Being a fairly geeky sort, I’ve decided to start calculating my fuel consumption to see just what sort of mpg I’m getting. Put half a tank in the other day to fill her up (to beat the fuel price increases that look to be heading our way again [:(]), and it came out at just short of 24mpg. Hmm, I thought, that seems a little low.
Just been out for a short run just now (just a few miles), and when I got home, out of curiosity I kind of let it roll gently to a stop outside the driveway - sure enough, it felt like it was ‘snatching’ very slightly just as it stopped, and not rolling smoothly down to a stop as I would expect. Parked up, got out, went round having a feel of the brake discs … warm ; warm ; warm ; OW!! [:S] The front offside one was so hot I’m surprised it wasn’t glowing. So it looks like I’ve got a brake binding issue.
Luckily, I only bought the car a couple of months ago from a Mazda main dealer, complete with a 12-month warranty, so I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to get it sorted without it costing me a penny. They gave the car a full service before I had it (it’s done just short of 50k) - surely they’d have noticed something like this? Or at least, signs that there was an impending problem?
Anyway, I’m just waiting for my local dealer’s service desk to call me back and I’ll see what they say.
Can happen at anytime…mine did it a couple of months back. Noticed the car wasnt pulling like it usualy did so pulled over & the same wheel as yours was hot & smoking [:S] Cleaned up the caliper pins & piston & all has been well since.
Good luck with the garage!
Just as a matter of interest, is there a “DIY guide” to this somewhere on the OC site? Judging by the amount of posts about binding brakes that I found in a search of the old forum, it seems to be a fairly common problem, and I’d be interested to know what’s involved in rectifying it.
Have a look in the appropriate section in the garage, the faqs cover brakes pretty thoroughly.
Thanks for the pointer, Geoff. Plenty in the FAQ about replacing pads, etc. but couldn’t see anything about freeing sticky front calipers …
Anyway, I’ll ring my local dealer in the morning and see about having it looked at under the warranty. Hopefully I’ll be able to pick their brains while I’m there!
Hiya. Possible you may need to replace the slide bolt the caliper rides on. Both slides should be coated with high temp grease. Possible also that the piston isn’t retracting which will involve a bit more of a strip-down. Your dealer should sort this as uneven pad wear will result in a car that will pull to one side under heavy braking. Job should take one hour max. Pads can glaze with excess heat. You might be advised to replace all the pads on that axle for peace of mind.
On the fuel consumption you may find that replacing the engine, diff and gearbox oil will help. Use the best fuel you can get and take the car for a nice long run at speed to clear out the system and burn off some deposits.
I’m getting 30-35mpg from super in general use. If I boot it I get 20mpg.
Update … Mitchells Mazda in Chester had the car this morning - my assumption was correct, OSF caliper is shot. Luckily, Mazda have agreed to approve it as a warranty claim, so it’s being sorted at no cost to me. Apparently, the approximate cost to have it done at a dealer would’ve been about £420 [:O] - which I think is a bit crazy given that a brand-new replacement caliper can be had from MX5Parts for about £125.
When a caliper seizes up like this, are there signs that it’s about to happen? Anything that would give a clue? A part of me is a bit miffed that the car went through a major service with a Mazda dealer before I had it and was pronounced fit and healthy, and just 8 weeks and about 300 miles later this happens. Fingers crossed that if the other side decides it’s going to seize up too, it does it in the next ten months and I can have that one done under warranty too! [;)]
Hi Gareth
The only signs are as per DavesBRG5 post and also excessive brake dust due to binding.
Zippy [:#]
Ah, right. I guess I was lucky to have spotted it when I did, then. If I hadn’t worked out my fuel consumption and realised that it was abnormally low, I probably wouldn’t have realised I had a problem until it had got much worse - there was no abnormal noise or anything from the brakes, no visible evidence (smoke/steam/excessive dust), no discernable effect on the handling (there was a very subtle ‘snatching’ sensation as the car rolled to a stop, but if I hadn’t been specifically checking for it I’m not sure that I’d have noticed) and I’m not generally in the habit of feeling my wheels after every drive [;)].
