So a few months ago a friend and myself tried changing out the brake pads on my Taurus.
Immediately afterwards there was a loud grinding sound coming from the passenger side whenever the brakes were applied. It sounded/felt like when you run over those grooves they put on the side of the highway. Clearly something went wrong with changing out the brake pads but I didn't have time to get in and check and the brakes still seemed to work ok so I kept driving on it. At first I thought the grinding sound was "the brake pads getting worn in" but I really should have known better.
At some point the brakes went out entirely. They don't work at all anymore, the pedal just presses to the floor with little to no resistance.
I'm looking to fix everything and I know for sure I'll need a new rotor and pads. But since the brakes have quit entirely now I think there might be something more wrong with it. Can you guys recommend everything that I should check/troubleshoot/replace, and what might have caused the brakes to go out?
My guess too. Ive accidentally installed them backwards before just being in a rush, that's what this sounds like. As far as the brakes giving out completely..... that's very odd just from installing pads backwards
Fooling with brakes when you done have guidance from someone who knows brakes or proper experience can be dangerous to you and other people on the road.
The pads were certainly installed incorrectly, but I guess my main question is what else all could need replaced now that the car was driven so long with incorrectly installed pads on.
I'm not really a "just pull the wheel off and see" kind of guy so I'm hoping to get a checklist of things that I might should replace just to be on the safe side.
The main thing that worries me is as mentioned previously the brakes have since completely gone out and I'm not sure why or what to do to repair that.
The pads were certainly installed incorrectly, but I guess my main question is what else all could need replaced now that the car was driven so long with incorrectly installed pads on.
I'm not really a "just pull the wheel off and see" kind of guy so I'm hoping to get a checklist of things that I might should replace just to be on the safe side.
The main thing that worries me is as mentioned previously the brakes have since completely gone out and I'm not sure why or what to do to repair that.
Most likely you have crushed the pad material on the one or ones put in backward. That could over extend the piston and you lost your brake fluid.
But this could be a learning experience.
If the piston is has leaked, you need a new/rebuilt caliper, new pads, new rotor/rotors and bleed the system.
Next time, checklist, pads in right, bolts with threadlocker, proper tightening. Remove the fluid from the master cylinder before pushing the first caliper piston back. Pushing the piston back raises the fluid level in the master cylinder and if it is not down, will overfill and make a mess. After replacing the pads both sides, suck the fluid out of the MC and replace with new. First pump of the pedal to seat the pads will put new clean fluid into the lines. Flushing is not critical but you will make a much better system if you do. You can do this first, or last. If you flush the system first (sometimes called bleeding) suck the existing fluid out of the MC and put new in. So you start flushing with clean fluid.
The first step on any checklist is to inspect the work that was done. Disk brakes are very simple, and there is not a lot of room for error in a pad replacement, so any problem should be pretty obvious, at least to a trained eye.
I hate to say this, but if you are unwilling to take the wheel off and inspect your work, and look for any obvious issues, I suggest you have the car towed to a professional to have it fixed.
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