This is driving me crazy!

I bought a mint 96 t100, the only thing it needed was brakes and rotors. I buy new brakes and rotors and my trusted (formerly) mechanic installs them. He said one caliper was locked up so he replaced it too. I come back a week later and the new caliper froze and now I need to have my rotor turned and new brakes on that side.

Ok he fixes it, then I notices its pulling everytime I brake. Back again and he checks it over and fixes it. Its fine, then again it is pulling. But now when I really slam on the brakes the passenger front seems to lock up.

Back again, this time I get all new calipers, still pulls. Ok back again and he adjusts the rear drums. No more pulling, but it still engages like its slamming home on the passenger side front after today. I didnt do anything other than drive it normally..

I give up with this guy, he used to be a good mechanic now it seems he cant fix my moms car, cant fix my car after 5 visits. Only good thing was I didnt pay anything after he had replaced the stuff. I am gonna make an appt at my local stealership come the next week or two unless someone can tell me whats wrong.

The only thing I can figure it to be is
A) I am low on brake fluid, which I highly doubt (its dark and cold now I cant go check). Which is causing a problem.

B) Some brakeline somewhere is kinked and not allowing the fluid to travel correctly.

C) The rear drums still need to be adjusted. How do I adjust rear drums?

 

So, um no one knows?

Well I checked over everything. Everything is grased, lubed, tight and put together right.

But I am missing the backing plates from the brake pads on that side. I wonder if thats causing it?

What is occuring here is the following: gradual braking is fine, slamming them even mildly the passenger side acts as if at first its slowly engaging right,t hen seems to slam home.

I am desperate at this point and also somewhat broke, so I really, really hope someone has an idea. I am gonna buy the backing plates if I can tommorow or tuesday and see if that cures it..till then wish me luck or advice.

 

Well incase anyone is actually reading this:
I bought the shims I'm mising, cleaned everything and put the shims on..same crap. Made online appt at the dealer and waiting to hear back from them..lets hope it doesnt cost 500 bucks.

 

Incase anyone even bothered to take alook:
Took it to yota dealer, dealer does good work thank god. Service tech says new pads, rotors and bearings need repacking. Rotor on pass side got overheated and warped beyond repair he says when my caliper locked up..all makes perfect sense now.

Now if I supply my own rotors he said he will guarantee them so long as they are brembos, I would give him better brakes other than yota OME but I rather they cover it incase something goes FUBAR.

 

Makes sense to me. Can't believe nobody responded about this!

 

I can, this is like the 3rd thread I made and no one seems to read this section for our unloved trucks.

Ya know though, at least the dealer was honest-I was worried they would claim I needed all sorts of crap like they seems to do. You bring it in for an oil chnage and they inspect everything kinda deal.

Oh well I got burnt and thats all there is to it.

 

That is the reason I got fired from my job at the dealer. My sales numbers were really low becauce I hated ripping people off like that. Guys would replace brake pads with 50% friction material left. I just couldn't do that.

 

Well the guy I talked to seems like he isnt an ass, specially when I said if I brought my own parts wouldhe installt hem..thats usually a tip off whent hey want you to buy 150/pc rotors or something else and not bring your own.

Maybe he felt sorry, perhaps my story touched him. But one thigns for certain I cannot afford yota rotors. Which reminds me the tirerack called (where I ordered the rotors) asked me whay I am getting new ones after only 3 months..

 

Dude!..When you were talking about them there bimbo rotors,you never said they were cheaper than the oe toyota units.I am really surprised at your story,The dealership I work at would be unwilling to give any kind of workshmanship or parts warranty unless using factory supplied parts UNLESS they were no longer available through the oe manufacturer.You went to a better dealer.If you werent on the east coast i'd ask wtf,but hey,more(stopping)power to ya!

 

maybe this is out of the ballpark but you were charged by your previous mechanic for the original work that he did, thus after five visits he couldnt fix it. in my opinion you shouldnt be fitting the bill to the dealer, he should. he told you he could do the work, and he couldnt, now your out money...and its no sweat off his back cuz now your out of his hair...i would be making a phone call asap!

 

CJ you found a good dealer. I work as a tech at a toyota and we very rarley install parts purchased by a customer. about the only thing on a regular basis that we us is customers oil and filters. other than that not much. glad to hear the problem got fixed the first time at the dealer.

 

Well it has come down to 3 things:
1. No way in hell can I afford the dealer to fix it. They want 500 bucks and thats without me supplying parts. Not for nothing,b ut I highly doubt I have warped rotors, it doesnt pulsate-it just pulls and or locks depending on how hard I brake.

2. I called a few other shops in the area, a tirepalce thats worthless and a real performance shop. The guy at the pro shop knew exactly what Iw as talking about and was willing to use the rotors I already now have (DOH!) and do a brake job and correct the problme to the tune of $350 bucks.

3. I decided it has to be one of a few simple things:
-When my mechanic replaced the passenger caliper the pads were no good, he used different pads than the other side.
-I have air in the lines, totaly possible as I removed said caliper and looked it over. Or there was air already in them.
-The master cylinder isnt distributing the fluid correctly due to a kinked or clogged line or just a failing m/c.
-The drums are no good anymore

I am gonna start this weekend with a bleed and put the new pads I originally had on it. From theer I will see whats up and possibly move to other things, but I have a feeling b/c there are 2 different sets of pads on the truck its causing it. In all the times I went to my mechanic thats the only thing he didnt adjust or change out-those pads!

If all else fails I am gonna take it to that pro shop I mentioned. I just cant afford yota's prices. They wanted 150/pc for each rotor and the pads were 70 per side. Plus the labor..thats an 800 dollar job and that may not even be the cause.

 

Case anyone is still interested in knowing:

Problem solved, all I needed was the same pads on each side and I bled the system just to be sure..everythingis fine now. Infact i took her through some mud just for fun then to the carwash..

 

i'm glad you got your rig fixed.i wrk at a dealer also and am amazed what other so called mechanics & shops get away with.we fix plenty of screw ups from other places and even after that we still suck in that customers eyes.even though hes been all over town & paid all sorts of money to the other guys with no results.no way in hell would we get away with that.

 

I hear ya, it was an annoyance really. I probably could have sorted it out earlier had I had the time to actually figure it out. But work and school and midterms/finals take their toll and I had no real free time.

Shame my guy frigged up, I am gonna have to find a new mechanic or otherwise do it myself from now on...I just dont trust him anymore.