brakes locked

E

enzo mac

True Classic
So, Saturday I was heading to Tony’s house, to meet and greet some of you folks. The temp. was 105, checked the fluids, checked the tires, put the gal. of water in the trunk, ready to drive off, and my brakes were locked. I was having trouble with the parking brake from time to time, so I assumed that was the trouble. After 20 min. it seems that all four wheels were locked and that the brake pedal was rock hard. After calling to apologize, I pulled the wheels and bled the brakes, fluid dark brown and thick, new fluid and three hours later seems fine. I thought that I had asked two separate mechanics to bleed the system but obviously not done. Now the brakes seem ok, if a little soft. The question is, fixed, not fixed, or somewhere in the middle.
Thanks
Vincent aka “enzo mac”
 
I had a very similar experience

on the road race course.

Chances are your brake fluid was changed when the mechanics did the work. The dark brown/thick came about from overheating the brakes.

The reason they overheated in my case was that the return spring was weak/broken. When the brake pedal is all the way up, it uncovers the hole that leads to the master cylinder reservior. This relieves any pressure in the system due to heat. If the pedal never comes fully up, the brakes will stick on because of the residual pressure in the sytem. The brakes sticking on heat the caliper, heating the brake fluid, which puts more pressure into the sytem... I think you see where this is going. A downward spiral that ends in all 4 wheels locked.

So you still have an issue and it will occur again. Make sure the pedal can move freely and that the return spring is present and providing proper "reverse" pressure.

Pete
 
Not trying to slam Fiat... but I've had this happen twice in 128's (one mine, and another on a 128 my dad rented in 1979)... and never in any other car in my life!

What up? :huh:
 
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