The car ‘should’ have been pulling to the right if it was binding badly
You’ll want new pads tell 'em. That particular brake line should be flushed as well. I would offer to pay half the cost of new pads as only one side was affected.
Yeah, I’ll be checking on Saturday when I pick the car up that they’ve replaced the pads. It would be nice to think that a Mazda dealer would replace all the pads on the affected axle as a matter of course, but I’ll be making sure that they have. Am I right to think that new and old brake pads on opposite sides of the same axle is somewhere akin in terms of foolishness to having non-matching tyres on opposite sides of the same axle?
Re. the brake line flush - wouldn’t that have happened anyway when the caliper was replaced? Sorry if that’s an obvious question - I’m still very much a beginner when it comes to the intricacies of motor mechanics!
the brakes would have been “bled” so removing any boiled fluid.
i’ve just had a rear caliper replaced because i am too lazy to do maintenance in mid winter, damned garage charged £10 for new fluid. still its done now & i can stop again.
happy motoring
[:D]
My front caliper completely seized and I needed new discs and pads as I’d left it too long - mind you, the only sign I had was poor fuel economy, there was actually no problem with pulling or poor braking! Needless to say, was quite an expensive thing to overlook so I’ve now learnt my lesson!!
You will be very hard pushed to find anywhere that sells brake pads for one corner - they are always in axle sets.
I would be most surprised if Mazda would even considered thinking about changing the pads on one corner -they are not even that dear for a start.
There could (/should) be a very heavy imapct on the braking performance if only one corner was changed - the car would pull quite badly (especially if the other pads are worn), and that brake would potentially over heat, since it is potentially doing the work of two brakes in an effort to stop the car.
Depending on how bad it is, they might not replace the pads (without a bit of pressure)
They didn’t do the pads. As I suspected, I was lucky enough to notice the problem early, and it hadn’t got to the point where it had a detrimental effect on the pads or discs, so they just replaced the caliper.
Apparently, if it had got to the stage where it had needed new pads, they’d have had to charge me for them as the warranty doesn’t cover ‘consequential wear’. In simple terms, if you bought a Mazda covered by their “comprehensive” warranty and the brake caliper seized the day after you bought it, totally muntering your brake pads, they wouldn’t cover the cost of replacement pads and discs even though it was a component failure that was solely responsible for the pads and discs needing to be replaced! Hmmmm.
Anyway, mine’s sorted, so I’m a happy bunny once again [:)].
Well , console yourself that as well as paying for new pads they would have probably charged you do the side with the good caliper anyway.
See how you get on with the pads you’ve got Let’s see if your petrol consumption improves.
So if a heater hose split under this comprehensive warranty Even though the engine had seized, Mazda would only replace the hose? Hmmm.
Not exactly " Zoom Zoom" is it.
I got caught once with the Head-Gasket on a K-series Rover (220 coupe) and the (full!!) warranty covered the gasket and the re-build but nothing else. Whole thing cost me £1920 and the garage and dealer were gone one week after I got the car back. Couldn’t even go to Small-claims court as they’d sunk without trace. Sold the car to a lucky buyer for £2700, so losing close to £3500 on a car that I’d owned for 4 months and driven for 2!!.
Happy motoring.
Pete
It is not standard practice to replace the pads in the event of a sticking caliper.
Pads are designed to sustain high temperatures and any heat damage would have been apparent when the technician fitted them into the new caliper, besides if you replace the pads do you replace the disc too? where would you stop? if it was mine i wouldn’t be too concerned but you could look at the outer pad through the wheel and check it is approximately as worn as the other side, i would also check the disc for blue-ing, but this sounds like you got this at the right time. [:)]
The Comments on disc’s and pads are correct, the industry norm on light vehicles is to replace them as an axle set.
Jamie
Not standard practice to change pads but still a good idea though. As the fuel economy was affected noticeably then the sticking must have been regular and prolonged. Whilst given this opportunity to fit new pads I would have had both discs faced as well. Probably get new slides for the calipers and grease all 4 properly. A complete fluid flush and that’s where I’d stop. Ok then maybe some steel hoses as well
!Hey I’m sure you’re glad to get the car back fixed anyway. If the braking is ok and you are happy with it then that’s great. Let’s hope for some nice weather so you can get to enjoy it.