1998 T&C LX AWD Disc Brakes Dragging

This time I need a little help with the Town & Country. Ours is an All Wheel Drive model with four wheel disc brakes and antilock.

Recently, my wife has complained about squealing brakes and an occasional brake smell. When I drove it the other day, it felt sluggish, like I was dragging a boat anchor. When I got it home, I felt the wheels with my hands. The two front wheels were hot to the touch. The two rear wheels were cool to the touch. When I sprayed all four wheels with water from the hose, the two front wheels got steamy and the two rear wheels did not.

Yesterday, I pulled all four wheels to inspect the brakes. I found the front brake pads were just about to the wear indicators, so I decided to replace them. The rear pads were 50% worn so I decided to keep them going a little longer. When I reassembled the brakes, I lubricated the front guide pins for good measure. I also lubricated the rear guide pins, as well. After I finished, I took it for a 10+ mile drive. It seemed to be a little better. When I got home, I felt all four wheels with my hand. This time, all four were hot to the touch. When I sprayed the wheels with water, I got steam from all four wheels.

I'm thinking that I might have a problem with the master cylinder, but I'm not sure what would be happening in the master cylinder that would cause all four wheels to drag. Any help on this subject would be appreciated before I take it in to the shop.

I really don't think you have an issue with the rear brakes. I think they may have been working a little harder since the new pads on the front were not fully seated on the rotor. As for the front brakes you may need new calipers. If they were dragging like you said then the pistions, in the calipers, may be sticking. Common problem especially if you have high mileage. I would replace both front calipers with reman units, or new ones, depending on your checkbook. I think the problem will go away after that.

Thanks for the reply. Sticking calipers did cross my mind at first, though I didn't expect two to fail the same way at the same time. Still, the van has 97,000 miles and the original calipers all around, so anything is possible. I would hate to start replacing everything in the brake system starting at the wheels and working back just to end up at the master cylinder. Calipers I should be able to replace myself. How long does it take for the new pads to seat correctly?

mine took a week to seat themselves with daily 200 km driving.And as for them heating up it also depends on your driving style,is there alot of heavy breaking involved?maybe check the brake line from the master cyl to front wheels,look for pinched/dented line(rocks thrown from the tires sometimes)another thing to try is when driving about 30 put it in N and see if it slow quickly or seems ok.and I would avoid spraying it with the hose if you think it's overly hot,sure way to warp the rotors.

Here is another item that could cause this issue, I have seen where the brake hose will break inside and act like a one way valve and hold pressure in the caliper. I have only seen this 2 times and in both cases, the hoses looked good from the outside. One way to test and see if that may be what is happening, after you drive it, open one of the bleeder screws and see if there is any pressure in the caliper. Under normal circumstances, you wont get much more than a drop coming out of the bleeder, unless there is still some pressure in the caliper, then it will squirt out.

I have a 1999 AWD. I had one caliper sticking, replaced the caliper and mastercylendar turned out to be the metal bracket for the flex pipe that had corroded and squeezed the hose. it would only allow the fluid trough one way causing the caliper to stick.

the metal bracket was corroding around the flex hose.

You may want ot have a look at the hoses.

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback.

The situation with a brake hose acting like a check valve is something I have experience at least three times on my old Chryslers over the last 28 years. This is a strange situation that many people don't know can happen. My T&C has four such hoses, one for each wheel. A bad hose here will only effect one wheel at a time. Since both of my fronts were dragging at the same time, this ruled out the bad hose theory. I completed an external inspection of the hoses yesterday and all look good. Since I live here is sunny California, my van is not subject to the road salt conditions that promote undercarriage corrosion.

Yesterday, I replaced the two front calipers and bled new brake fluid throughout the system. During this process, I noticed the initial wear patterns on the new front brake pads. Only about 20% of the pad surfaces were in contact with the rotors. Now I understand what is meant by letting the pads seat with the rotors and why it takes a while.

Well the brakes are back together with new calipers and pads in the front. Once I reinstall the rear driveaxle this afternoon, I will road test and see how it performs.

Well, the axle is back in and the van is on the road again. The dragging feeling has disappeared and although the wheels get warm, they don't feel as hot as they did. It looks like I will be good until the rear pads need replacement.

The four wheel disc brakes on the van are much easier to work on than the four wheel Bendix drum brakes on my 1964 Chryslers.

