My DAILY Driver broke down not my 151

[HILLBILLY-06]

It has been a bad few days of terrible luck lately... NOT my 151, but my daily driver...
Coming back from town a few days ago, my brakes on my ranger failed. The front calipers locked up and over heated bad. I knew I wasn't but about 1/2 a mile from an express oil change, so I tried like heck to get there before something gave out. They told me I needed new calipers & pads. They kept it in the shop till closing time. About 2 hours later, they said it was fixed and I was on my way, broke and penny-less after the bill, but I made it home just glad that I wasn't stranded.
Well today, I went into town again, same thing happened and I had to pull off in a church parking lot. The smoke was just horrible, I knew this was bad. I raised my hood, just to let any passer-by folks know I was broke down, in case they didn't see the smoke signals... I then turned my driver side wheel out bound, crawled under and noticed they did not replace that caliper, just new pads on that side. Also they left off my master cylinder lid. Lucky me, it was still sitting there on the fender.
Well as luck had it, a guy from a nearby local church, "very nice guy" helped me try to bleed my brakes and get the piston unstuck. We eventually had to remove the wheel, and take the caliper off and use one of my camper shell c-clamps to try to un-stick the piston. We got it only free enough to release the pads just barely. Then put everything back together, and he volunteered to follow me all the way home, "just a few miles" to be sure I made it. I got here safe and sound, but now my brake light and rear ABS light are on, tire still smoking.
I swear as sure as I am sitting here right now, I cant drive the 151, it aint ready yet and needs work done to it as well that has been put on the back-burner more than once. This has just bitten me where I can't scratch it. All I want to do is have things work out for a change you know...and not have to be all discombobulated and things so far out of proportion, at a time when it just sneaks right up behind me like this. I'm going to be broke down now for a while looks like, it just caught me at a bad time.

DOES ANYBODY know if it is possible to un-stick a stuck caliper? providing it isn't a bad line, I don't think it is a bad line yet, but not sure there either, there was no pressure on it when we loosened the bleeder valve. It will squirt fluid about 6 feet when I depress the pedal and had him loosen the bleeder. There are a lot of things going on with it all at once, I don't know why all of my lights are on too now, other than air in the line maybe, the brake light and the rear ABS light, plus the stuck caliper.... ANY Suggestions would be a great help. Sorry this was so long, I am just at the end of my rope here, I don't need this to have happened. Which is typically how my luck runs lately.

[Mark]

I'd get on the internet and type in the question how to free up a stuck brake caliper? you should get a lot of replies
mark

[HILLBILLY-06]

Well I been you-tubing it for a few minutes now, getting some ideas at least.
Man this aint gonna be fun at all. But I do hope I can get a fresh start in the morning and just start taking stuff one part at a time and looking at it good.
The hard part is not having anyone to help me bleed the brakes, to check for air. I got to make some phone calls on that one and see if anybody I know can help with that one thing at least.

[Mark]

I think you can bleed it by opening the bleeder, then just let it drip abit.
mark

[old dodge guy]

I don't think bleeding it will help. I think in the parlance of words, you got screwed. Sorry so bluntly put, but been down this road before. Your caliper was stuck initially and causing problems, they seem to have just changed pads, you say caliper not changed. SO...caliper is most likely the problem and needs replacing. They can be taken apart and cleaned and replacement seals and rubbers installed, but most often it is faster and easier to just replace them. Just depends on the vehicle. Sometimes it is even cheaper, especially if you are paying for the labor. Other things to look for are the pinched hose or blocked hose, and wheel bearings. Actually, if it got that hot, I would clean and grease the wheel bearings anyway. Extreme heat can "cook" the grease so it is no good. Also very possible to warp the rotors. I think a trip back to the initial shop is in order and a "strong discussion" is in order. Check REAL close what you paid for, and if it says the caliper was replaced and it wasn't, legal discussions with them and a state regulating body are in order. Check the warranty from the place also, they should stand behind their work.
A question for trouble shooting, are both front brakes dragging or just the one? If the brake light is on, it might be low on fluid, especially if the lid was left off. Actually that is likely. As for rear ABS, no idea at the moment.

