Burning smell

Knight Rider

just driven home from all fine until i turned into my cul-de-sac , when i got out the car, coming from the drivers side wheel arch is a really strong bitter burning smell, popped the bonnet but bere in mind it is 11 pm so can't see bugger all.

Now it didn't feel like brakes binding or any thing, but the disk did feel kinda warm and was a little hesitant at 30 + 40 mph - any ideas ??

( Is going in next saturday for full service and cambelt change prior to discovering this smell )

chisai

I had something similar happen with my S40. It was the brakes binding on, the slider pins had rusted really bad and were not allowing the caliper to move back a tad. Freed them of and all was well again.

Liddo

IF the brakes are binding, the heat will transfer through to the wheel normally. Go for a drive, then feel the alloy. If it isnt hot, I doubt it'll be the caliper.

I had a strange smell inside my old C70 once, it turned out to be the fan motor burning out

Knight Rider

Well took the car out for a short run today (after leaving it yesterday and taking my spare car to work) - did some steady acceleration and braking up - to 60 and back again, was about a round trip of only 10 miles or so... but brakes weren't hot, or billowing smoke or smelling funny.
I tried some sharp braking after looking through some previous posts hoping that may release the pad.

The only thing i did notice was the coolant level was just under min. mark and tyres are getting close, couple of mm left but otherwise couldn't see anything untoward so, fingers crossed thats it

Knight Rider

Well the burning is back, after a few days of nothing but pleasent motoring, the burning smell BUT NOW followed by a squealing noise when pulling off and a juddering through the wheel at 40mph.

Not impressed

st1t5

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knight Rider

Well the burning is back, after a few days of nothing but pleasent motoring, the burning smell BUT NOW followed by a squealing noise when pulling off and a juddering through the wheel at 40mph.

Not impressed

If it were my car i would be focusing my attention on the brake caliper of the side that the smell came from ... from my experiance it seems like you have a binding caliper and it has now came to the point where its warped the brake disc ! .. thats why you got the burning smell ...
There is a very good chance the reason for the juddering at 40mph is due to the warped brake disc, it will only get worse from now on ... im assuming the car judders through the pedal when braking ? ..

To take the calipers off these cars is the easiest i have ever came across .. a doddle .. undo the 2 bolts and look at the state of the rubber grommet around the piston, you will soon know if its past its best and not allowing the piston to return back to its postion after you have released the brake pedal .. you can also see tell tale signs such as discolouration in the disc, a blue colour, or the cooling fins on the vented part of the disc may be red in colour caused by excessive heat ...
While your at it, the 2 sliders will most likely be bone dry, so give them a wee lite rub with 1200 wet and dry to get the crap off them, then cover with Copperslip, job done.

I done my front brakes last week as i had a warped disc ... done both sides in less than an hour .....

Its all about process of illimination ......

Knight Rider

I didn't notice and discolouration on the disc, but i had noticed a couple of score marks on them + they're not grooved disc's they're just normal flat ones ( if that makes sense )
So, should the disc's be fubbered should i go for uprated ones ??
As the brakes only seem to be lasting me 2 years before same issues

( Gonna try and not drive the car until i can get it looked at, so guess the cambelt change will have to wait for a month - now on 72001 miles )

st1t5

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knight Rider

I didn't notice and discolouration on the disc, but i had noticed a couple of score marks on them + they're not grooved disc's they're just normal flat ones ( if that makes sense )
So, should the disc's be fubbered should i go for uprated ones ??
As the brakes only seem to be lasting me 2 years before same issues

( Gonna try and not drive the car until i can get it looked at, so guess the cambelt change will have to wait for a month - now on 72001 miles )

If the scoring is pretty bad then that could be the problem ... possibly a bit of grit or something trapped in there ?? .. thats what could be causing the noise .. are you confident enough to take the pads off ? ... you'll soon see if there is anything caught in the pad then. The pads are not down to the metal are they ? ..

As for uprated discs and pads, personal preference .... i would'nt entertain them but i know others that would. I once had one's on my old car and i never noticed any difference so i have always just stuck to originals, maybe uprate the pads to Mintex performance one's ... its your call

Wobbly Dave

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liddo

IF the brakes are binding, the heat will transfer through to the wheel normally. Go for a drive, then feel the alloy. If it isnt hot, I doubt it'll be the caliper.

I had a strange smell inside my old C70 once, it turned out to be the fan motor burning out

I had a strange smell in the C70 once - turned out my Fiancee had farted.