I recently replaced myself or had replaced all pads, all rotors, front calipers, rear guide pins and brackets, rear brake shoes, and rear e-brake hardware, as well as the e-brake cable on my 2000 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 4WD (4.8L). After the front work, I noticed a smell and found that the front passenger rotor was getting hot and would eventually start having a bad brake smell if I drove long enough.
After some research, it looked like the primary culprit was thought to be the brake hose (due to possible internal collapse). So I replaced it as well. Still dragging.
I had it brought in for part of the work because I wasn't having any luck removing some seized parts, and I had them look into it, and they said when they drove it, they couldn't get it hotter than the rest. I drove it home last night and it seemed fine, but towards the end of the drive, the pedal seemed to be getting harder. So this morning, I mashed on the pedal a few times before getting too far from home, and by the time I got to work, the pedal was fairly stiff (noticed braking action within about 1/2" - 1" of movement tops, which it's never been that tight before) and the front passenger rotor smelled. I grabbed our heat gun and recorded the following temps (They were probably hotter, but I spent a few minutes after arriving looking for our heat gun before I could measure them):
- Front Passenger: 220 F
- Front Driver: 165 F
- Rear Passenger: 135 F
- Rear Driver: 165 F
This truck has a split front-to-rear hydraulic system. So I have a few ideas and was looking for validation (or dismissal) of these ideas, other ideas, other ways to troubleshoot this, and what I should try first.
- Rear Driver brake hose. Due to the split front-to-rear configuration, if a faulty brake hose can act like a check valve, could it be stopping fluid backflow for this entire line?
- Rear Driver caliper. I can't imagine this would cause the Front Passenger to stick, it would just cause the Rear Driver to not retract and burn up the pads and rotors, but I thought I'd put it down since I haven't replaced it ;-)
- Master Brake Cylinder. Could it be something (debris, faulty check valve) at the master cylinder that is causing this portion of the line not to back-flow?
- Electro-Hydraulic Control Unit (EHCU). Same reasons as Master Brake Cylinder, clogging on one line but not on another.
So any thoughts on this one? This brake work has reminded me that I hate brake work.
Edit: I also replaced the front passenger side caliper on warranty from AutoZone where I bought it because I thought it was defective (due to the dragging). Same issue.