Good morning. I have my wife's 04 GT with a brake problem. The front drivers caliper seems to remain compressed while driving. I'm pretty sure this is the issue, because when driving 1: you can let off the gas and the car will slow down faster than what seems normal, and 2: gas milage has become terrible.
I replaced the pads and rotors on all 4 corners in October of 2014. A friend and I did the job, and we're both mechanically competent people, who have done multiple brake jobs on other cars in the past. I used americanmuscle's website for instructions just in case I needed any input. But ever since then the pads seem to drag just a little at first, but then seemed to go away. Then in March 2015 we got a second car (had our first baby) and I lived so close to work, that I didn't drive the Mustang much. the car actually sat from July to December because the alternator failed and I just rode my mountain bike to work full time.
Fast forward to this year I drive it much more often, but still only 10 miles a day at most. Everything seems normal, except for the horrible gas mileage. Then this past weekend, on Saturday, hurricane hermine came through Florida, and I had to go somewhere. The family car was being used by my wife, and I HAD to get downtown to take a drug test for my new amazing job. The streets flooded a couple of inches at most in a couple of spots and I drove very slowly through them. If possible, I avoided any standing water. Sunday comes and the skies are clear so I go run a couple of errands. These errands have me drive probably around 25-30 miles. And at the last stop, I get out and I can smell something burning. I take car of my errand, and drive home right away. Pull into the driveway and smell all for wheels, and the burning smell is coming from the front drivers wheel.
So today I jack up the car, and try to turn the wheel by hand, and its incredibly difficult. I take off the wheel, take off the caliper, and reset it using my disk brake compression tool. I check the pads, and they seem fine for the most part, but the outer pad has a small chunk missing in the middle. I put it al back together, start the car, press the brake pedal a few time, and then try to turn the wheel by hand. It's still super hard to turn by hand.
What could be causing the caliper to remain compressed? I need to get this fixed ASAP and for cheap cause I start my new job in 2 weeks and its 20 miles one away, and I don't have much money at the moment either since I had to fix the HVAC on the family car last week.
I replaced the pads and rotors on all 4 corners in October of 2014. A friend and I did the job, and we're both mechanically competent people, who have done multiple brake jobs on other cars in the past. I used americanmuscle's website for instructions just in case I needed any input. But ever since then the pads seem to drag just a little at first, but then seemed to go away. Then in March 2015 we got a second car (had our first baby) and I lived so close to work, that I didn't drive the Mustang much. the car actually sat from July to December because the alternator failed and I just rode my mountain bike to work full time.
Fast forward to this year I drive it much more often, but still only 10 miles a day at most. Everything seems normal, except for the horrible gas mileage. Then this past weekend, on Saturday, hurricane hermine came through Florida, and I had to go somewhere. The family car was being used by my wife, and I HAD to get downtown to take a drug test for my new amazing job. The streets flooded a couple of inches at most in a couple of spots and I drove very slowly through them. If possible, I avoided any standing water. Sunday comes and the skies are clear so I go run a couple of errands. These errands have me drive probably around 25-30 miles. And at the last stop, I get out and I can smell something burning. I take car of my errand, and drive home right away. Pull into the driveway and smell all for wheels, and the burning smell is coming from the front drivers wheel.
So today I jack up the car, and try to turn the wheel by hand, and its incredibly difficult. I take off the wheel, take off the caliper, and reset it using my disk brake compression tool. I check the pads, and they seem fine for the most part, but the outer pad has a small chunk missing in the middle. I put it al back together, start the car, press the brake pedal a few time, and then try to turn the wheel by hand. It's still super hard to turn by hand.
What could be causing the caliper to remain compressed? I need to get this fixed ASAP and for cheap cause I start my new job in 2 weeks and its 20 miles one away, and I don't have much money at the moment either since I had to fix the HVAC on the family car last week.
