Brakes

[Roy H]

i have a 2001 chevrolet cavalier 2.2 litre and the brake pedal is really high and only goes down about 2inches when i brake, when braking the back passenger side grabs really hard and pulls the ass end down on that corner. i took it to chevy dealer and they say its the abs module thats messed up. the brakes themselves are fine so they didnt find that to be an issue. my only concern is that the abs light is not on (checked dash light and it works) and got me thinking maybe they r wrong... cost for them to fix is 1200 which includes flush. any help on what it might be would be helpful

 

[EddieS'04]

If it is drum rear brakes. The right rear maybe self adjusting, as it should. The left year may not adjusting its self. Causing the right rear brake to grab.

I would take it apart and make shure the hardware is is functioning. Check the cable on the reaward shoe and the starwheel adjuster for free ness.

Aslo If you have a leaking wheel cylinder. Saturated shoes can grab.

 

[Richard L]

Eddie is correct, but first check the ABS sensors. There should be a sensor at each wheel (for FWD). If one of the rear sensors is bad, or has a damaged wire it can cause erradic ABS operation.



Just curious, but did the dealer actually take the time to actually look at your car, or is the diagnosis based on the Service Writer's brain fart? I mention this because many Service Writers at dealers are salesman and pushing you to do more work than necessary? If they did not take the car and do a proper diagnosis, then they are just guessing.



If this is just their opinion of the Service Writer, I would take it somewhere else for a second opinion. Also, does the 2001 Cavalier even have ABS? ABS was optional on many small cars back then.



...Rich

 

[Kevin Palmer]

With rear drums you have two pistons in each of the wheel cylinders. If any one of these pistons is jammed or freezes up, the pedal seems to move less and a wheel normally skids.



What happens is, on one side, all of the pressure is moving just one piston. Which means it moves twice as much as normal due to the other half not working. That specific half of pad gets tons of pressure compared to the other pistons and locks the drum up.



Remove the drum on one side and have someone push the pedal to see if BOTH of the pistons move. Then put the drum back on and check the other side.



You will likely see that one of the wheel cylinders has half failed. If so, replace it, bleed the system, put it all back together and see what happens...

 

[Roy H]

Yes my car has abs and we checked all the sensors and they looked good. The dealer actually did take the time to "inspect the brakes" and i know this because i watched them take off all the wheels and fiddle around with them. Im with you on the guessing thing because i asked them why the abs light wasnt on and they said "well its probably about to come on it just hasnt yet", and thats why i didnt have them do the work. As for the wheel cylinders and all the hardware we did exactly what u guys mentioned and everything seemed to work properly. Im probably going to replace the wheel cylinders anyway just to eliminate anything we might have missed as far as they are concerned. I did decide in the last couple of days to get a second opinion due to me not trusting just any one person. I appreciate all the info. guys and ill let u know the outcome when it is reached.

 

[Ed Fenwick]

When I first bought my Track, the right rear would grab. I looked and there was a slight ridge on the shoe. I sanded that down and every thing has been fine for about 10K miles so far. You could look yourself. I don't really trust anyone anymore.

Ed