2005, F-350, 4x4, 44k mi

Hello, new here.

The right rear brake squeals after the truck has been driven about 10 miles at 20-45 mph. The squealing stops 1) if you apply the brakes, 2) if you are cornering, 3) if it's raining, or 4) when driving over 50 mph. The brake pad seems to partially engage when the rotor warms up to normal temperature and then it starts to really get hot. The rotor gets so hot that it sizzles and steams when water is splashed on it. The temperature must be well above 220 F. None of the other rotors squeal or over-heat. I pulled the brake pads and found the pads and rotor look fine. What could be the problem?

Thanks,
-steve

 

Sound like a sticky brake caliper, I had a couple of those on my 05, replaced the caliper and problem went away.

 

Check the caliper guides before you replace the whole caliper. They might just be dirty or corroded enough prevent the pads from releasing pressure from the rotor. That happened on the right front of my 2001.

 

Yes, check your caliper pins, You might have to take them off and grease them.

EDIT: Welcome to FTE. You will learn a lot of stuff on here.

 

Thank you all. Thank you very much. I had to read up on what caliper pins are, but may finally understnad how a caliper works. Will pull them off again tomorrow.

I have already found a few other important things here - like how to get rid of the chimes.

-steve

 

Look at this, you will have a better idea of what you will need and do.

http://guzzle.rbmicro.com/cu.html

 

Hi, this happened to me out of the blue, my right rear caliper started dragging. I didnt notice it right away, when I got off the highway the right rear rotor was glowing red. I brought it in to my dealer and they replaced the caliper under warranty. Ive heard of this with quite a few trucks. Mine is an 06 CC.If Im not mistaken, there may be a TSB on it. I know there are more posts on here about it, because I posted just after it happened. Ill try to look it up .

 

I found the post, here is the link. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...e-on-fire.html. You may have to do a cut and paste.

 

Also be weary of the rear calipers,they are the same casting from side to side, however the bleeder screws are in different spots. So if you take a RH caliper and put it on the LH side, the bleeder screw will be on the bottom of the caliper, and you will never ever get all of the air out of it, and will have braking issues. I have seen this happen before.

 

Well, this is still a mystery. I pulled the wheel and caliper and found that the caliper pins were clean, lubricated and free-moving. I realized after-the-fact that you can just crawl under and loosen the caliper retaining screws about half or three-quarters and then push them in. If the caliper pin is in good shape it will easily pop back out.

I then changed the brake fluid, but the left rear brake still squealed and over-heated.

I then swapped the left-side brake pads with the right-side pads and vice-versa. After switching them, both the left and the right rear brakes squealed and over-heated, but not quite as badly as before.

I was debating about whether the next step should be to put on new pads or tackle the master cylinder. But, over the next few days the problem seemed to become less and less severe. As of today, the breaks do not over-heat at all and there is only a slight and occasional squeal when the brakes are applied. The squealing when the brakes are released stopped completely.

I'll take this bit of dumb luck because I've got other stuff to do right now. My current theory is that I am experiencing the early signs of master cylinder failure and that the problem will reoccur in the coming months. We'll see.

Thanks for your continued help.

-steve

 

Still sounds to me like you have a sticking caliper.

 

redford is correct,
Even though the caliper pins are free moving, the caliper itself is not letting the brake to fully retract in a proper manner. So it will continue to drag. It has nothing to do with the master cylinder, or the pads themselves (although if they have been dragging it wouldnt be a bad idea to replace them, after you change the caliper)I had a long talk with my dealer after they made the repair on mine, he basically confirmed that there is some sort of issue with the calipers. Most of the ones he has replaced were the right rear. This has apparently led to a parts shortage. From what I understand, they are still on some sort of national backorder.

 

By the way, the reason the problem seems to be decreasing, may be that the pads have worn down enough to stop dragging. The caliper just may have enough room to
release whats left of your brake pads.

 

Any chance its a wheel bearing making the rotor hot? Just something to check.

 

Not the wheel bearing - definitely the brake. The hub does not get hot.

How much does a new caliper cost? I am having a hard time believing it has anything to do with the caliper pistons. If the right rear caliper was the problem then why would my left rear and right rear start heating up after I swapped the pads?

Any chance it has something to do with the little spring clips on the brake pad?

The pad has to slide in grooves top and bottom when it is released. Those grooves have a rough surface from the casting. I thought about taking a dremel or mill ******* and smoothing out the surface of the groove.

-steve