Front barkes locking up on 1996 Buick Century

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Driving the car the other day I noticed severe drag. Car would not move easily off a light and took extra pedal to go. Once moving she rolled but not that easy. Jacked the car up today and found rear wheels moved freely but both sides of the front had severe drag on them. Nothing has been touched recently and when I did the brakes over a year ago everything was fine when I replaced the pads, rotors and greased everything before install. Any ideas??
 
My 96' Chevy truck did the exact same thing. I replaced the master cylinder and all was well afterwards.
 
Could be the break lines too, the rubber can collapse inside not letting the fluid back to the master.
 
Car that age, everthing is suspect. At a certain point, i replace items just due to age. Calipers if original are really suspect.
 
Everything looks fine. Why would BOTH calipers lock up at the same time? Leads me to believe I have a master cylinder issue but I do not know what to check or look for.
 
yes and both sides are suddenly grabbing. just ran her forward and back to try to see if the brakes would unlock but we are still grabbing. car is not frozen up but she won't roll freely as she used to. rear is fine.
 
Update: I jacked the car up, removed the wheel and put the car in neutral. Disc moved but with WAY to much resistance. Tried backing the caliper piston off but she was rock solid. Broke the bleeder line and she moved back like butter. Based on my findings I just ordered two brake lines and pads. Hopefully my lines were/are my problem.
 
Any advice on making the removal and replacement go smoothly would be appreciated. I am concerned about the fluid loss during the hose removal and the proper way to bleed the front disc if needed.
 
It should be pretty straight forward. Be prepared to change your master cylinder after this.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Loosen the line at the master and see if it releases.

You need to open each bleeder screw and see if it releases not at the master cylinder.If the hose has collapsed you need to open the system up downstream of the hydraulic hose. You could also have bound up slides.I doubt the master cylinder is causing this if the pedal is not sinking to the floor.My money is bound up calipers.
 
Last edited:
Seems it was the brake lines. Changed both and bled the system after I was unable to blow through the old P/S one when I removed it for inspection. Got lucky as the pads which were just replaced recenlty seemed to have a lot of meat and nothing was glazed. No more pull or drag!
Thanks for everyones input!
 
Originally Posted By: Lubener
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Loosen the line at the master and see if it releases.

You need to open each bleeder screw and see if it releases not at the master cylinder.If the hose has collapsed you need to open the system up downstream of the hydraulic hose. You could also have bound up slides.I doubt the master cylinder is causing this if the pedal is not sinking to the floor.My money is bound up calipers.


You need to read the whole thread.

First, the OP already has done that.
Originally Posted By: 007
Update: I jacked the car up, removed the wheel and put the car in neutral. Disc moved but with WAY to much resistance. Tried backing the caliper piston off but she was rock solid. Broke the bleeder line and she moved back like butter. Based on my findings I just ordered two brake lines and pads. Hopefully my lines were/are my problem.



I believe Chris suggested cracking the lines at the master because it's pretty rare to have both hoses fail at the same time. Opening the bleeders won't necessarily give the whole picture. If in fact both lines were collapsed, then cracking a line at the master wouldn't release the calipers and you would have an answer. There was one time I did brakes on a mid 90's Nissan truck. The calipers were obviously hanging up and the pads were toast. I replaced hoses (due to age and rot), calipers (due to rust and sticking slides), rotors and pads. Test drive showed that the brakes were still hanging. It got worse as I drove. Come to find out that the master cylinder actuator rod (all stock and untouched) was mis-adjusted and the system would build pressure because the master wouldn't ever fully release. In my case, cracking only the bleeders wouldn't (didn't) give me the whole picture. I moved on up the line until I found the issue.
 
Seems it was the brake lines. Changed both and bled the system after I was unable to blow through the old P/S one when I removed it for inspection. Got lucky as the pads which were just replaced recenlty seemed to have a lot of meat and nothing was glazed. No more pull or drag! At this point unless something else happens the car is good to go.
 
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