Brake issue

[ikeG]

Tuesday I did akebono slotted front rotors, napa silent guard pads front & rear, and all 4 new(reman) calipers on a horse hauler 2018 l5p. Came in with the typical frozen tight pins, at least one in each caliper. The rear rotors are good shape napa premiums.
Today he sends his wife to a horse dealio towing their big living quarters trailer and she says the brake pedal went to the floor at the 2nd red light they came to at the next town(45 min away). They climbed and descended many hills just prior to town. Says brakes smell hot and all 4 rotors are blue. They end up disconnecting trailer and drove truck here empty.

Brakes feel great now, but all 4 are definitely toasted. I can't figure anything out except irresponsible towing. Boiled fluid once they came to stop, no airflow over the rotors? Fluid is good, used dot 3 when I bled. Any ideas?

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[2004LB7]

Did you cycle the ABS when bleeding it? Maybe trapped moisture or air in the ABS module

Moisture can boil or cause the brake fluid to boil at a lower temp and make the pads continue to rub increasing the heat even more. But you probably already know that

 

[ikeG]

She claims the brakes functioned perfectly up to this point, so I'm assuming there were no calipers hanging up. But even if there was, all 4 at the same time mustve been?
If there was moisture or air, wouldn't it have to be out at the calipers to see enough heat to boil?
I did not cycle the abs nor do an automated bleed. I had my employee pump the pedal and we bled it the old school way.

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[Hoser]

I wish she would’ve pulled in still hooked to the trailer. It would be interesting to see if the trailer brakes were functioning.

 

[2004LB7]

I wish she would’ve pulled in still hooked to the trailer. It would be interesting to see if the trailer brakes were functioning.

That's a good point. If the tractor was doing all the braking maybe she cooked them from just that

 

[Chevy1925]

Any codes if you check with an mdi2 in any of the modules?

Power steering fluid burnt?

How much of the pads burned off? Rotors warped?

 

[Ron Nielson]

It sounds like the truck brakes just got very hot. Perhaps he brakes were not burnished in? Maybe step up to Dot4 fluid when you bleed the ABS module.

 

[ikeG]

No codes in abs module. The pads are not worn away much but definitely fried. I won't see the face of them until next week when I replace them. Surprisingly no rotor warping. I took it for a spirited test drive and then checked rotor Temps and they all were good.

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[2004LB7]

Now take it out for a drive with a 10k lb trailer with no trailer brakes. Go find some hills and see if it repeats the symptoms

 

[N2BRK]

Can you see the setting on the brake controller? Maybe it's super low, supporting the idea that the truck was doing all of the work.

 

[ikeG]

Tbc gain is supposedly at 5.5. She said the truck never acted like brakes were stuck on but yet it's obvious all 4 were extremely overheated at some point. Wife has a track record of driving like a maniac so I think with all the clues here, all I can do is replace pads and rebleed with dot 4.

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[juddski88]

For what little it may be worth, I have not had good luck with Napa brake products in towing rigs. Premiums, fleet, didn't matter- they fade very quickly and feel like I'm trying to stop the rotors with ice cubes compared to even the Carquest Frontline brakes for a budget brake job on a tow rig. For the haulers with some extra money, I always step up to powerstop, brembo, ssbc, hawk, akebono, ebc products and have yet to be disappointed with any of them.

 

[gmduramax]

Tbc gain is supposedly at 5.5. She said the truck never acted like brakes were stuck on but yet it's obvious all 4 were extremely overheated at some point. Wife has a track record of driving like a maniac so I think with all the clues here, all I can do is replace pads and rebleed with dot 4.

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Sounds like they need to splurge for Castrol SRF fluid and better pads

 

[Ridin'GMC]

For what little it may be worth, I have not had good luck with Napa brake products in towing rigs. Premiums, fleet, didn't matter- they fade very quickly and feel like I'm trying to stop the rotors with ice cubes compared to even the Carquest Frontline brakes for a budget brake job on a tow rig. For the haulers with some extra money, I always step up to powerstop, brembo, ssbc, hawk, akebono, ebc products and have yet to be disappointed with any of them.

I can confirm this. Went through 3 sets of napa fleet brakes and none of them performed or lasted as they should in 2 different vehicles. The rotors warped every time when I'm towing, ACDelco brake parts (or raybestos which makes the brake parts for ACDelco) lasted much longer and performed better. Going back to the AC Delco performance brake rotors and pads, those were proven to hold up what I've thrown at them.

 

[ikeG]

I could not find anything wrong, other than baked brake pads. All of them, but fronts were the worst. Attached a pic. I pressure bled all 4 calipers with dot 4. Passenger rear had just a little air but no other calipers had any air come out.

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[Hoser]

Quite bizarre. Hopefully there’s no other issues on this truck for you.

 

[TheBac]

Betcha $100 she drives two-footed, riding the brakes.