rotor edges. The trick is to put moderate pressure on the gear puller, keep spraying WD-40 on the central edge where it slides over the hub, and tap on the backside of the rotor until it suddenly starts to move and eventually pops off the hub. Now the new rotor can be put on very easily and the whole thing put back together.
The rear passenger side still sounded swishy, and the pad looked thin, so I bought two more rotors and a set of pads. Why not change them out. The rotors are single thickness without the air pockets in the rear because the front brakes do most of the work. The calipers came off just as easily and the fence that is around the rotor is smaller and held on by a smaller pair of bolts, that were somewhat easier to break loose. The rotor came off with some persistent tapping. I didn't have to put pressure on it with the gear puller. The back side was gouged a lot and the inside pad was worn very, very unevenly. This caused one end of it to be down into the rivets and one side hung up on a lot of crud that was in the track. The rotor had a big valley cut into it as a result. I cleaned all crud out of the clips and lubed them, put all new stuff in, and put it all back together. The pistons in the rear have to be turned in, using the multi-faced tool. I sprayed WD-40 behind the boot. Everything seemed to turn OK, so hopefully no more of that problem.
ReplyDeleteWent to the driver's side and found that the pads were like new and the rotor was fine. I simply took the pads out, cleaned and lubed the track clips, put WD-40 behind the piston boot, cranked it in and out a few times, and put the old pads right back in. Now I have 2 rear pads in my collection, labeled and waiting for the next problem, which may never happen. The car drove like new. Very, very happy with the braking now. Drove it back to Madison and all around and it's still perfect.
March, 2000: Taking wife to airport in Sanford, FL I smelled brake pad. On way back, ABS light came on. I stopped for a while, felt right rear hub a little warm. Didn't feel any grabbing or further problem going back to Leesburg. Next day, took off the wheel. Pads looked OK. Without removing the caliper, I pried open the seal on the piston and shot some lube in there. Long story short: Drove it 1400 miles back to WI with no further problems and no further warning lights.
ReplyDeleteMy theory: piston was binding a little on the return and held pads so they heated up and smoked a little. The ABS anti-lock feature picked up that one wheel was turning a little slower than another and triggered the warning light.
ReplyDeleteAfter 2 weeks sequestering at the farm, drove to Madison but didn't get 20-miles before a flat tire, but on the driver's side rear. I got very lucky, was 1000-yd from an exit and Love's right there! Got in there and changed to the donut spare underneath. First time cranked that down. The device on the end of the cable has two wings that fold back to allow you to detach the pan holding the donut tire from the end of the cable. The flat tire had a sidewall hole that looked like a shotgun slug hit it. Changed it, drove slow to Madison, got a new tire and put it on a few days later.
ReplyDelete120,000 mile oil change and air filter change. Running great. Mobil 1 put in, 10W30 weight.
ReplyDelete130,000 mile oil change at 5-minute oil change in Leesburg, FL after driving it all summer in WI and back down here in December. The mechanic reported a small oil pan gasket leak. I had been occasionally smelling burnt oil and feel that it may well be a valve cover gasket leak and that the oil was dripping onto the exhaust manifold. He said it was very slow and just to keep an eye on it.
ReplyDelete2/15/21 Because the right passenger side wheel was grabbing and heating up, I took it down and examined the brakes. The piston of the caliper is always the problem in these cases, so I lubricated it beneath the boot and pressed it back in. The pads were half worn down and grubby-looking, so I put new ones in. Rotor was smooth. I took the driver side wheel off and lubricated that piston as well, but the pads were 3/4 good yet, so I left them in and saved the new ones for next time. Perhaps the passenger side will get grabby again and I'll have to use them there. Whatever. Drives like a champ now.
ReplyDeleteDoggone if it didn't heat up again on the first ride, 30 miles, to Clermont. Took it apart, paid another 11-bucks for new aluminum clip-in runners, greased it up and put it together again. Ran it to Eustis and back to pick up stuff...cool as a cucumber. It occurred to me that I could have greased the pins that hold the caliper together as well, but next time, I guess.
ReplyDeleteDoggone if it didn't heat up and grab again! I took it off and put caliper grease on the pins, thickly, and re-installed. Have two runs now totaling 86-miles with no problem.
ReplyDeleteThe piston had one little quasi-heat-up at over 200-miles and then acted normally for a few hundred more. Unfortunately, I was on the way north, in Dothan, Alabama when it failed to retract again! Took it to a nearby garage and for $230 got a new caliper put on and changed the flexible hose to it as well, because they have been known to fail by a strip coming loose inside and acting as a one-way stop. Drove it the rest of the way back to WI and it is fine, so mission accomplished.
ReplyDeleteAfter a summer of driving, including a 3-week road trip out to and thru Glacier Nat'l Park, and down through Montana and Idaho before coming home thru Wyoming, no problems at all with the new caliper or anything else. However, after driving it to Florida, I noticed a tire rumbling. Thinking I had a wheel out of balance, I took it to WalMart in the Villages to get them rotated and balanced. The technician declined and showed me minor cupping on one rear tire. Took it to my mechanic, who instantly declared I had worn out shocks in the rear. Got them put in, but of course the road noise continued mildly, even though there is plenty of tread left on the tires. On a jaunt to St. Augustine, I noted increasing noise and finally pulled over to find I had only two loose, adjacent lug-nuts on the front left wheel! I couldn't steal any because the posts were broken off as well! Jacked it up, tightened the two, and proceeded carefully to St. Augustine where I took it to Atlantic Chrysler and had new posts and nuts put on. Only cost 60-bucks! After soul searching, I believe that the WalMart crew loosened the nuts, then discovered the cupping on a rear tire and neglected to tighten them. They slowly worked loose and stress fractured off. Close call! I was ten miles or less from loosing a wheel.
ReplyDeleteJune 9, 2022 I had 4 new 225/65R16 tires put on at 153,822 mileage. As usual, I blew off the 95-dollar offer to fix the pressure sensor on one tire valve. What a scam those things are. Had ordinary valves put on. I can rotate them free at TiresPlus after 5,000 miles. The sound sure improved after getting rid of the cupped rears.
ReplyDeleteUsed the product Cerakote on the front headlight lenses. They were very cloudy and I could have the brights on with oncoming traffic not noticing. The process involved 4 sheets of oxidation remover per lens, followed by gentle sanding with coarse and fine discs. Then a sealant coat is applied to each. The improvement was great!
ReplyDeleteDuded the Silver Streak up as a camping van with cots and all and took it on a 3700 mile road trip to Nova Scotia and back. No problems.
ReplyDeleteAt 166,400 miles we started having some brake noise. Was driving a friend from Sarasota to the Orlando airport and had an hour of stop and go, which reduced the situation to metal on metal grinding. The antilock system sensed one wheel turning faster and tried to help, to no avail, of course. All the idiot lights then came up. Limped home and put new front pads in the next day. Only one rivet was touching a rotor so no significant grooving there. Everything is fine again with no obvious warpage or shimmying.
ReplyDeleteMarch 31, 2023 found us trading in the Silver Streak. We began by just researching newer Chrysler minivans, finding that they stopped making the Town and Country. The Pacifica is the one now and we found a screaming deal on a 2021 Touring L with just under 7000 miles on it. I kissed the Town & Country before leaving it at the dealership. Someone may well get 80 to a hundred thousand miles yet on this beloved vehicle.
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