Hi all
I have got a funny one if anybody can help.
2002 Grand Voyager LTD 3.3 petrol auto.

My rear nearside brake overheats very intermittently, I thought it was the handbrake and have replaced all cables and shoes. Having done this I thought that I had cured it but today it did it again.
It appears to only happen when there are more than two people on board and very intermmitently.
Is there a pressure regulating valve on the rear brakes?
The pistons feel free but are they working harder with more passengers?
HELP
Any ideas would be welcome.
Regards
DOC

 

I had this once recently - I'd just had the disks replaced and garage had foundone of the bolts holding the caliper had stripped the thread in the bracket/holder. This was helicoiled and sorted out and all was fine - then one evening, I drove a short distance and when I stopped, smoke poured out of the rear brake, and when I looked, the caliper was glowing yellow hot. had it checked again, and they couldn't find a problem, but said if it happened again, it would probably need a new caliper. Never happened since.

 

This has just happened to me today on the M5, infact there was a squeal for a while, so I pulled over and checked the back end out.
The near side wheel was very hot and the stench from the brakes was horrid, I drove slowly to the nearest service station, with the back end of the car juddering! I stopped for 45 minutes, rocked the car backwards and forwards, he presto, its disappeared...penny for someones thoughts please...

 

Hi Thebus
It sounds like the problem I had. assuming you have rear discs fitted.
The piston is intermittently siezing in the bore of the cylinder and will not retract when you remove your foot from the brake pedal. In the early stages when it cools it is OK for a while, but I can assure you it will come back.
I changed nearly everything in the rear braking system before I spoke to the local Chrysler agent who politely informed me that it happened fairly frequently and the only known long term fix is to replace the caliper.
When I took the old caliper off and put it on the bench the piston was siezed solid luckily in the non operated state. I so I was braking on three wheels only). Once changed problem solved and that was about a year ago.
I would suggest that you replace the pads on both sides of the rear axle to keep everything balanced as burning pad linings dosn't do them much good.
Hope that helps & good luck
Regards
Doc

 

The big problem with overheating brakes is that it can cause materials (bonding agents) in the pads to turn into lubricants, essentially. If you've cleaned/sanded everything, you must re-seat the pads/break in the brakes again before they'll work properly. Try this solution for some help. If it doesn't work, clean the rotors again, and get new pads.

 

Had this same problem after changing rear discs and shoes. Had to fit reconditioned caliphers to solve the problem.
Tried lubricating the pistons under the seals during pumping pistons out and in a few times but brakes still wouldn't free fully.
Its all to do with the rubber seals in the caliphers not acting as they should.
You need to read how they work to understand.
Seems to be a known fault in garage trade with this car.
A repair kit if you can get one might suffice.

 

I keep having this problem. A few years back the back breakes would overheat and I finally had the entire brakes rebuilt. Later the same happened to the front and I had everything replaced including calipers. A few days ago the left back brake seiously overheated and plumes of smoke was coming out. I poured a few litres of cold water on it when I parked and it was fine a few hours later and ran perfectly cool
Do I really have to change calipers every couple of years?
This is getting very expensive


How hard is it to change the caliper yourself?

 

This is so weird..... the very same thing has just happened to my 2001 CRD voyager.

Owned & serviced the car from new myself... 147K miles and still going strong

Just prior to the MOT last week, I stripped & cleaned the handbrake shoes & lubed the linkage, also noticed that the rear pads were 3/4 worn, so replaced them with new ones. Cleaned everything up, greased the sliding pins etc etc, wound the pistons back in, no signs of seizing at all.

Couple of days later after a trip of 100 miles, noticed that the back nearside brake was burning up.. stripped it down & could tell that it had been sticking on, stripped it, cleaned everything doubled checked it & put it together, It was fine... and had been fine for a week, then it happened again

I'm assuming that it's because the piston is now pushed right back into the caliper ? when previously with the worn pads it was right out ???

After it had been binding, I could still spin the wheel, so it's only slightly dragging but it's enough to cause it to burn up..

I'm going to try pumping the pistons out & in with the pads out to see if that frees it up?

 

A very common cause of hot back brakes when they shouldn't be is the peculiar handbrake system on GVs. I got this one on the nearside (UK) wheel which was a combination of seized parts and partly seized brake cable*. After the unseizing work was done, I fitted more and better return springs to the handbrake portions**. On mine, the back brakes are the typical disc/drum system, common with Mercedes, where the disc part has the usual calipers/pads and is hydraulically operated, the handbrake being only on the drum part and cable operated. But don't assume all GVs are like this. I believe some of the older ones don't have the drum section, the handbrake operating on the disc pads.

Leedsman
*If you examine the black plastic outer covering on the handbrake cable, any nicks or a section which has been rubbing on the chassis by not being tied down properly, will allow water into the steel springy outer part, it rusts over the years and finally seizes up the cable, which has a transparent plastic coating.
** Check my posting on this one entitled "My struggles with the GV handbrake".

 

- why spam this board ? you are sad my friend