Hello all,
I've been combing the net, and asking around to several mechanic friends of mine, and I'm having real trouble coming up with how to treat the symptoms on my car.
First off it's a 2004 Corolla LE, Automatic Trans, front disc, rear drum brakes.
What really started all of this, was about 3 months ago I was driving along and noticed a grinding noise coming from the rear, I figured it was just time to change my rear drums.
I went to my local auto parts store and picked up replacement parts for both rear brakes (pads, springs, etc). When I went to replace everything I found that the caliper on the drivers side had exploded (for lack of a better term) with parts all over the inside of the drum. I cleaned everything out, replaced the caliper, pads, springs, pretty much everything that you can replace on both rear brakes was replaced. No more rear grinding, no more dragging brakes for about two weeks.
Things worked fine for a couple of weeks until suddenly my front brakes started to seize up. First it was the front drivers side caliper, then after about a week the passenger side. As I have to travel only a short distance daily all I would do as a temporary fix would be to bleed the calipers in the morning before I left, and then again on my way from work to home. After doing a lot of research, and performing some basic tests, I determined that the calipers, pads, and rotors on the front were all in good standing, with no warping or disrepair.
After consulting a few local mechanics, I replaced the flexible hoses running from the car to the calipers on both front brakes, but the problem continued to persist. After taking the vehicle to yet another mechanic, I was told that the master cylinder and brake booster were the culprits. Not wanting to dole out the high dollar I was quoted, I decided to change everything out myself (as it's really not that tough a job, just tedious).
Yesterday, I followed the Haynes repair guide to the letter, extracted the old MC and Booster, replaced with the new ones, and bled the lines. Now I'm left with an impossibly HARD brake pedal, that takes everything I've got to push down and stop the car when shifted into drive. I'm stumped/frustrated/tired, and so I'm turning here to consult for some additional advice as to what the problem might be.
Maybe I didn't bleed the MC and lines properly? Is the new booster I put on bad? Like I said, I'm completely and utterly stumped, and could really use a hand here.
Any and all help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as I desperately need to get mobile again, and don't have much more cash I can justify putting into the brakes myself at this point.
Thank you in advance!
I've been combing the net, and asking around to several mechanic friends of mine, and I'm having real trouble coming up with how to treat the symptoms on my car.
First off it's a 2004 Corolla LE, Automatic Trans, front disc, rear drum brakes.
What really started all of this, was about 3 months ago I was driving along and noticed a grinding noise coming from the rear, I figured it was just time to change my rear drums.
I went to my local auto parts store and picked up replacement parts for both rear brakes (pads, springs, etc). When I went to replace everything I found that the caliper on the drivers side had exploded (for lack of a better term) with parts all over the inside of the drum. I cleaned everything out, replaced the caliper, pads, springs, pretty much everything that you can replace on both rear brakes was replaced. No more rear grinding, no more dragging brakes for about two weeks.
Things worked fine for a couple of weeks until suddenly my front brakes started to seize up. First it was the front drivers side caliper, then after about a week the passenger side. As I have to travel only a short distance daily all I would do as a temporary fix would be to bleed the calipers in the morning before I left, and then again on my way from work to home. After doing a lot of research, and performing some basic tests, I determined that the calipers, pads, and rotors on the front were all in good standing, with no warping or disrepair.
After consulting a few local mechanics, I replaced the flexible hoses running from the car to the calipers on both front brakes, but the problem continued to persist. After taking the vehicle to yet another mechanic, I was told that the master cylinder and brake booster were the culprits. Not wanting to dole out the high dollar I was quoted, I decided to change everything out myself (as it's really not that tough a job, just tedious).
Yesterday, I followed the Haynes repair guide to the letter, extracted the old MC and Booster, replaced with the new ones, and bled the lines. Now I'm left with an impossibly HARD brake pedal, that takes everything I've got to push down and stop the car when shifted into drive. I'm stumped/frustrated/tired, and so I'm turning here to consult for some additional advice as to what the problem might be.
Maybe I didn't bleed the MC and lines properly? Is the new booster I put on bad? Like I said, I'm completely and utterly stumped, and could really use a hand here.
Any and all help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as I desperately need to get mobile again, and don't have much more cash I can justify putting into the brakes myself at this point.
Thank you in advance!