What could cause the brakes to lock up?

[SecondMonkey]

My dad took his '01 Dodge Dakota to some supposed "professionals", who conveniently left more than one lug nut loose and/or missing. Same exact thing happened to me last time I got my brakes done, somewhere else. We both paid a premium to have a PROFESSIONAL do the brakes so it would be done right.

If that was your job would it really be so hard to hit every lug with a pneumatic wrench??!

You know they aren't following the correct torquing pattern or setting torque at all if they forget that....

Anyway, they replaced his lugs, and rotated the tires for free. A couple days later, maybe 50? miles, just as the pads were getting broken in, I took his truck to get some lumber for him. About 5 miles down the road I had to stop because I thought the truck was on fire, due to the smoke billowing from beneath. The front driver brake was totally locked up and smoking like a coal plant.

Back on the phone with the brake place. I was [censored]. I made them pay to tow it back to their shop to fix it *again*.

They say it happened "cause there was air in the lines", but I don't buy that. Why would that cause (1) brake to lock up? Or rather, what in reality would cause that to happen?

After my dad told me they DIDN'T replace the pad I left half of on the road, I'm making him go back again to get new pads. There was brake dust EVERYWHERE! After that I'm going to take the wheels off and inspect it myself, because I no longer trust ANYBODY to work on anything I drive but myself. *sigh* What specifically should I be looking for as a possible cause for the brake lockup?

 

[Eddie]

Sounds like a stuck caliper.

 

[01rangerxl]

Though the fact that the brake job was done shortly before this makes it very suspect, it's definitely not the first Dakota to do that. I was in an '01 or '02 Dakota RT when one of the calipers got stuck...smoking, brake dust everywhere, etc. I never knew the cause of it though because it was a loaner my friend had gotten from a dealer, so he just took the truck back.

 

[bepperb]

After the new pads were installed, the calipers are moving on a different, possibly corroded portion of the pins they weren't before. Maybe not the shop's fault. If they mandate new calipers or full rebuilds for every job, people will complain they're charing them for unnecessary labor. If they don't... well... this.

Yeah, the only good way is to do it yourself, or find someone you trust to call you and say hey, these calipers really don't look too good....

 

[crazyoildude]

Sounds like a bad caliber.. How would air in the line do that

 

[Gary Allan]

Stuff happens. It's how the shop responds to the problem that counts.

There's not the human alive that won't make a mistake. Sometimes it will be at the wrong time for YOU.

 

[slammds15]

I would think it would be a caliper or possibly when the mechanic reinstalled the caliper the flex line was twisted and unable to release properly. Honestly I wouldn't have paid for the tow bill unless I was at fault. My opinion is that it would be the latter of the two.

 

[labman]

Yes, the piston could be stuck or bad hardware. A brake job should always mean cleaning up, inspecting, and lubing the hardware plus replacing parts as needed. An 01 may be due for a caliper rebuild/replace. The rubber parts don't last forever.

 

[demarpaint]

Stuck caliper is probably the problem. On a typical pad replacement there is no reason why air would get into the system which would require bleeding. So I'm not buying the air was in the system story, not unless they opened up a line or something like that. There would be no reason for that when doing a pad replacement. Were there any issues with a low or spongy pedal before the brake job? If so then maybe there was air in the system and a good mechanic would have picked up on that and bled them as part of the job. Find another mechanic!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Kestas]

I'm embaressed to say that I was in such a situation. After replacing my brakes, there was a mixup and I put mineral spirits instead of brake fluid in the master cylinder. It caused the front calipers to seize the next day after 20 miles of driving.

A quick check by taking a teaspoon of fluid from the master cylinder to see if it mixes with water should tell you if that's the case. Mineral spirits will not mix with water.

 

[Chris142]

Since the calipers are the lowest part of the system any Contaminants end up in them. When they pushed the pistons back in they pushed the pistons back through the Contaminants.

When everything got up to temperature the piston became jammed in the caliper. It's pretty common to have happen and not the brake shops fault because you can't see the Contaminants unless you open the calipers up.

But the air thing is a lie. It sounds like they hire any monkey off the street that will work for minimum wage and these guys are not very experianced with automotive work.

 

[mechtech2]

Air does not cause locking up brakes.
This is nonsense.
These mechanics are lousy, from what I am gathering.
Bad and dangerous technique, stupid advice, amateurish brake jobs.

It is probably a stuck caliper, but those should be cleaned and lubed as a normal matter of course in a brake job.
If it is internal, it is possibly not their fault, but it would have evidenced itself when retracting the pistons.