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What Causes a Brake Rotor/Pads/Caliper to Overheat?


bar10dah

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Not XX specific, but could use some help in understanding my problem.

 

I drove my Odyssey home for about 500 miles and parked it.  No problems on the drive. 

 

Doing some maintenance a week ago, I shot some WD-40 in to the upper strut bushings to quiet them down from squeaking over bumps.  Now, I seem to have a burned brakes smell from the wheel on that side.  So I thought okay maybe some of the WD-40 got onto the rotors and is burning off.  But, I felt an awful lot of heat coming from that wheel.  So I took my IR gun and measured the rotor temp at 280F.  I go around to the other side and it only reads 70F.

 

Did WD-40 have something to do with my rotor getting so hot??  If so, WTF??  How does that happen?  I thought it would get the same amount of hot as the other side, regardless of any overspray or dripping.

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I wouldn't think the WD-40 did anything to your brakes as far as them hanging up.  If the caliper doesn't slide freely on the pins, they can drag and heat up.  I would pull the caliper and lube things with lube made for brakes.

While different, some years ago I had a almost new F-250 and I was driving on I-70 and I could feel the drag getting worse and worse.  I pulled over and while I was standing there checking it out, it was very hot, there was a big pop and it worked fine then.  They replaced the caliper under warranty but no one knew what happened. 

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The WD didn't cause it, it just made you aware of an existing problem by adding smell.  Or maybe the brake problem coincidentally happened right after the WD was used.  Something's sticking: the pins, the piston, or the pads.  The likelihood of the culprit is in that order from my So. Cal. experiences.  In high rust areas it becomes impossible to predict.  Another possibility is the hose, they can degrade internally and become somewhat of a check valve.  If you don't find anything physically stuck, replace the hose.  There's some possibility that the ABS module, assuming it has ABS, could cause it but I've never heard of that happening.

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If you find that the hose or caliper needs to be replaced, before disconnecting anything find something to hold the brake pedal down about an inch or two.  That'll keep the master from draining so you don't have to do a full bleeding which can be a bitch.  I usually use something placed between the front of the seat and the pedal, sometimes between the steering wheel and pedal.

 

Once everything's assembled: remove the fill cap, loosen the caliper bleed nipple, and release the pedal.  Gravity will push the fluid in and the air out, just don't let the reservoir go empty.  You can give the pedal a couple pumps to speed it up, press down then pull it up quickly, if you baby it up it can suck fluid and air back up which will kill the process.

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Hmm, I'm gonna go spray WD on all my brakes as a drag detector.  BRB.

 

Telling us how many miles are on the vehicle and since the last brake service could also help, but Oscar pretty much laid it out.

 

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Thanks fellas.  I didn't even think about the pins.  Lubed them up with caliper grease today.

 

165K miles, regular maintenance.  Rotors and pads (and everything lubed, to include the pins) replaced two years and 40K miles ago.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/24/2020 at 5:31 PM, bar10dah said:

Thanks fellas.  I didn't even think about the pins.  Lubed them up with caliper grease today.

 

165K miles, regular maintenance.  Rotors and pads (and everything lubed, to include the pins) replaced two years and 40K miles ago.

Ever change your brake fluid? Water in the fluid can cause pistons to ultimately corrode and seize. Same for piston seals. Since ive paid more attention to these issues my brake longevity has gone WAY up.

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