I have an 03 expy, I did the breaks about 2 years ago. They started to make noise, so I pulled it apart. The pads on the right side ore gone, on the left there is about 1/2 left.
What is the cause of this? The car does not pull when driving or stopping. The caliper seems to move ok and the slide bolts were lubed with anti-seize.
this is my only running car at the moment.

I also noticed to day that the e-brake goes down a long way before engaging. Is this telling me the rear pads are bad, or is it a different system?

Thanks

 

The e-brake is a stand alone system and is adjustable. As for the pad wear it sounds like you have a caliper hanging up. It could be that the one that has pad left is not working 100% or what I beleive is the problem is that the caliper with the worn pads is not returning and is getting hung up under pressure. This is why it is not pulling. But it really could be either.

 

how do I tell which one? both seem to be working from what I can see.

 

It doesn't matter. Since one of them is acting up, and since they should be replaced in pairs, it's irrelevant which one is acting up because you should be replacing both of them.

 

ok,
One more question, The long spring clip on the outside was missing. Could this cause the wear? It appears that the clip holds the caliper in position.

 

The two long slide bolts hold the caliper in position. The spring clip is an anti-rattle device for the pads.

 

So it would not affect wear and is not required, except for noise.

thanks so much for the help. Off to get new calipers and break pads.