C3 brakes - what happened?

[Jimmy B.]

Today I pulled my 69 427 car out of storage after about 1 1/2 years of so of being put away.. Went to a gas station to get some air as 1 tire was down to about 10 lb. or so. Anyway while driving slow around the parking lot the RF tire suddenly locked up and slid, then appeared to free up and all looked good. About 2 miles later while going over water on the bridge I noticed smoke coming from the right front. After pulling over at a safe place and inspecting the RF caliper there was a small amount of flame (like that on a candle) burning at the front of the caliper. I blew on it and the fire went out but I did have my fire extinguisher at the stand by. Finally loaded the car on a trailer under its own power and took it to where my lift is.

Upon inspection while on the lift all I see is a very small amount of brake fluid on the inside of the tire, the inlet hose appears fine, so can anyone tell me what happened and is the car safe to drive???

Do I need to switch out the caliper or what? The brake pedal stayed fine and did not go mushy.

Any ideas???

Thanks in advance.

Jim Blakely

oh by the way: Sarasota beautiful mid 70-s today

[John H.]

Re: C3 brakes - what happened?

Last year I had a caliper stick in bore over the winter . First drive in spring got to destination and was greeted with a foul burning aroma with the wheel too hot to touch. Had to change out the caliper as piston was seized in the bore. Sounds like a similar situation. The seal around the piston may have fried and may be leaking fluid. Not safe to drive until problem is resolved. Maybe a good idea to check the operation of all the pistons and movement of calipers. 40deg and 40 mph winds in north east Ohio. Good time to flush brake system .

[Michael W.]

Re: C3 brakes - what happened?

Most common cause of a single brake locking up is the rubber flex hose. If the wheel is still locked up, crack open a bleeder. If the brake releases, there's your problem. If not, go after the caliper as John suggests above.

Don't drive the car until it's fixed.

[Jimmy B.]

Re: C3 brakes - what happened?

Looks life I better break the coveralls out.

Thanks for your suggestions, seeing that little fire definetely got my heart rate up a bit.

Jim

[Gary R.]

Re: C3 brakes - what happened?

The 1.5 year storage is the problem,the BF gets muddy,acidic and causes the pistons to stick, hoses close on the ID,and M/C seals leak. Best thing is to pump the pedal once or twice a month if you can when it's stored.
I would flush out the old BF and if the hoses are older then 7-8 years I would replace them as part of a brake system PM. Pull that caliper on the wheel that locked up and see what it looks like inside. You may end up installing new calipers but if the pistons aren't too bad and the bore looks ok I would use a caliper rebuild kit and rebuild it. Probably have to do the same to all.
Use a Motive bleeder and check the runout in the rotors.
Good luck

[John H.]

Re: C3 brakes - what happened?

The year and a half storage is not really the issue as most of us have cars that may sit as long as that and maybe even more with no problems.The cars we drive every day come up with issues like this. Most likely a corrosion issue around the outer seal and piston area. The piston should move back into the bore with relative ease and all four should have about the same amount of resistance . Bleeding the brakes every few years removes the contaminants (mostly moisture) but may not prevent the deterioration around the sealing area where the corrosion starts and migrates to the bore. The run out check is a good point,as it can cause the the piston to act as a suction device and introduce air and moisture to the system at that caliper.

[Paul J.]

Re: C3 brakes - what happened?

The 1.5 year storage is the problem,the BF gets muddy,acidic and causes the pistons to stick, hoses close on the ID,and M/C seals leak. Best thing is to pump the pedal once or twice a month if you can when it's stored.
I would flush out the old BF and if the hoses are older then 7-8 years I would replace them as part of a brake system PM. Pull that caliper on the wheel that locked up and see what it looks like inside. You may end up installing new calipers but if the pistons aren't too bad and the bore looks ok I would use a caliper rebuild kit and rebuild it. Probably have to do the same to all.
Use a Motive bleeder and check the runout in the rotors.
Good luck

Jim, I would follow Gary's professional advice. In addition, when I flushed the system I would refill with silicone brake fluid. You won't have this issue again.

Paul