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Car pulls when braking (intermittent problem)

L

Lord Stanley

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Oct 25, 2007
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Why the Hockey Hall of Fame of course ;)
Okay, so for the past month or so, I have noticed something odd happening... Sometimes when I hit the brakes, the car will pull to the left... Now, there are a few things that are weird about this... First, this is an intermittent problem that usually only happens a couple times per day, if at all... Second, the steering wheel itself does not move to the left, but rather it feels like the entire front of the car shifts left... Third, it varies in degree of severity... Sometimes it barely pulls, but other times if I do not countersteer I would end up in the other lane...

Maybe it is just me, but I would think that something like this would be more consistant... I do not know how much of this is in my head, but there is definitely something going on... It is also hard to tell if the tires are simply getting pulled into the groves of the road when braking, or if it is actually mechanical... I cannot consistantly duplicate whatever is going on...

Any ideas?

1995 - I4 - MTX
 
If the caliper was dragging I would think the car would pull when not braking. I would jack the front end up and check all of the connection points for the front susp, ball-joints, control arm bushings etc.
 
kcobra said:
If the caliper was dragging I would think the car would pull when not braking. I would jack the front end up and check all of the connection points for the front susp, ball-joints, control arm bushings etc.
Click to expand...

I looked and nothing seems out of place... LCAs, ball joints, and outer tie rod ends have around 8,000 miles on them... I also had new tires installed about a week ago and that obviously did not affect anything...
 
What are the conditions of the roads where you drive? If everything is tight in the suspension, have you had you alignment checked? You mentioned you cant be sure if its the roads you are driving on, have you tried stopping repeatedly in the same spot to see if happens repeatedly?
 
If this is happening only after the brakes have gotten warm, then you may have water in the brake fluid in one caliper only. When the water reaches boiling temperature it turns to gas bubbles in the brake fluid. Fluids are incompressible, but gasses are compressible, so one brake bites while the other doesn't, and the car pulls to one side, but never when the brakes are cold. When was the last time you fully flushed and bled your brake fluid?

Scott
 
My sister had the same problem with her accord. She had been told to take the sliders out and grease them. When her boyfriend took the sliders out, one was completely dry. He greased both of them up and the problem went away. Not saying it's the same problem but could be something you could check out.
 
I would pull all the side pins out and clean and grease them. then get a turkey baster and empty the brake fluid from the resivor. Fill with fresh fluid and bleed the whole hydraulic system and see where you after that.
 
You can also do it the old fashioned way with a helper. It's not up there on the "thrilling" scale, but it does lend that sense of shared purpose. ;) My wife used to help me, but now my older kids are big enough to help out with it.

Twenty years ago I bought a British tool called a Gunson's Eezi-Bleed. It's a pressure bleeder that uses a spare tire for air pressure. It has come in really handy a couple of times when I didn't have a helper available. It has brake reservoir caps that fit most British and European brake systems, but not many American systems. Since the Contour/Mondeo uses British and German parts, I have a feeling the Eezi-Bleed will have a pressure cap that fits it. I don't even know if Eezi-Bleeds are still distributed in the US anymore.

Scott
 
Day after I bought mine I did that. It helped. Then I did it again with some better fluid and a sucker. Man that made a difference.
 
BrApple said:
you can get a $5 self bleeder from Harbor frieght. works pretty well.
Click to expand...

415PkxgRdmL.jpg


One of these? How exactly do you use one? This is what I gathered from reading online:

Fill the MC reservoir
Connect hose to bleeder
Place bottle above bleeder
Open up bleeder valve


Now, with the bleeder open, would I:

Press down the pedal once, hold, release, then close the bleeder and move on to the next brake
-or-
Pump the pedal several times before I close the bleeder and move on to the next brake


I am just wondering what prevents air from being sucked back into the system when I pump / release the brake pedal to go close the bleeder valve...
 
You will need to keep pumping the brakes until you see clean, new brake fluid coming out of each bleeder valve.

The one man bleeders typically have a one way valve in them that prevents the fluid from traveling back into the caliper when the brake pedal is released. That being said I have never used one. If you have someone pumping the pedal for you and you get into a rhythm it shouldn't take more then 30-45 min to bleed the entire brake system. Start With the rear pass wheel then the rear driver wheel then pass front and lastly drivers front. I would do the clutch as well, as they are all share the same reservoir but one of the more experienced guys will have to chime in on whether to do it before or after the brakes.
 
Hmm, it does not seem that difficult I guess. I would think that the clutch would be bled last since the intake for it is highest in the reservoir. I will also be installing new pads and having my rotors resurfaced. Even though the pads still have life, their backings are really rusted and brittle. I think that the driver's side rotor may also have a slight warp in it too.
 
If you are going to do your brakes get new slide pins as well. iirc they are about 8 bucks for all 4 of them. If you are going to do front and rear pads at the same time I suggest removing some of the brake fluid from the reservoir before you get started. Bleeding brakes is about as simple as it gets.
 
jolly8286 said:
My sister had the same problem with her accord. She had been told to take the sliders out and grease them. When her boyfriend took the sliders out, one was completely dry. He greased both of them up and the problem went away. Not saying it's the same problem but could be something you could check out.
Click to expand...
this could be his problem . If there are outlines of the brake pads on the rotors, then it probably is the slide pins. Well that's what mine was like. My brake vibration disappeared too .. even though many people think that brake vibration is warped rotors ...G.
 
Lord Stanley said:
One of these? How exactly do you use one? This is what I gathered from reading online:

Fill the MC reservoir
Connect hose to bleeder
Place bottle above bleeder
Open up bleeder valve


Now, with the bleeder open, would I:

Press down the pedal once, hold, release, then close the bleeder and move on to the next brake
-or-
Pump the pedal several times before I close the bleeder and move on to the next brake


I am just wondering what prevents air from being sucked back into the system when I pump / release the brake pedal to go close the bleeder valve...
Click to expand...

that is the one. I crack the bleeder open to make sure it will turn easily first. Then I place the container via the magnet on the rotor hat. Then push the hose over the bleeder. no need to use any of the plastic fittings unless you have an odd size bleeder. Then open the bleeder and pump the brakes a few times until you have clean fluid coming out, also no air either. Then close the bleeder back up and your all set. I make sure to pump the brake slowly.

As noted I believe it just uses a simple check valve to keep air from getting back into the brake system.
 
you can make a cheaper version of that bleeder with a clean bottle and a long piece of hydraulic line that fits tightly on the bleeder. simply drill a hole in the lid of the bottle and feed the the line down into the bottom of the bottle, fill it with a few ounces of brake fluid and the hook it to the bleeder, crack the bleeder just a bit and bleed your brakes as you would normally. the hose down into the fluid will keep air out of your lines. this is what i have used for years and what i replaced the device pictured with when it just wouldn't work correctly.
 
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