smoking brakes

Synchros shot? Weird noises while shifting? Not sure what needs to be replaced?
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wannabe
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smoking brakes

Post by wannabe »

NOT MY CAR

the 94 spirit (car sister drives):

sis was comin home from school tues and there was smoke comin (its a 10 minute drive) from the driver side of the car...(other lil' sis said right side...but i dunno if that means looking at car, or from inside car...haha)...the hood was up when i got home from work, but it was 2+ hours later, and no more smoke...

they thought it was from engine, but then they thought brakes (they = mom and sister). brake fluid looks fine. level is fine.

would smoking brakes be a sign that a brake is stuck? dad says he's gonna look at the car, but he don't know anymore about this issue than i do........(but i have a forum full of people...he has a brother who is a mechanic...o well).

should i take tires off and look at brakes? take car for a drive? sister hasn't driven the car yet again this week...doesn't trust it...

and no, i dunno if they know what brakes smell like.
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Re: smoking brakes

Post by watkins »

If the brake is smoking than you WILL smell it. Even if youve never smelled it before youll know the smell instantly
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Re: smoking brakes

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Burned brakes smell about like burned clutch - nasty!

By any way, has the car sat for a while without being driven?

BAW, is the park brake applied? Was it applied recently, before this condition occurred? Was smoke confirmed to be coming from front or could it have been from the rear?

I've seen front disk brake calipers seize due to corrosion, especially if car has sat for some time or also if the brake pads are very worn and the pistons are extended very far to make up the for the pads being so thin. Either way, they sometimes can be freed by exercising the brakes very vigorously.

To see if they are sticking, have someone place the car in neutral while someone else (or several some elses) shoves the car. If it can be pushed, the brakes are not sticking, or at least not very much. Start the engine, so the brake booster is assisting you and push on the brake pedal with both feet as hard as you can and then let up. Do this several times.

Then try driving it around real slow-like. Does it slow down real fast as you let off the gas? does it take a lot of accelerator pedal input to get it to move? Those are signs of sticking brakes.
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Re: smoking brakes

Post by watkins »

Another possibility is that it will pull to one side while driving.
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Re: smoking brakes

Post by RITmusic2k »

They didn't just have the brakes changed, did they? New pads can smoke as they bed in...
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Re: smoking brakes

Post by Rope-Pusher »

We all came out to Holland
On the Lake Michigan shoreline
To eat elephant ears with a Dutch Girl
We didnt have much time
Watkins and RITmusic2k
Were posting all around
But some stupid with a Spirit
Burned the place to the ground
Smoke on the brake pad, fire in the tire

They burned down the friction material
It died with an awful smell
Wannabe was running in and out
Pulling sis out the car
When it all was over
We had to find another place
But Dutch time was running out
It seemed that we would lose the race
Smoke on the brake pad, fire in the tire

We ended up in the ol’ Tercel
It was empty cold and bare
But with the exhaust leak just outside
Making us dizzy at times
With a few red tulips and a few wooden shoes
We make a place to sit
No matter what we get out of this
I know well never forget
Smoke on the brake pad, fire in the tire
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Re: smoking brakes

Post by theholycow »

Rope-Pusher, you are a master. I used to do parodies like that all the time, I guess you stole my muse.

I had a Pontiac that I always parked with the handbrake set. Whenever I'd loan it to someone, they'd drive off with the handbrake still set, ignoring the brake light, the chime, the lack of power, and the smoke coming from the red-hot brakes. It would stink when they return it and they'd say it was slow and smoking.

After two or three different people did that, I learned to warn them that I park it with the handbrake on. Then there's the difficulty of explaining how to operate the handbrake.

So...could they have been driving with the brake set?

Another smoke story: My wife and her friend were driving in her friend's car when something started smoking. They came to my place and my dad (this was when we were teenagers) was in the driveway. He looked through the car and found it...it was a 12v spotlight that they had left face down in the carpet, turned on.

Anyway, another test for stuck/dragging brakes is to jack the car up and try to spin tires by hand.

If all else fails, they could drive the car with you until it starts smoking again and you can identify where it's coming from and what it smells like.
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Re: smoking brakes

Post by Rope-Pusher »

I think if the brakes were smoking any time in the last week, the smell will still be there.

I had a Goolie - Pontiac 6000LE, that developed sticky park brake after a few years (and my wife not using the park brake). I would borrow it and have the brake cable get stuck. Had to reach under the car and exercise the brake cable by hand to get the brakes to stop draggin. Eventually, my wife won and I stopped using the park brake.
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Re: smoking brakes

Post by wannabe »

rope pusher...i like it...whats it a parody of?

1. i think she has no clue what a parking brake is....ignorant teenager
2. dad thinks it was coolant...he ran it (idle) for a good 15-20 minutes (burning his own gas money...), and then added more coolant cuz it was low. mine was too, so he added some to my car. lulz
3. it doesn't smell outside.
4. sis is driving the car tomorrow. we'll see what it does


i remember it smoking one other time when i was driving it...as a sophomore in hs...(it was at our old house...) i don't remember what the issue was then. i coulda cared less then too...
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Re: smoking brakes

Post by 4onthefloor »

It's a parody of Smoke on the Water which is really freaky because I was singing it just before opening this thread.

My Uncle's brakes got locked on one time on the highway and it created smoke and the whole truck reeked. It was almost like an electrical, burning rubber type smell.
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Re: smoking brakes

Post by RITmusic2k »

Rope-Pusher. Beautiful work there.
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Re: smoking brakes

Post by permabanned »

whats ebrake. mine hasnt worked longer than some of you had your drivers licenses
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Re: smoking brakes

Post by comingbackdown »

Epic parody.

Stuck brakes, burning oil, if it was coolant and it was smoking, the engine would likely have gone to shit by now.

Could be a million things. On the extreme end, you have the classic blown head gasket, but that has some severely obvious signs, including major overheat and some noise (most likely)

So many possible causes... I'd have to see it, hear it, and smell it to know what it is.
Too many possible causes, not enough dead-on description.
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Re: smoking brakes

Post by Rope-Pusher »

comingbackdown wrote:Epic parody.

Stuck brakes, burning oil, if it was coolant and it was smoking, the engine would likely have gone to shit by now.

Could be a million things. On the extreme end, you have the classic blown head gasket, but that has some severely obvious signs, including major overheat and some noise (most likely)

So many possible causes... I'd have to see it, hear it, and smell it to know what it is.
Too many possible causes, not enough dead-on description.
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