Well folks, it has happened again. My wife has reported that the two front wheels are dragging again, both are very hot to the touch after a drive and the van is averaging 12 mpg! All this after new front pads and calipers.

Does anybody have any idea what part of the brake system, upstream of the two front wheels, would cause them to drag together? Any insights would be helpful.

have you tried the brakes w/o the antilock,I believe there is a relay or fuse you can disconnect and the brakes will act as a normal without antilock brake van.is there a lifetime warranty on the abs module?could be faulty and lastly I might suspect the master cyl is not fully releasing,which inturn hold presssure on the calipers.have you tried to open the bleeder screw without the brake pedal depressed to see if pressure is present?

Well folks, it has happened again. My wife has reported that the two front wheels are dragging again, both are very hot to the touch after a drive and the van is averaging 12 mpg! All this after new front pads and calipers.

Does anybody have any idea what part of the brake system, upstream of the two front wheels, would cause them to drag together? Any insights would be helpful.

Has anyone added brake fluid lately? I'm thinking that your fluid could be contaminated, this would cause the seals to swell up and force fluid into the calipers pushing the pads against the rotors.
Their is also a proportioning valve in the system somewhere that regulates how much force is distrubuted between the front and rear brakes, I have heard of this causing problems on some vehicles.

Well, after returning from a two week business trip, I dug back into the T&C. While I was gone, the serpentine belt shredded on my wife so the van was sitting there in the driveway, waiting patiently for my return.

After replacing the idler pulley and serp belt (documented in another post), I again inspected the front brakes. I found the new calipers free and no evidence of sticking or dragging. I drove it for work one day and found it performing acceptably with no evidence of dragging brakes. Overall fuel mileage on this tank is averaging 19.5 mpg. But I did find both front wheels much hotter at the hubs than the rears, so I still had concerns.

Previous to my trip, my wife complained about a stange clunk in the front end when she backed out of the driveway. I also heard a strange "tink" noise whenever shifting into reverse or drive and when turning the steering wheel one way or the other. It wasn't a repeating clicking noise while turning, which is indicative of a worn out CV joint, just a single "tink". So I decided to play it safe and purchased a pair of new halfshafts for the front. I also decided to replace the rear brake pads, calipers and parking brake shoes while I had the car away from my wife (my father-in-law let her borrow his 2005 Kia Sedona so she could still drive a van while I was working on our van.).

I spent a portion of Saturday replacing the rear brakes. A very easy job.

I then spent Sunday replacing the half shafts. This is a repair I have never attempted before, but when one shop quoted me $200 a side labor to replace, I figured I could do this myself and save the $$. This job was rather tedious, since I had to disconnect the tie rod ends from the steering knuckles and separate the steering knuckles from the lower ball joints to get each half shaft out. Once disassembled though, the axles popped out very easily. And this is a good way to drain your transmission, as I dumped more fluid out of the transaxle openings with the axles removed as comes out when dropping the pan. The new axles went in just as easily. Then, while I was putting the steering knuckles back together, the left hub drops off the bearing pack. Since I was new at this, I just figured that these hubs came apart when the bolts are removed, so I popped it back on and put it all back together.

Well, I started thinking about the front axle bearings and thought there must be some type of maintenance or lubrication schedule for these things. When I read my manual, however, all it described was the removal and installation of the hub/bearing assembly. At the auto parts store this morning, I asked to look at a new front axle bearing for the van. They brought me a part that included a hub, bearing and mounting plate as a single assembly. And, these are sealed bearings, so no additional lubrication is required or possible. It was then I realized that I had a bad left hub/bearing assembly on the van. I ordered two new hub assemblies. They were easy to install, but expensive at $130 a piece.

As part of the brake job, I was going to have all four rotors turned. I then discovered that the cost of turning each was darn near the same as new ones, so I opted for new replacments for all four wheels.

Well, my wife should be happy now. I replaced the front axles, front hubs and calipers, pads and rotors on all four wheels. Once I top off the transmission with new ATF+4 tomorrow, I will test drive. But I am 99% sure that I have solved the dragging and clunking problems. Not only that, I finally fixed the parking brake that had been disfunctional since my wife drove with it set a few years ago. I think I will wire up a "reverse alarm" to the parking brake light circuit to help remind her to release it in the future. I also installed a locking gas cap, because I think someone has been borrowing our gas.

Once the T&C is done, my wife has a list of problems she has noticed with her Dad's Kia, that I need to look at before we return it. Some things are never ending.