The I Worked on My Car Today Thread

[darrenroark]

Can anyone recommend a good pick n' pull in the Los Angeles area? I have an 850 that needs some help.

[E Showell]

It was yesterday, actually, but new rear brakes for the '98 V70 (one side anyway). Second side comes today since I did not anticipate having to replace the calipers. The driver's side one looked a bit nasty, so I decided to replace both. That added some time to the job -- online order at Advance Autoparts for in-store pick-up. They have unloaded rear calipers for c. $59.00 with a $40 core, so remanufactured rear calipers for $20/side. I didn't figure that was too bad. Also, it worked out to be cheaper than that since there was an online discount code for 20% off and I have a "speed perks" reward of $5.00 off that I was allowed to combine with the 20% off. All told, the calipers were the least expensive component of the job.

Went with Zimmerman rotors (made in Germany) and Akebono pads from FCP. Figure those will be around for a while. Unfortunately, I did not record mileage for my last brake job. I am interested to see how long the rears last. Although I don't do a lot of aggressive driving, the car is on the heavier side and I live in a very hilly region.

Had my son helping me with today's effort so he finally gets grooved on the entire brake job procedure. I didn't anticipate doing the calipers, so he gets to experience the added joys of bleeding brakes as well.

Man, I hate that drum brake emergency brake set-up. It seems like a total crapshoot to me whether I am on the star wheel adjusters or not and there is virtually no way to see into the area even with a flashlight. To add insult to injury, the working distance for this job -- even with cheapie drugstore readers -- is at about precisely the focal length where I can't get great focus regardless.

As I did last time, I painted the calipers with Duplicolor caliper paint (red). I wish Advance had a different color in stock as I am not a big fan of red anything, but the red does look good with the silver sand metallic finish of the car. The Zimmerman rotor antirust coating almost matches the body color as well. Not a huge fan of the Duplicolor paint in the application -- recoat in 15-20 min. or wait five days to recoat-- and the paint is very thin so it requires multiple coats, but if you have the time and patience for multiple coats, the results can be pretty good. The cheap brush supplied with the kit is ridiculous. It sheds bristles with every stroke. You are better off using a craft store brush.

Brake jobs are about the first bit of maintenance I ever attempted on a Volvo. They aren't particularly difficult (once you conquer the PITA star-wheel brake adjuster). Perhaps a bit on the tedious side, but when you consider the cost savings over having a relatively simple job done by an independent or dealer, that's tedium I can live with. I shudder to think what my local dealer would charge for a rear brake job at $135/hr. labor. Even my local independent at $96.00/hr is getting up there.

[abscate]

E...it's all about getting adjuster hole in the right place, and then the right screwdriver takes 15 seconds per side. Sight through the whole from 2 feet away with a bright flashlight on axis until you see the star wheel centered in the hole

Of course, when you have the drum off, grease the hell out of the star, the adjusters, and the contact points so that this stuff works. Typically they are problematic from neglect. I think 90% of The U.S. Doesn't use the parking brake anyway.

I like the drum brake approach over the horrible attempts to mechanically move rear calipers for ebrakes, they are rarely effective and of course aren't redundant.

[E Showell]

Steve. I've tried it all. Adjusters are a half hour ordeal for me each side, every time. Almost doesn't matter what I do. I have my preferred screwdriver, which is slightly bent, so at least in that respect I'm all set.

[j-dawg]

That Lincoln is supremely B-A

While we're talking about parking brakes, I'm trying to get a new cable in, but the housing won't mate up to the port on the hub. (This is the 99+ style cable.) It's probably the rust - the old housing broke on the way out. I'm going to get a stiff-bristled bottle brush and try to clean it out that way. A crappy little wire brush on a Dremel didn't work last night.

Also, the way the cable is bent along the rear control arm to keep it away from the wheel means the cable is really stressed at the corner of the bend, and that's where the old housing split and seized up. Any way to avoid this?

I liked the cable-to-caliper setup on my old Maxima. It was easy to access and service, had fewer components to adjust, etc. As far as redundancy, I've never heard of abrupt caliper structural failure; brake failures tend to occur in the hydraulic system, which is bypassed. But you can find horror stories about Volvo drum-style parking brakes abruptly failing, to various degrees of scariness.

[E Showell]

Well, you can teach an old dog new tricks. I am using a flashlight beam through the lug nut hole to sight the star adjuster so I can make sure I have my screwdriver on it. What's better is I can see if the adjuster wheel is actually turning. Seating the tool is still blind, but I can definitely see if I am moving the adjuster whereas before I couldn't. Thanks Steve for encouraging me to rethink my approach.

[j-dawg]

While we're talking about parking brakes, I'm trying to get a new cable in, but the housing won't mate up to the port on the hub. (This is the 99+ style cable.)

Resolved: the part I got (PEX from FCP, i think this is OEM) came with an o-ring to seal around the edges of the port, but it was the wrong size. The one that came off the car had a much smaller-diameter cross-section. Swapped them and it fit, but I Dremeled the fitting down to try and make it fit before and I'm afraid I might have damaged the cable. I'll just order a new one and be frustrated about it until I get it in the mail.

I'm really upset. I spent the better part of a week being an idiot, hammering away at the thing and even cutting it with a Dremel to try and make it fit. Why it took until today to try it without the o-ring is beyond me. I don't know why PEX would put an o-ring on if it's the wrong size. I have another PEX brake cable I bought about two years ago that I'm using for the other side of the car, and it didn't come with an o-ring - much preferable to the wrong one, I think. I can't blame the part, of course; not noticing that the o-ring was a different size is on me. But the part coming with extraneous materials is misleading.

I experienced some very powerful emotions over the last few nights, and I'm not being sarcastic. I contemplated selling both my cars and buying a new Fiesta. I can afford it. The money isn't important. Once the time is spent you don't get it back.

Also, the way the cable is bent along the rear control arm to keep it away from the wheel means the cable is really stressed at the corner of the bend, and that's where the old housing split and seized up. Any way to avoid this?

Still have to figure this one out. Not looking forward to repeating this job when the cable immediately fails and seizes up again.

[E Showell]

That's why boatbuilfers all have a "moaning chair"in their shops.

[abscate]

Well, you can teach an old dog new tricks. I am using a flashlight beam through the lug nut hole to sight the star adjuster so I can make sure I have my screwdriver on it. What's better is I can see if the adjuster wheel is actually turning. Seating the tool is still blind, but I can definitely see if I am moving the adjuster whereas before I couldn't. Thanks Steve for encouraging me to rethink my approach.

Learned from many years of adjusting air cooled VW drum brakes once a month.

[tryingbe]

Can anyone recommend a good pick n' pull in the Los Angeles area? I have an 850 that needs some help.

http://www.ecoparts.com/locations.htm

https://www.google.com/search?q=pick+a+ ... 2389862302


Good luck.