Was driving issue free most of day, when leaving a red light I noticed my i had to give the van some extra gas to get up and go, then i could feel the brakes getting tighter and tighter to the point where I had to park the van. So currently my van is sitting in a parking lot 30 miles from home with locked up front brakes. Both driver and passenger front wheels were hot to the touch.

Any ideas? Thanks much, Frank

 

Usually it would be the front calipers ....Did you recently do a brake job? Did the van sit?
History?

Most times its the rear brakes esp if you used the emerg brake. The fronts are always hot..during normal driving...not glowing or making noise though..

 

Iv'e been driving the van 6 months, no problems, and no brake jobs. 120k. The front wheels were excessively hot and the front brakes were making louder than normal cooling-crackling sounds after parked.

Re- calipers:
I am wondering if the problem goes beyond the calipers.. to the master cylinder? Iv'e had calipers stick before but never had both sides go bad at the same time.

Thank you for the reply.

 

I had something similar happen to me, driving in stop and go traffic. The brakes heated up so much that one of the front calipers locked up. What I noticed was the shuddering that's characteristic of warped rotors, except I wasn't applying the brakes. I pulled off the the road and let the van sit for a while. That wheel area was radiating heat a lot more than the other side, so it was unusually hot. It did eventually cool down and release, so I could drive home. I think my brake fluid was really old, as the pedal felt really spongy afterward, indicating boiling, even though I wasn't driving very fast at the time. I changed the fluid immediately, and the problem never happened again.

 

xlt4wd90,

I was in stop and go traffic.. Maybe I am having the same issue you had. I'll report tomorrow after I try to move it.
Really hoping that's all it is. Thanks.

 

Likely demons
Caliper slide pins corroded and covered in dirt, prevents caliper/pad return after pulling foot off pedal
Partially plugged front brake lines probably at fittings, prevents low pressure return fluid from forcing its way back to MC.

Both front flex hoses broken down internally preventing fluid return.

Aeros are one of the hardest vehicles on brakes. Always buy brand name best line replacement parks, Raybestos Premiums or better has been my goto for 20+ years on mine. Wagners are good. Semi metallic pads and shoes only. Most of the back shoes out there now are the crappy organics, won't stop going uphill.
Use lots of silicone high temp grease on the rinky dink Mikey Mouse "slip pins" some put regular wheel bearing or chassis grease, the rubber between the stainless steel swells like hell, jams everything up. I always put in new pins, the rubber gets cooked. Really pathetic caliper slide for the heat abuse the Aero takes, especially the 4L Ext carrying weight or trailer

 

Yes, I forgot that I also cleaned and lubed the caliper slides. I used synthetic high temperature disc brake grease.

I've heard of internal flex line breaking down, blocking fluid flow, and causing pads to not retract. My personal experience was with my 69 Mustang (almost 50 years old lines), but it was a little different. I was bleeding them with new fluid when the lines suddenly jammed up; I just couldn't get any fluid to the calipers. New lines (and copper washers) and flow resumed.

It's criminal how Ford continued to use such wimpy brakes on the Aerostar after increasing its weight so much from a shorty to an extended body, then adding a v6 in place of the original I4, then added 4wd. My attempts to improve the situation started here:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...Zycm5RNTZTeWZB

 

I will second that. Brake fluid doesn't last forever, but unless we are doing a brake job it rarely gets changed. It absorbs moisture from the air, and then it can boil when it gets hot.

 

My experiences relating to the OP's trouble.

Long ago I turned down the front rotors on my 93.... cost savings, poor broke family guy trying to get kids into/thru college. My son "panic stops" the Van while on tour with his band.... and one of the caliper pistons over extends and "*****" in the bore. What made this possible was (1) thinner than OE spec rotors, and (2) near end of life pads.

Same thing happened to me backing out of a parking spot.... guy appears from nowhere and I stab on the brakes (which are wimpy and undersize for a truck with a 4.0L and towing capacity). Same darn thing, caliper piston cocked/bound up and won't retract. Had to do an emergency caliper replacement in a Burger King parking lot when it was 99*F and dripping with sweat 95% RH.

Lessons learned after the pain: Buy the BEST front rotors you can afford, NEVER turn them thinner, and replace your caliper ***'ys rather than running them to failure. I've not had any issue since the full blown front end rebuild (wheel bearings at the same time, around 160K miles).

I agree with the metal pads comment earlier.... buy the best semi-metal OR metal pads, BEST rotors, and plan on them being consumed.

 

These are the brakes I'm currently using in my 4wd van:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...Zycm5RNTZTeWZB

They're from brakeperformance.com, and you can get them in the 2wd version as well. They stop a lot better than the stock design, and are warrantied for life by the manufacturer against warpage or crackage. (Not exactly sure what "for life" means, but that they stop so much better than stock was worth it to me.)

 

I've had some problems with the phenolic caliper Pistons. They can **** slightly

 

Years ago, I put in new calipers with the steel pistons. The old phenolic pistons had heat cracked with pieces broken off the edges. Last time I looked Rock Auto still had a few steel pistons left.
I tried a set of ceramic pads before I put in the best Raybestos has, took them out and tossed them in the garbage can. Had to stand on the brakes with both feet to stop.

What the other guys said ^. New quality brake fluid complete flush every couple years in the wet climate I live in. The original back brake pistons were frozen with rust after only 3 years. Coated the back pistons and bores with silicone grease when I put new Raybestos in. Still working 18 years later