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Hello guys! My family recently got a 1992 E350 Ford van, yes a 15 passenger van with 116k mi on it, runs good shifts great, and the price was right, “problem” we were driving it the other day and noticed that it was slowing down very quickly when we let up on the gas pedal and took more pedal than normal to take off, we drove around a little longer and noticed it getting worse,headed back to the house (probably a total of about 10miles) we got out to look at it and the rear wheels were smoking badly, I backed it into the driveway and trying to get it all the way in it stopped being able to move at all, also caused it to run very hot, almost overheated, we shut it off and a few hours later after everything cooled off re started and tryed to move it and everything was as it should be moved easily no more looked up breaks, will be removing the wheels in the morning to do some investigation, to see what’s going on, thinking it might be master cylinder, wheel cylinder causing issue, any help is appreciated thanks in advance! 🙁 I am a mechanic by trade but never run across this type of break issue before!
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If any of the brake hardware, such as springs have come loose, that can cause it. If the rear differential is in jeopardy, that can cause it too. I would be more prone to saying the emergency brake could have been stuck on too. My church has several of the large Ford vans and I’ve done brakes on them plenty.
As for the engine overheating, that could be a separate issue. Maybe a new thermostat would fix that.
I’m thinking the overheating was caused from the extra strain from the breaks, first time it’s reached that high of a temp.
I was thinking of the hardware being my first step in troubleshooting this, but both sides going bad at the same time, that seem a little odd to me, not out of the question just odd, as I don’t know who has kept maintenance on the van previous to me, just trying to get an idea of what to look for next if that’s not the issue! Thank you.
I hear what your saying about the hardware. I am wondering if the ebrake was left on by accident? Or maybe the cable for it is corroded causing it to stick. Let us know what you find!
First off it’s spelled BRAKE not break when you are referring to the things that stop your car; if you are a mechanic by trade that is an important distinction to pay attention to if you want to appear competent and professional.
The parking brake is going to have nothing to do with this unless you has applied it at some point on your drive, the parking brake on that is cable operated so there is nothing that is going to make it apply itself….
Is that van disc or drum rear brakes? I forget what Ford had in that year, I am assuming drum because you were talking about looking at the hardware.
I would keep an eye towards hydraulic related issues over mechanical ones. Mechanically stuck brakes usually will not release on their own after sitting like that. Look for things that could be preventing fluid from flowing back into the system from the wheel cylinders like a bad brake hose or a crimped brake line somewhere. The master cylinder is possible but I don’t think as likely, change it only after everything else checks out OK and you have checked for proper pushrod adjustment.
Of course the parking brake won’t apply itself, but there are plenty of things that will keep it from releasing when you think you’ve disengaged it.
Corrosion is a common problem on those old foot-operated cable systems. The cables are naked and exposed for most of their length and become really fugly and cranky after a few years. The rear-most sections of cables, at the wheels, usually run through a plastic sheath to protect them from wheel spray, but water still gets inside easily, (and worse yet, remains trapped there), and the cable diameter will expand with rust build-up, causing them to bind and stick inside the plastic that was meant to protect them in the first place. A rusty seized cable-operated system can suddenly “release” at any time for reasons known only to itself.
I would have a very close look at the entire emergency brake system, from the pedal all the way back to the shoes and drums. Disassemble the mechanical bits of the rear brakes and clean everything as well as you can. An old paint brush does an effective and economical job of removing brake dust, and wear a dust mask. Leave the hydraulic system intact for now. This would be a good time to install a new “hardware kit” on each side. They are pretty cheap preventive insurance. Disassemble, clean and lubricate the brake adjusters. Lubricate the shoe pivots and the contact nubs where the shoes ride on the backing plate. Use a high-temp lube meant for brake component lubrication, and use it sparingly. See if you can shoot some penetrating oil into the plastic covers of the rear cables. Reassemble everything, adjust the wheel adjusters, remove slack from the cables at the cable adjuster, and engage/release the parking brake several times to ensure everything is functioning as it should.
Thanks for the spelling lesson as it was 3am when I posted this,
Yes the van has drums, the park brake was only applied when we noticed the issue at a standstill to see if it was hung up from using it earlier in the day,
Thank you, this is what I am planning on doing, it is old and had been sitting for about a year,so it dose need some tlc just wasn’t expecting this to happen with a full load! As in our road testing it passed ,
Ok sorry it’s been a while, we my father in law and I , rebuilt the rear breaks, new shoes springs etc. and cleaned everything, the only thing we reused was the drums as they are still in good condition, got everything back together and took for a test drive, no rear breaks…….ok we get back and try to manually adjust the breaks and find out the adjusters are not working correctly so off come the wheels again, had the springs that hold the adjusters in backwards, easy fix, next we adjust them by hand and go for a test drive again, start working ok, then we all load up a few days later and are driving we hear “what’s that smell.” It’s just new breaks breaking in (right?) WRONG they started locking up again, what the heck is going on with these breaks we just changed everything completely blead all 4corners with brand new fluid and they’re doing it again! Well I think we have chased it down to the RABS module, will update once we have a chance to test it and see what that dose. :blink: :S
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