1999 S70 GLT winter car aquistion

[454cid]

Well, the headlights are taking a back seat to the brakes. Yesterday, on the way to work, on the highway, the car was shaking. It started to subside, but then I got into stop and go construction traffic. I noticed the car was slowing down a lot more than normal when I'd let off the gas, so I pulled over. Right front brakes were hot! Fantastic.... turned around to go get the 850, which didn't want to start for some reason. It fired off once, and died, but would crank and crank and crank. It wasn't a battery problem. I don't know if the engine flooded or the fuel system lost prime, or what. Eventually it started and I was late for work.

I've got a caliper, fluid, and a hose ordered from Oreilly Auto. I considered rebuilding the existing caliper myself, but I'd rather have more time to do so. I need to get the car back on the road, because snow is coming again and I want to keep the 850 out of the salt.

Any ideas what was going on with the 850, firing once and then not wanting to start? Its only been sitting for a few weeks. I can let my truck, with triple the miles, sit for a few months and it starts fine.

[abscate]

Top fires then does not start contenders….

Bad ECT sensor or wiring
Bad fuel pump relay
Lawnmower syndrome

[454cid]

Top fires then does not start contenders….

Bad ECT sensor or wiring

Does the dash gauge use a separate sensor? I see no fluctuation in the gauge, or from the OBD2 port, but of course I'm not constantly monitoring the temp reported to the ECM.

Bad fuel pump relay

Didn't seem to be an issue before, or now, but I can certainly take a look at it.

Lawnmower syndrome

Is this something other than dried gas in a carb? I can't imagine gas varnishing up in a couple weeks in a fuel injected car.

[abscate]

Same sensor for both ECU and gauge. The gauge is a very coarse indicator of temperature. The engine needs about 3-4x more fuel to cold start but this has to be metered precisely to cold start correctly.

Once you have a failed start it’s easy to get excess gas in the cylinders, which then causes exciting temporary compression loss. The engine will crank faster and sound funny.

[850oldschool]

The key identifier for lawnmower syndrome is the complete lack of compression while cranking. The last time it happened to me it took about 10 minutes of cranking to get it to go. If it happens again I'll pull the spark plugs and squirt a little oil in the cylinders.

[BlackBart]

...and maybe change the oil if you cranked it too long.

[454cid]

The key identifier for lawnmower syndrome is the complete lack of compression while cranking. The last time it happened to me it took about 10 minutes of cranking to get it to go. If it happens again I'll pull the spark plugs and squirt a little oil in the cylinders.

I don't think I've ever had that happen. If I can't get a mower going, it's usually carb issues..... speaking of which, I did run the mower out of gas today, for the winter.

So I finally worked on the S70 today, trying to fix the dragging brake problem... what a nightmare. The hose broke free on both sides easily, which was a relief, but I struggled with the pads and calipers, until I realized the old and new caliper were not quite the same. First, I somehow got a caliper for a 302mm rotor (or whatever the measurement for the larger one is). I figured, ok fine, I'll just use the original bracket. I could not figure out the sequence of getting all the pieces together, even with the original bracket. Anything I did I was bumping into problems.... 7mm Allen key needed for the pins apparently, for instance.

I could not figure out how to get pads on the car, and then the caliper on, or get the pads in the caliper and then put it on the car.....THEN, I decided to get Vernier calipers out. I'm pissed by this point as the quick caliper change is dragging on with no progress and it's getting dark, and I keep getting my hands into the anti-seize and caliper grease.

The INSIDE of the piston is 3mm smaller on the new caliper. I actually broke the clip on the inside Textar pad I was going to re-use. The pads were still in great shape until I broke that clip. I have the Akebono pads that I bought for the 850, and it was obvious they weren't going to go into the new caliper either.

This was not good, since I had to order and wait for the caliper, and THIS is the day I have off to fix the thing.,... got special clearance to ditch work. Back to the old caliper..... it didn't look too bad, in fact I don't think this brake job is that old. The pins were pretty dry, but not rusty. Part of the boot wasn't seated around the piston just like I think Firefox found. I popped the piston and dust boot out and cleaned it all up. I then reassembled it, and I think got the boot seated, correctly. I did not remove the internal seal..... hopefully that isn't worn. The piston did have some rust, but it wasn't into the bore area.

So I have one side that is put back together, with new pads, and a new hose, all greased so hopefully nothing squeals or hangs up. I'm still not 100% sure why that side was dragging Monday. Even though that boot wasn't fully seated the piston didn't seem to be stuck.

Oh, I dumped most of a quart of DOT4, too..... that was fun. I had set it down on the battery, and apparently the car running made it vibrate enough so that it fell off. I hosed everything down for about 10 minutes.

I still have to go for a test drive. I've only moved the car out of the driveway.

[scot850]

I was wondering why you were having so much issue with fitting the caliper and bracket. Having a 302mm bracket is a challenge for a 280mm rotor, calipers are the same. But having a piston 3mm smaller is an issue. I have read here many times of rebuilt caliper issues and that is the first time I have heard that one. I have had calipers with the original rust pistons left in and almost filed flat but rusty, pot metal pins that were jammed in so tight they rounded out trying to remove them, pistons with the brake dust cover sitting out like you have, broken off bleed screw, rusted in bleed screws.

You are in the lap of the gods especially when you have limited time and uncooperative weather.

Brake fluid spills are par for the course when I work on brakes so I no have a vacuum bleeder to try to cut down on that.

Fingers crossed that the test run is positive!

Neil.

[454cid]

I was wondering why you were having so much issue with fitting the caliper and bracket. Having a 302mm bracket is a challenge for a 280mm rotor, calipers are the same.

Yes, I had seen it indicated that they were the same, or at least compatible, so the wrong bracket was mostly frustrating in that I didn't have a nice new bracket to use, and I had to unbolt it from the car. This is a different caliper setup than what I'm used to. It's like a hybrid between the two I've dealt with before, and has features that would seem to interfere with each other, in my mind

On my truck, there is no separate bracket. Each pad has clips that hold it in the caliper, so you simply slide the loaded caliper in place. My Saturn did have a separate bracket, which would get bolted on first, then pads would slide onto the bracket, and then the caliper would slide over that. The Volvo has a separate bracket but still has the clips on the inner piston, so you can't assemble the bracket and pads and then slide the caliper over it because the clips would be in the way. you've apparently got to fight that inner pad on with the bracket in the way..... then if the piston is too small it's impossible.

But having a piston 3mm smaller is an issue. I have read here many times of rebuilt caliper issues and that is the first time I have heard that one.

Yes, I kept ignoring it thinking that it couldn't possibly be the issue. Even after measuring it, I didn't think 3mm would make that much of a difference. Then I tried putting the new pad into the old caliper, without the bracket, and it went in with no trouble...... I wish it had been that easy with the bracket. The pad ears want to catch on the bracket. Maybe it was a case of losing light, and frustration at that point.

You are in the lap of the gods especially when you have limited time and uncooperative weather.

Tomorrow is supposed to be colder and it may rain....

[scot850]

Yuk on the weather front. We are going tropical and above -10C allegedly tomorrow!

The inner pad should slide in and stay in the end of the piston sitting flat against the piston. Then the outer on can be held in place and slid over the rotor and then the sliders inserted. I guess when you do this a few times you don't appreciate it can hard to figure out. I think and hope the reason you found it so hard is that inner pad did not stay in place as it should.

Neil.