[steven_george88]

Okay, looking for some advice here. I noticed this weekend once that the van had a little "hum" to it coming from the rear end. Yesterday my wife took it to get groceries, and when she got home she said she could hear it again. I looked around and noticed that the drivers side rear brake and wheel were really hot. Since it's an '07 (EXL if that matters) with only 50K I was kinda pi$$ed that it would need a new caliper already, but the pads on the other 3 corners looked fine, and I could see that the outside pad on the drivers rear was completely worn out.

So last night I took the brake off that wheel. The outboard pad was completely gone, the inside had probably 3mm left. I figured at this point that the slides were shot/stuck/seized... whatever. I removed the caliper to diagnoze, the slides are still lubed well and move freely, and I was easily able to press the piston into the caliper with my thumb. Definitely not what I expected to find.

So, anyone heard of this? Mechanically the caliper looks fine to me, so I don't know what would have made it stick. It must have been the regular brakes dragging and not the parking brake (the parking brake wasn't left on either) since the foundation brakes were the ones worn out. I don't think the VSA was applying brakes to that wheel, cause I never saw the VSA indicator illuminate in the dash.

I hate to just put new pads on it without knowing what the problem was, but everything mechanically looks good to me. Any ideas? Maybe I'll just get some cheap pads for back there and see how they do for the next month. At least that way if it happens again I haven't trashed a set of premium Akebono's or the like.

 

[ody2ody]

Did you pull both rear wheels off to look and compare both sides pad remaining? Maybe it's time to replace both rears with new pads. The pads on the rear aren't very big in surface area and when used to stop such a heavy vehicle, the can wear much quicker than a regular sedan.

Usually if the 2 pads on a wheel is wearing unevenly, that would mean the slider pins are not moving smoothly or the metal backplane of your pads could be stuck. You did verify the caliper is not stuck, so that's a good sign. It could be the pads and sliders needing some cleaning and lube.

Hopefully the worn down pads didn't gouge the rotors and do any damage. If it did, you will want it machined or replaced. I think your van just need new rear pads and make sure you clean and lube all the necessary moving brake parts.

 

[steven_george88]

Do you typically lube the contact point between the pads and the caliper? I never had if it was a slide pin style caliper. I know the slide pins are fine, so even if the backplate was stuck they should be fine, right? (the outboard backplates are stationary WRT the caliper right?)

I think I'm going to get cheap pads for the rear, then check them in another month or so for uneven wear. If they seem to be wearing okay, I'll pull the rotors to turn, and then put good pads on. That sounds reasonable doesn't it? I don't really want to do too much now in case it is a caliper problem that is just starting to surface.

 

[steven_george88]

Okay, one more simple question for the do-it-yourself brake guys. This is really dumb but...the bleeder screw on the caliper, don't they come from the factory with the little rubber dust boot snapped over the bleeder? I was certain I remember seeing them on the bleeders before. However none of the 4 calipers have the little rubber boots on the bleeder screw. Since I've seen the calipers last I had the Brake TSB performed at a dealer. I was already mad because of their sloppy carelessness, now I'm wondering, did they remove the bleeder boots and not put them back, or did it just not come with any?

Not a huge deal, but I had to scrape all the dirt out of them with a wire, then clean with brake cleaner, then blow dry with compressed air. It's a lot easier to take the boot off and have a nice clean bleeder port.

Anyone know, do auto parts stores carry the little bleeder boots?

 

[SellnACURA]

Yes, all Honda/Acura brake bleeder valves have rubber dust covers from the factory.

Chances are that whoever bleed your lines forgot to replace the dust covers.

I'm sure you can pick up another set from your local dealer's parts department. If you don't want to spend $5 each (j/k don't know how much they cost) Ask one of the techs in the service department, I'm sure they got 'em laying all over the place. (Hint, look for the lazy looking tech)

 

[Dirkdaddy]

If you are sure its not a sticky caliper, and the other rear is fine and not worn much, then its either

VSA kicking in

Patially sticky caliper? Never heard of this but possible to stick in range

Parking brake? I'm still waiting on my service manual purchase so I'm not that familiar with parking brake....

Also check the wheel runout, a bad bearing could take out the pads.

