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Thanks for your thoughts.
The air is hot when it comes out when the heater is on. I hadn’t considered that radiator issue, but that makes sense. The radiator is only a year old and the coolant has always looked clean in it, but who knows? I’d considered taking it out and running water through it when I did the thermostat just to make sure it’d pass without any issues, but I decided to take the half hour approach instead of the half day approach on that one.
I also suppose it’s possible that there’s air caught in the heater core, but I did run it for quite a while with the cap off (let it come up to operating temp, etc…) to bleed the air out. To the best of my knowledge there’s no purge valve on that engine, so I’m not sure how else to try to flush that out.
I was also wondering if the heater core does turn out to be clogged, what the odds are that I could blast a clog out if it with a hose nozzle? If the fins are as small as a radiator I don’t see that working, but I’ve never actually messed with a heater core before. I have taken the dashboard out of this truck, done a wiring project inside it and reinstalled it in one day when I replaced the dash a few years ago, so I feel like the project is doable.
Thanks for your thoughts.
The air is hot when it comes out when the heater is on. I hadn’t considered that radiator issue, but that makes sense. The radiator is only a year old and the coolant has always looked clean in it, but who knows? I’d considered taking it out and running water through it when I did the thermostat just to make sure it’d pass without any issues, but I decided to take the half hour approach instead of the half day approach on that one.
I also suppose it’s possible that there’s air caught in the heater core, but I did run it for quite a while with the cap off (let it come up to operating temp, etc…) to bleed the air out. To the best of my knowledge there’s no purge valve on that engine, so I’m not sure how else to try to flush that out.
I was also wondering if the heater core does turn out to be clogged, what the odds are that I could blast a clog out if it with a hose nozzle? If the fins are as small as a radiator I don’t see that working, but I’ve never actually messed with a heater core before. I have taken the dashboard out of this truck, done a wiring project inside it and reinstalled it in one day when I replaced the dash a few years ago, so I feel like the project is doable.
Alright guys I think the problem is resolved. My methodology is probably going to traumatize all of you, so consider yourself warned.
I took into consideration all of your feedback. Thank you both for your input. I also considered my own observations and those of the mechanic. The two of us concluded that the problem was not severe enough to cause a rotor overheat, that there was no smoking, etc. Also, the car’s ability to stop had never been an issue, so it was safe to drive. The car would still move under it’s own power. So the two of us took it on a test drive. We found that it would roll under the weight of the car if stopped on a substantial hill. After we got back I took it out again, then again, then again – each time for a longer run after stopping to confirm that the rotors weren’t overheating, that nothing was smoking and so on. After several consecutive short runs, I did a freeway loop (there’s a loop around the local freeways here in the bay area that makes about a 25 mile circuit with straights, curves, and hills) and confirmed again no rotor overheat issues. The next day I drove it 50 miles, and the following day 100. After that it had worn off some of the pad and it seems to be almost normal. The pads are $70/set of 4 and they last for 100k miles, so I’m ok with losing a little bit of them at this point. It’s still rubbing slightly, but not enough that it causes noticeable side effects or heat anymore. I have two theories on the cause of the problem:
1) The master cylinder damper was incorrectly set when it was replaced about 30k miles ago. Pads would have been at about 40% at the time, so if it was set too tight they still could have cleared the rotors, which were also probably not factory thickness anymore.
2) The Powerstop equipment I bought may have been slightly out of spec. My brother had installed Powerstop rotors and pads on his F-250 a few years ago, and despite me having told him about my problem didn’t mention that his had rubbed until I was a week into trying to figure out what was wrong with my car.
At this point I’m considering this project done, but thanks again for the support.
Alright guys I think the problem is resolved. My methodology is probably going to traumatize all of you, so consider yourself warned.
I took into consideration all of your feedback. Thank you both for your input. I also considered my own observations and those of the mechanic. The two of us concluded that the problem was not severe enough to cause a rotor overheat, that there was no smoking, etc. Also, the car’s ability to stop had never been an issue, so it was safe to drive. The car would still move under it’s own power. So the two of us took it on a test drive. We found that it would roll under the weight of the car if stopped on a substantial hill. After we got back I took it out again, then again, then again – each time for a longer run after stopping to confirm that the rotors weren’t overheating, that nothing was smoking and so on. After several consecutive short runs, I did a freeway loop (there’s a loop around the local freeways here in the bay area that makes about a 25 mile circuit with straights, curves, and hills) and confirmed again no rotor overheat issues. The next day I drove it 50 miles, and the following day 100. After that it had worn off some of the pad and it seems to be almost normal. The pads are $70/set of 4 and they last for 100k miles, so I’m ok with losing a little bit of them at this point. It’s still rubbing slightly, but not enough that it causes noticeable side effects or heat anymore. I have two theories on the cause of the problem:
1) The master cylinder damper was incorrectly set when it was replaced about 30k miles ago. Pads would have been at about 40% at the time, so if it was set too tight they still could have cleared the rotors, which were also probably not factory thickness anymore.