[rickf]

OK, I can tell right off the caliper is bad. It can be rebuilt but without the tools and knowledge it is best to replace it. I always buy loaded calipers, that is a caliper loaded with pads and depending on the vender it may even have the hardware with it. All in all no more expensive than buying all of the parts you are going to need separately. The pads they put on are now junk from over heating so I agree with ODG, Go back to the shop that supposedly did the work, don't touch anything until you do. Other than what you have done to get home. When confronted with the facts they may do the job right which will include rotors since those will be wiped out. When I keep referring to "those" I mean you have to replace everything on both sides on any brake job with the exception of a caliper. In this case it sounds like the caliper was in order unless that was not the one that seized the first time. If it was the one that seized the first time then you have that company by the gonads! Personally I would just get my money back and go somewhere else since they are obviously clueless but they are probably going to want to repair it which they do have the option to do. If they do replace the calipers and pads and rotors and do not replace the lines I strongley suggest that you do that soon. That will not fall under anything they should do but you do not know if they hung a caliper from the line or what. I call that insurance. Don't worry about the brake lights right now, that will work itself out when this is all taken care of.

Rick

[HILLBILLY-06]

I will call them this morning and tell them what happened, I don't need to chance driving it that far especially in traffic where it is likely to leave me in a bad pinch or dangerous position. All I have on that truck is liability, it's just not worth risking trying to drive it to them. If they offer to fix it, someone will hopefully come get it.
It looks to me like they replaced one (passenger side caliper) and a set of pads and my 4x4 seals. The driver side it what has locked up just about a week later, but yesterday was the first time it was driven in that period of time, so basically the brakes failed in one trip back to town. As far as the quality of work they did, well if they didn't replace that one, then I don't know how to fault them, or even if I can. But they charged me $216.87 to fix it, and I was confident when he said it was fixed, that I would not have that kind of a problem again, surely at least not this soon.

[HILLBILLY-06]

Well I called them, I was very nice and explained what happened to him as best I could.
He told me in exact words it is my fault because I didn't put new brake lines on it and that now I must replace everything myself because I ruined my calipers with junk from my brake lines. He said I will have to now have new pads, new rotors, new calipers and "new brake lines" and that he was sorry he left my cap off my master cylinder, but it had nothing to do with what happened and they were not responsible at all.
Don't you just love rolling down the window and chucking 200 bucks at a time right into the wind like that.

He said because he added on my ticket that I needed new brake lines, that it was all my fault.

I guess I will just be in limbo for a while, I gave that guy all my money, so I will just be sitting here for a while now, unable to do anything about it. In the meantime, I guess I will have to figure out how in the heck I am going to replace all those parts with pocket lint and good intentions.... LOL.

[old dodge guy]

Well, it sounds like you are in a bind. I think many of us will have advice, some good, some.....well not as good. BE PATIENT WITH US. To help you we will need a LOT of things answered, but I think we can get you some help
.
First, what does your repair ticket say? Is the statement you refer to ON the ticket? Where? Large or small print? Did they DISCUSS this with you?

Does the ticket plainly SAY that they replaced BOTH calipers or one? EXACTLY what parts were replaced on the ticket? Next, check the truck and VERIFY that they were indeed replaced? Do you have a name brand?

Is this a one man operation or a chain? Who did the work? Was he certified? Are they licensed?

quote "I must replace everything myself because I ruined my calipers with junk from my brake lines." NOPE, I don't buy this for a second, no way----no how. If the line is damaged internally or partially blocked, yes that is very possible that the flow is blocked and the caliper can not return properly so it "locks" but there should not be enough debris to cause it to lock. If the hose was THAT bad they should have replaced AT THE SHOP before it left. If nothing else, because of liability to them, it should have been safe when it left.

I should have asked this further up....is this ONE side or BOTH......very important question for diagnosis.

Sorry for so many questions, but need to get the correct details to help steer you to a good conclusion. , at the moment I can think of a LOT of ways to hold their feet to the fire to pay up, but need to give accurate advice, not assumptions. You know what happens when you ass/u/me things.

[HILLBILLY-06]

It's a store chain, "express oil change and service center"
They replaced (as per ticket)...
Brake Caliper front: #SLC545 Qty: (1)
F Semi Metalic Pads #GMKD24 Qty: (1)
Front Seals #ADV 9719 QTY: (1)

***** Just below the parts list is a note NOTE: Brake lines are very worn and cracked and need replacing.

Hood tech= AW Pit Tech= ISI Invoice= AW

Fine print, as stated on form in all caps I will write it as it appears on form as follows:
IN THE EVENT OF A PROBLEM AFTER SERVICE OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OIL CHANGE MUST BE NOTIFIED AND ALLOWED TO
CHECK THE VEHICLE BEFORE ANY REPAIRS ARE MADE. ANY
OTHER ACTION SHALL VOID ANY WARRANTIES WEATHER
WRITTEN OR IMPLIED.---------OIL WARNING!---------IF
YOUR OIL WARNING LIGHT COMES ON (OR YOUR GAUGE LOSES
PRESSURE) STOP YOUR VEHICLE IMMEDIATELY! ----NEVER
OPERATE YOUR ENGINE WHEN THE OIL WARNING LIGHT IS ON!
DOING SO MAY VOID WARRANTY!

