Breaks stick when cold

[drewmo]

We have a new-to-us used car. The last couple mornings when the temps have been below freezing, I've noticed the breaks seem to be semi-engaged when first started. When shifting gears, the car noticeably slows when the clutch is depressed. A couple steps on the breaks takes care of the problem. They are anti-lock breaks on an Opel brand (GM subsidiary in Germany). Anything I can do or is this the sign of a bigger problem?

 

[Dune]

How used is it? Both of the front bake lines on my '88 wood hauler collapsed. They still aplied more brake force when I stepped on the brake pedal, but did not allow the brake pads to retract. Cost me a bunch of new parts.

Your problem could be entirely different, for example, the calipers must freely slide on their mounts or they could stick.

 

[homebrewz]

How used is it? Both of the front bake lines on my '88 wood hauler collapsed. They still aplied more brake force when I stepped on the brake pedal, but did not allow the brake pads to retract. Cost me a bunch of new parts.

Your problem could be entirely different, for example, the calipers must freely slide on their mounts or they could stick.

Yes.. the calipers must slide freely on their mounts. They can get hung up from age/road grit. Here in the northeastern US its the salt used on the roads for ice control that causes a lot of corrosion problems. Also, one of the pistons in a caliper could be sticking. Is the check engine light/service engine soon light on? That might indicate a problem with one of the ABS components.

Do you use your emergency/parking brake? Sometimes that can lock up from age/road grit, etc and need to be taken apart and serviced.

 

[Beetle-Kill]

Rear drums? Do you park outside? Setting the parking brake when you pull in, if the brakes are hot, can cause them to freeze up(pads stick to drums). My wife almost flat-spotted a rear tire before it broke free. You may also just need to flush the brake system, could have some moisture in there.

 

[drewmo]

Thanks, all. Sounding like something I'll have to get checked. It's a 2001 and passed inspection just before we bought it, so I'm hoping it'll be minor. It was 31 degrees this morning, and it didn't stick. Will see how cold it has to be before it happens again.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I agree with HB. The caliper pins are probably a bit stuck. It's a simple job to pull them off and lube them.


Matt

 

[Deere10]

Take some time. Jack the car up and see what wheels are draging. Fronts or rears. Then proceed from there.

 

[benjamin]

Caliper pins or the stainless steel shims that the pads ride against. The stainless is great but it causes the cast iron to rust and the scale of rust expands and tightens up the stainless against the pad. The fix is to pop out the stainless and scape, file, chip the scale rust off, add some antisieze and put it all back together with newly discovered freedom of movement.

I have no idea if this applies to Opel or any other GM. This also doesn't explain why it would be more noticable in the cold.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

But crap in the grease, or just plain old, partially dried grease would provide less lube in the cold, but after the friction of braking warmed it up it would perform normally.

Matt

 

[Highbeam]

Rear drum brakes + setting parking brake + cold and moisture = seized shoes. They will then pop free and work as normal. Quit setting the pbrake in the cold.