2) The Powerstop equipment I bought may have been slightly out of spec. My brother had installed Powerstop rotors and pads on his F-250 a few years ago, and despite me having told him about my problem didn’t mention that his had rubbed until I was a week into trying to figure out what was wrong with my car.
At this point I’m considering this project done, but thanks again for the support.
They seemed to be ok when I put them in, but I can’t tell because I have a caliper/pad/rotor/pad/caliper sandwich in there now that they’re not releasing all the way. I checked the outers through the wheels to make sure they weren’t angled or anything weird like that and they seem to be seated properly. This afternoon I’m going to try to get the calipers off again and compress the pistons like you’d suggested to see if they generate the same problem again. It was an idea I’d had but it seemed to me that it was unlikely that was going to change anything. At this point though, I’m not sure what else would be causing it.
I do know that the damper on the master cylinder is adjustable, but my mechanic told me he wasn’t going to touch it because it shouldn’t be that and backing that off was “looking for trouble.” The master cylinder was replaced about 5 years ago with the pads at less than 50% and hasn’t been in there with a new set of pads since. Also, I was concerned that if I did that the rear brakes wouldn’t grab at all.
They seemed to be ok when I put them in, but I can’t tell because I have a caliper/pad/rotor/pad/caliper sandwich in there now that they’re not releasing all the way. I checked the outers through the wheels to make sure they weren’t angled or anything weird like that and they seem to be seated properly. This afternoon I’m going to try to get the calipers off again and compress the pistons like you’d suggested to see if they generate the same problem again. It was an idea I’d had but it seemed to me that it was unlikely that was going to change anything. At this point though, I’m not sure what else would be causing it.
I do know that the damper on the master cylinder is adjustable, but my mechanic told me he wasn’t going to touch it because it shouldn’t be that and backing that off was “looking for trouble.” The master cylinder was replaced about 5 years ago with the pads at less than 50% and hasn’t been in there with a new set of pads since. Also, I was concerned that if I did that the rear brakes wouldn’t grab at all.
I mentioned that because I knew that he first thing anyone was going to tell me to look at was the slides. While I was bleeding the brakes, I was watching the top of the calipers where they sit on the slide, and you could see the caliper tense up and move a very small amount along the slide when pedal pressure was applied. Then I could see it release afterwards and slide back, the entire travel being maybe a few millimeters, but enough to indicate that the slides weren’t binding. And the pads were seated. I agree that it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to bleed the calipers either disconnected or without the pads in it.
It’s also too early to look for pad wear. I tried taking a look at that last night, but I couldn’t see any difference.
I mentioned that because I knew that he first thing anyone was going to tell me to look at was the slides. While I was bleeding the brakes, I was watching the top of the calipers where they sit on the slide, and you could see the caliper tense up and move a very small amount along the slide when pedal pressure was applied. Then I could see it release afterwards and slide back, the entire travel being maybe a few millimeters, but enough to indicate that the slides weren’t binding. And the pads were seated. I agree that it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to bleed the calipers either disconnected or without the pads in it.
It’s also too early to look for pad wear. I tried taking a look at that last night, but I couldn’t see any difference.
Could be the idle air control valve. I just did one of those on my 92 Toyota pickup that was having similar problems. A few of the other guys on here helped me diagnose it. The IAC basically takes the place of the choke and adjusts how much air bypasses the butterfly valve in the throttle body so that the engine can idle properly. The throttle body on my truck had an idle set screw that I took out, cleaned and readjusted before replacing the IAC and that helped out some. If it goes away after a few minutes (once the engine comes up to temperature) there’s a good chance the IAC could be stuck wide open.
Could be the idle air control valve. I just did one of those on my 92 Toyota pickup that was having similar problems. A few of the other guys on here helped me diagnose it. The IAC basically takes the place of the choke and adjusts how much air bypasses the butterfly valve in the throttle body so that the engine can idle properly. The throttle body on my truck had an idle set screw that I took out, cleaned and readjusted before replacing the IAC and that helped out some. If it goes away after a few minutes (once the engine comes up to temperature) there’s a good chance the IAC could be stuck wide open.
Thank you for the video with Scanner Danner. That answered so many of the questions I had. As I said before, I’d run into some of the issues you raised in your video while considering different models – OBDI/II, code readers only or ones that include live data and bi-directional capability. I’m still not sure what I need, but you’ve given me information that I can use to research models and make an educated decision. Thanks again.
Thank you for the video with Scanner Danner. That answered so many of the questions I had. As I said before, I’d run into some of the issues you raised in your video while considering different models – OBDI/II, code readers only or ones that include live data and bi-directional capability. I’m still not sure what I need, but you’ve given me information that I can use to research models and make an educated decision. Thanks again.