 

[steven_george88]

This problem seems to be ongoing. I haven't taken the system apart again, but after cleaning and re-lubing the slide pins, the brake still appears to drag, more noticeably on the inside of the rotor than the outside. Could it be the VSA applying brake pressure to that corner? Does anyone know how or why the VSA would be triggerd to do this if that is the case. Right now I have summer wheels on the vehicle that do not have TPMS installed. I've noticed that VSA cannot be disabled without TPMS, could TPMS not being installed cause this issue?

 

[jackrabbit000]

I'm having the same problem but notice a noise that sounds like a seal (er er er) noise from my rear passenger wheel. It goes away when I drive about 100ft. When I changed my summer tires over to winter ones I noticed that the rear wheel was dragging. When I tried to spin the wheel when the van was jacked up it would only spin about a quarter turn and then stop. I hit the top of the wheel with my hand once and the wheel frees up and spins normal. The other 3 seem to spin freely. This week I noticed that whenever I stop and drive off you can hear a er er er sound in the van coming from the passenger front or rear wheel. It's hard to tell which wheel it's coming from because it only makes the sound about 3-4 times. But it always goes away after driving approx. 100ft. I might try turning off the VSA to see if it makes any difference. The van is a '06 EXL and only has 35000km on it. When I did the winter changeover I checked the brake pads on all 4 corners and they all seem to be wearing the same amount but only the rear passenger one was dragging. I'm wondering why the brake isn't releasing completely on this wheel.

 

[alexmish1]

Ah, I missed this place....

Folks, I had this problem on my 05 Ody, with less than 1000 mi on the odometer. This has NOTHING TO DO with the main braking system. It is the PARKING BRAKE pads which overheat (have you been using parking brake just prior to this?) What is happening you have a bad parking brake cable (the one running from the parking brake pedal in the cabin all the way back to the driver side rear wheel), which either not lubricated well enough (and thus gets frozen in cold temperatures), or starting to break and loose strands get stuck and basically result in parking brakes not completely releasing, thus draging the van, overheating the rear wheel (do you smell burn too?).

In my case I took it to the dealer twice, they could not find anything wrong... The 3rd time, it just snapped while parking brake was applied, so I could not even release it! Thankfully I was just 2 miles away from a dealer, I've managed to slowly limp there and have the cable, and the parking pads (which are drum-style system) replaced.

Good luck!

 

[jackrabbit000]

Took my '06 in last Friday for a rear brake dragging problem. The work order said that they did an inspection on it only and said that there was snow and ice in the rear wheel and said that it was causing my dragging problem. Strange, because it did it in the summer and fall and there was no snow anywhere. I wonder if they even took the wheel off to check. But, I also mentioned the recall on the master cylinder and the service advisor knew nothing about it. And said that it didn't apply to me because it was for the '05-'07's...wtf! I told him that mine's an '06 and I told him to check the VIN and sure enough it did apply. So he ordered the kit and they called this morning and said to bring it in tomorrow morning. Going to check with them tomorrow to see if they even checked the wheel that was dragging. Hopefully they took it apart and lubed the sliders.

 

[TXLeadfoot]

Rear Parking Brake Seized in Sub-Freezing Temps

My parking brake has been seizing up lately after consecutive sub-freezing late evenings and mornings. Where should I lubricate the cable? Seriously annoying problem when I have to get the kids to school.

 

[CumminsPowerGen]

Similar problem with the rear driver wheel having a low grinding noise. I've turned the rotors, replaced pads, adjusted e-brake, replaced rotors, replaced pads - and it is still happening. On the drivers side, no uneven pad wear. The pass side rear had uneven wear this last time and I will keep an eye on that. The inside of the drum for the e-nrake shows no sign of rubbing or contact. Has anyone had this issue and taken it all the way to the bearings? That's the only thing left that I can think of now?

 

[jackrabbit000]

It's the emergency brake that's dragging, not the disc brakes. Mine does this on the rear passenger side and have taken it in 3 times to have it adjusted. After the 3rd fix, it seems like it's good now.

 

[surgeon]

Same situation. Third replacement now. I figured dragging and replaced. Did a search time and found this. Last replacement was both new rotors and brake pads. The rear passenger rotor now is at marks on rotor last week and wife just reported it yesterday. All other pads seem fine.

 

[marvinstockman]

Calipers and/or flex hose, or dragging parking brake.