Hi, registered at the forum to ask this. My teenage son just bought his first car, a 1991 Ford Explorer XLT 2-wheel drive. I had it checked out by our mechanic before I let him shell out the money, and everything seemed OK. It's the prototypical low-mileage car (127k actual, confirmed by Carfax) owned by a little old man who took good care of it (stack of service records a foot high) and didn't drive it very much.

Earlier this week ... he'd driven it for about two weeks with no issues ... the left front brake caliper locked up on it, to the point where it heated up enormously, the pads and rotors got so hot they were discolored and some transmission fluid got blown out by the strain.

He took it to our regular mechanic, great guy who we've used for years and has worked magic with our cars, he got into it and he diagnosed the problem as ... I hope I'm explaining it right ... a little pin or piston or something in the caliper was upside down. He put it back in the right way, and everything seemed to be OK, although he said my son would probably end up needing a brake job sooner than later because of the way the pad got ground down.

FYI, master cylinder is full of fluid, our mechanic couldn't see any leaks anywhere. Although when we took the car to the mechanic, my son tried to back it up to get a better angle at getting into the service bay, and the pedal went to the floor.

Fast forward two days, and danged if the same thing didn't happen with the right front caliper, seized up although he didn't get it as hot as the other time, parked it a lot quicker. And of course it happens on Friday going into the weekend, when our mechanic isn't working, he won't be able to do anything until Monday, which leaves us scrambling trying to get everyone to work, etc., down one car.

Doing a little online homework ... which we probably should've done before my son made this purchase ... I'm seeing a lot of brake issues with '91 Explorers. I asked my mechanic if he thought there was some ABS-related problem here and he said he didn't think so.

I will say that the car apparently sat undriven for a long time, which I know can unleash a lot of issues.

Can anyone offer us any input as to what might be going on here? Do we just need to go ahead and replace the calipers, any hoses, etc., as preventive maintenance? Thanks in advance for any help!

 

How often did the PO have the brake fluid flushed? Too many people think that just because the don't driver their vehicle, it doesn't need any maintenance. But fluids beak down, parts corrode, etc. and it is very common for vehicles that sit for long periods to have "junk" settle into the calipers and wheel cylinders, especially if the fluid isn't flushed out every couple of years or so. This causes the pistons to jam and the brakes to drag.

Seeing as how you have a young, inexperienced driver operating the vehicle I would recommend you consider a complete overhaul of the brake system, particularly any components that are original, since they are now going on 23 years old. I would replace calipers, wheel cylinders, pads/shoes, master cylinder, and the flex hoses as a start. Consider this "starting fresh" and something you won't have to worry about for another 20-30k miles.