Paging ClevelandhhrSS; brake drag question
07-01-2008, 05:52 PM
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Paging ClevelandhhrSS; brake drag question
ClevelandhhrSS, last week or whenever you posted in some thread I read, about a trip on the turnpike or somewhere and you thought you might have had a brake dragging, because up to coming to a toll booth your mpg was down, then the 2nd leg of the trip mpg cam back up, you mentioned having the parking brake checked.
I think you might be having something similar to something I've noticed, although mine I think is less pronounced than what you described. Intermittent brake drag. Sometimes, and there's no rhyme or reason to it, it feels like my HHR is working against itself, like a headwind or something. When its doing it you can even shift the auto trans into neutral going down a slight downgrade and the depending on the grade the car either holds speed or slows slightly, not counting aero dynamic drag-- I know what that amounts to with my car and this is something additional. Intermittent though.
When its doing it, starting from a stop you can tell its like the engine is working more yet you're not as zippy.
Today on the return trip from Dick's Sporting Goods it was doing it, and when I pulled into my garage, as soon as the rear wheels got up onto the garage concrete pad I immediately shifted to neutral to let it glide and you could definitely feel a subdued braking action beyond normal rolling resistance.
Examining the brake fluid reservoir I noticed dribble marks where you could tell brake fluid had ran down the front of the reservior sometime ago and dirt was accumulating there. Fluid level was maybe 1/4" below the MAX line, this is with the system hot. I siphoned some out until it was midway in between the MAX and MIN lines. May have been a boneheaded thing to do, but I have a bottle of DOT3 and can always fill back to prev level. Took it for a drive, brake pedal felt as normal maybe a hair more travel before engaging but that could be psychological on my part, symptom did not occur for the drive, but that doesn't really mean anything because as stated it comes and goes, is intermittent.
Couple weeks ago I had a Chevy dealer check front end alignment and also told them to check to see if a brake was dragging. They aligned the front end to spec, said it was only out by two tenths of an inch on toe, and that the brakes appeared to be okay, nothing dragging. They did test drive it and said they did not notice the symptom.
If you google "intermittent brake drag" you'll see that it does seem to be an issue that is reported by some people, in varying degrees.
I wonder if that could be what you experienced?
I think you might be having something similar to something I've noticed, although mine I think is less pronounced than what you described. Intermittent brake drag. Sometimes, and there's no rhyme or reason to it, it feels like my HHR is working against itself, like a headwind or something. When its doing it you can even shift the auto trans into neutral going down a slight downgrade and the depending on the grade the car either holds speed or slows slightly, not counting aero dynamic drag-- I know what that amounts to with my car and this is something additional. Intermittent though.
When its doing it, starting from a stop you can tell its like the engine is working more yet you're not as zippy.
Today on the return trip from Dick's Sporting Goods it was doing it, and when I pulled into my garage, as soon as the rear wheels got up onto the garage concrete pad I immediately shifted to neutral to let it glide and you could definitely feel a subdued braking action beyond normal rolling resistance.
Examining the brake fluid reservoir I noticed dribble marks where you could tell brake fluid had ran down the front of the reservior sometime ago and dirt was accumulating there. Fluid level was maybe 1/4" below the MAX line, this is with the system hot. I siphoned some out until it was midway in between the MAX and MIN lines. May have been a boneheaded thing to do, but I have a bottle of DOT3 and can always fill back to prev level. Took it for a drive, brake pedal felt as normal maybe a hair more travel before engaging but that could be psychological on my part, symptom did not occur for the drive, but that doesn't really mean anything because as stated it comes and goes, is intermittent.
Couple weeks ago I had a Chevy dealer check front end alignment and also told them to check to see if a brake was dragging. They aligned the front end to spec, said it was only out by two tenths of an inch on toe, and that the brakes appeared to be okay, nothing dragging. They did test drive it and said they did not notice the symptom.
If you google "intermittent brake drag" you'll see that it does seem to be an issue that is reported by some people, in varying degrees.
I wonder if that could be what you experienced?
07-01-2008, 10:45 PM
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Join Date: 03-31-2008
Location: CLEVELAND
Posts: 772
Could be LR....
What i know about myself is that I get into my car and take off quickly. I have like a routine, keys in hand, fob under thumb, ignition key betwwen other finger, open door-sit down-key in-parking brake down-start-go all in one motion (well almost). Sometimes i feel that since my parking brake is utterly impotent, i may be leaving with it partially up. Or it may not release fully since the tension is so low in the cable....
I can be quite militant with my fuel economy , so for the first 5 or so miles i check it, then once into the grove, i forget about it. The things that catch my attention are strong wind&direction.....subtle angles in the road i never noticed in my last truck, and glide distance (while in neutral). It is only maybe 12 miles or so to the turnpike, and I should see 34-36mpg at 60 by then as the car comes up to temp (tire pressure, oil, engine). I could not even believe the 24mpg that I was getting....lol 50% off from what i would expect. I also noticed that it didnt go up when i went to 55mph (cure for headwind).
So I was 100% positive either i was dragging something, or my brakes were.
The great thing about the SS is that at low speeds the turbo makes it hard to notice brake drag. So now I check, and sometimes pull the parking brake up hard, then let it down just to make sure it has enough tension to release.
I learned from my last truck that if something is out of alignment with the brakes, just turn a tight corner at a low speed with the windows down. you will hear the squeal or quiet shhhh sound of the brakes dragging.
Thanks for the tip, Ill head to the dealer over the weekend and have them check my complete brake system just to be sure, and tighten the parking brake.
Anyway, since I have been viligent in my aarness of the brakes, i have not had the problem since.
GO GLADIATORS
What i know about myself is that I get into my car and take off quickly. I have like a routine, keys in hand, fob under thumb, ignition key betwwen other finger, open door-sit down-key in-parking brake down-start-go all in one motion (well almost). Sometimes i feel that since my parking brake is utterly impotent, i may be leaving with it partially up. Or it may not release fully since the tension is so low in the cable....
I can be quite militant with my fuel economy , so for the first 5 or so miles i check it, then once into the grove, i forget about it. The things that catch my attention are strong wind&direction.....subtle angles in the road i never noticed in my last truck, and glide distance (while in neutral). It is only maybe 12 miles or so to the turnpike, and I should see 34-36mpg at 60 by then as the car comes up to temp (tire pressure, oil, engine). I could not even believe the 24mpg that I was getting....lol 50% off from what i would expect. I also noticed that it didnt go up when i went to 55mph (cure for headwind).
So I was 100% positive either i was dragging something, or my brakes were.
The great thing about the SS is that at low speeds the turbo makes it hard to notice brake drag. So now I check, and sometimes pull the parking brake up hard, then let it down just to make sure it has enough tension to release.
I learned from my last truck that if something is out of alignment with the brakes, just turn a tight corner at a low speed with the windows down. you will hear the squeal or quiet shhhh sound of the brakes dragging.
Thanks for the tip, Ill head to the dealer over the weekend and have them check my complete brake system just to be sure, and tighten the parking brake.
Anyway, since I have been viligent in my aarness of the brakes, i have not had the problem since.
GO GLADIATORS
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