[HILLBILLY-06]

I also spoke to my neighbor this morning, he said one day this week he will try to help me work on it, see if we can do something to get it working, or something....
At least he offered to help, which is far better to me than "It's your fault" and you should have replaced those bad brake lines that the tech told me this morning from express oil change.

[Mr. Recovery]

Man .... don't ever go to that shop again !! I'm a mechanic for a living and have been for over 20 years. That shop is full of a bunch of jerks if you ask me. That is not the way to handle business. If they didn't do the job right the first time then they are responsible to fix it right. They did a half ass job on the repair work judging by what you wrote from the ticket. With that being said ..... you need to replace calipers, pads, rotors and lines if you want to do it right and eliminate those questionable parts. Replacing the calipers is the easiest way to do it instead of trying to rebuild them. Parts are cheaper if you rebuild but takes twice the time to do and if there is something wrong with the piston or caliper housing then you'll have to replace it anyway. The light could be on because of low fluid from the lid being off or because of brake pressures not being right when they were " working ". Replacing all the necessary parts and bleeding to system should take care of it from the way it sounds. Hope this helps and good luck.
I'm Mr.Recovery's son and just happened to read this . Mr.Mechanic 69

[HILLBILLY-06]

Man .... don't ever go to that shop again !! I'm a mechanic for a living and have been for over 20 years. That shop is full of a bunch of jerks if you ask me. That is not the way to handle business. If they didn't do the job right the first time then they are responsible to fix it right. They did a half ass job on the repair work judging by what you wrote from the ticket. With that being said ..... you need to replace calipers, pads, rotors and lines if you want to do it right and eliminate those questionable parts. Replacing the calipers is the easiest way to do it instead of trying to rebuild them. Parts are cheaper if you rebuild but takes twice the time to do and if there is something wrong with the piston or caliper housing then you'll have to replace it anyway. The light could be on because of low fluid from the lid being off or because of brake pressures not being right when they were " working ". Replacing all the necessary parts and bleeding to system should take care of it from the way it sounds. Hope this helps and good luck.
I'm Mr.Recovery's son and just happened to read this . Mr.Mechanic 69

I hear ya, Man I sure feel the pain too, those guy's cleaned me out, took all the money that I had and now I am just going to be sitting here really wishing it hadn't happened that way. I just wrote their corporate office and told them what happened, and asked them to please contact me. I Have a Mechanic friend out of town, who just told me that they should have never let my truck leave that shop the way that they did. They allowed a known unsafe condition out the door at my expense. Even if it was close to closing time, they should have kept my truck over night, fixed it properly the first time and then released it to me with confidence that it was absolutely fixed beyond a doubt.

[rickf]

So basically they replaced the wrong caliper and are now blaming you because they screwed up. I seldom ever flash my credentials but I want you to know that I have a clue about what is going on.
Certified master auto tech,Auto and truck. L1 certified. 41 years, Now retired.
Just because the lines are cracked on the outside does not mean they are delaminated on the inside. The chances of a piece of line causing this problem is one in ten thousand, If anything it would cause no brakes if it blocked the caliper port. It could cause the problem if the line delaminated and trapped fluid in the caliper but then you would release pressure as soon as you opened the bleeder which did not happen. The caliper could be jammed on the slide but you said that was also checked by your friend so that leave a bad caliper itself and no fault of yours. You are going to get nowhere by confronting them so call the better business bureau and file a complaint, you will probably find you are not alone. Also see if you have a consumer affairs department in your area and they may go after them. As far as fixing it you are going to need all new everything, lines, rotors, pads and calipers. I don't have time to look up the seal numbers but I am guessing they are hub seals for the bearings. While it is apart check the wheel bearings.
I realize this is not what you want to hear but at this point you have no choice.
Just curious, did they verbally ask you if they could replace the lines or did they just put that on the receipt?

[HILLBILLY-06]

They told me that they needed to be replaced and wrote it on the ticket as I was paying my bill, but they did not replace them.

ALSO: important update, I did write the corporate office a short nice letter explaining what happened. I never included any store information or location, A few minutes ago, actually less than 10 minutes after I sent the e-mail, that manager from the express oil change and service called me, saying that corporate was really breathing down his neck over it, and that normally they don't let vehicles leave their shop in that condition. He wants to get it back there, and still fix it, but told me it could cost me as much as 500 bucks
No waaaay I can just come up with that much money, I can't believe he just said that to me, sure they'll fix it, OMG.... 500 bucks, after the half-ass, still got to replace everything, even the stuff I replaced last time.... If I had a kite I think I would go fly it just to ponder on all this.