Hello all,

So I have been noticing a fluid leak from the right front (looking at the car) of my hood. I think it is power steering or tranny fluid. I soaked some up in a paper towel and it is kinda visible in the imgur album below. Let me know if you have any other ideas about what sort of fluid it may be and how to stop it dripping.

Now, on to the fun stuff. Today my brakes started smoking. I smelled the synthetic burning terrible stuff and then at a stoplight I saw the smoke and pulled over. Ended up managing to limp home but I don't know exactly what is wrong with my brake. It is only the front right one. I put new rotors (DBA slotted) and remanufactured calipers from raybestos ($20 on rockauto) on in July of 2012 along with standard pads from NAPA. I also have stainless steel braided brake lines, which I installed at the same time. I think it may just be a sticky piston but I have read it could also be the mounting pins as well. There seems to be a small amount of play in the caliper (maybe a millimeter or two back or forth) but all bolts are torqued to spec.

I also noticed that the plug on my speed bleeders (great invention) was bulging a little and when I popped it off there was a couple drops of oil spilled. It seemed to shoot out, indicating a bad line, but I would think that the stainless steel lines ought to eliminate this problem. Right?

Thanks everybody.

Link to album:

http://imgur.com/a/g1Icv#0

 

Looks like power steering fluid. Tranny fluid is red, and the only spot for it to leak is the lines going into the rad. You would see those lines or the connector wet. For the brakes, I would lean towards something sticking like the caliper. You have really modified your braking system, you made sure everything was the correct part, right?

 

Did you carefully check the sliding surfaces of the knuckles? The pads can bind up with even small notches and get really hot. I went through this several months ago and there was a recent thread with similar symptoms with a good picture of the notches.

 

As I can see the pic from the fluid stain on the floor, the fluid is coming out from the ps pump or steering case, seal replacement needed maybe in one of them or both. Clean them first with water and degreaser and then use car for a couple of days and you'll see where is the leak.

Saw the caliper pics too and there's no fluid on the caliper. Maybe the funny smell is from the brake pads, produced by temp. Pad material sometimes produce those smells.

Hope this could help you.

 

Okay I'll have to check that power steering system out. Thanks for the advice.

And I am pretty sure I ordered the correct parts for everything. I had cast rotors and got aftermarket replacements of the same dimensions. Now I am frantically checking to make sure, but I definitely remember going through this whole process before ordering. They have also been running fine for around 5000 miles, I would think that an incorrect sizing issue would have sorted itself out before that long, no?


And yes, hehehe, I have extensively modified my braking system. Next up is the rear disc brake conversion.

 

I noticed in the third pic down that there is quite a groove where the inside pad is sliding. You can also see the grooves on the fifth pic down. I believe that entire sliding surface should be flat all the way across. I notice when I did mine this weekend there was a very slight dip there, (mine is an 85 so maybe different) so I sanded it out as much as I could with sandpaper to make sure it was at least smooth and not something the pad would stick on. Maybe try cleaning that out and putting some high temp brake grease on that and see if that helps.

 

I had a Ranger that wore notches in the calipers, the brakes were fine with new pads but once they wore down enough for the pads to drop into the notch they'd lock up.
I'd pull the calipers, make sure the slides inside the rubber boots move freely and clean up the sliding surfaces as necessary.
New SS lines should be good, but if the caliper was ever dropped causing the line to be shocked, it could be flaking already. BTDT. Wouldn't hurt to pull it and temporarily swap in a cheap replacement. Outside a dented/kinked hard line, anything else (M/C, distribution block) would cause both front brakes to drag, not just one.