Citroen ZX Diesel - Overheating front brakes

sharvy · Post by **sharvy** » 10 Jun 2004, 18:30

I have a 1995 ZX Diesel and on occasins the front brakes overheat. I have checked the caliper pistons and slides - all appear to be free - anybody any views?
Sharvy

Kowalski · Post by **Kowalski** » 10 Jun 2004, 19:17

What do you have to do to get the brakes to overheat? What symptoms do you get when they are overheated?
Do the wheel hubs feel hot after driving a distance without using the brakes (i.e. an indication of binding brakes)? Does one side overheat more than the other side? How much backing material is left on your brake pads? Too little will cause your brake fluid to become overheated. When was your brake fluid last changed i.e. is it full of water?

CITMAN · Post by **CITMAN** » 10 Jun 2004, 19:41

The brakes on my zx 1.4i tend to over heat, the brakes have been checked by different garages that have stripped and checked the fornt brakes but they say that the pitons etc are all free. However the brakes dont get as hot as they used to as before the tended to get so hot you could smell the brake material burning and also the fact that they tended to fade as well. I believe that the 1.4 has the same calipers as the 1.9d.

arry_b · Post by **arry_b** » 10 Jun 2004, 21:36

Yep - they'll be dragging. The front calipers are one of the weak points on the ZX, my theory is that the piston coating gets worn away, then a little dissimilar metal corrosion sets in.
I strip and copper grease mine every couple of months and they're good to go for a while after than. When mine need doing again, they squeal when reversing which gives the game away.
I can do both sides in 30 minutes now - at least when you do them this often the pins don't corrode in.

NiSk · Post by **NiSk** » 10 Jun 2004, 22:29

If the brake pads have got so hot that they smell burnt, then the wheel bearings have probably fried their grease and the CV joints could well have liquified their grease too. Not such a good idea.
//NiSk

sharvy · Post by **sharvy** » 11 Jun 2004, 04:44

The brakes overheat not through long periods of braking but through normal driving. The pedal tends to go to the floor and it appears to happen on the nearside. Pads are about 50% worn. I have recently replaced the disc and pads because of a broken disc. cheers Sharvy <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Kowalski

What do you have to do to get the brakes to overheat? What symptoms do you get when they are overheated?
Do the wheel hubs feel hot after driving a distance without using the brakes (i.e. an indication of binding brakes)? Does one side overheat more than the other side? How much backing material is left on your brake pads? Too little will cause your brake fluid to become overheated. When was your brake fluid last changed i.e. is it full of water?
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James.UK · Post by **James.UK** » 11 Jun 2004, 06:25

As my ZX is an auto, I prob relie on my brakes more than most [8)] But when I bought the car the brakes ran rather hot, squeaked a lot, and gave off an awfull lot of black dust.
I read on this forum that swopping them for the larger type fitted on the volcane resulted in brakes becoming more reliable, so I bought some s/hand volcane calipers, some new aerated disks, and new disk pads, so far *touches wood* my brakes have been fine since this swop was carried out. [:)] One more success story for the people on this forum. [^]
I think my original problem was caused by a tiny cut in the piston cover-gaitor thus allowing the black powder to get in and keep clogging up the pistons and callipers.

sharvy · Post by **sharvy** » 11 Jun 2004, 13:02

Thanks folks - i'll give it a good seeing too on saturday.
Sharvy

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 11 Jun 2004, 13:59

I had something like this when I replaced the pads on our ZX and not the discs. the discs were not very bad but were not good. the new oads (Delphi) took a long time to bed in and would smell horible. this was due to them wearing in strips as they conformed with the wear pattern of the disc, high spots burning and overheating . . .
When I replaced the discs i noticed that the Delphi pads must have been slightly larher than those I took out and had been running on a corroded strip ner the centre of the dsc, just outside the original shiny contact area. I suspect this was the reason for the smells etc.
New discs and pads have cured the problem and the system feels much better.
I note you replaced one disc. You should do both.
Jeremy

TomH · Post by **TomH** » 11 Jun 2004, 17:33

I'm positive my brakes need a good looking at! I can hear a creaking and clicking noise when I press the pedal coming from the front offside wheel, and when warmed up I get an intermittent loud squeak occasionally but round every right hand turn/bend it does it consistently!

sharvy · Post by **sharvy** » 11 Jun 2004, 18:51

so am i <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by TomH

I'm positive my brakes need a good looking at! I can hear a creaking and clicking noise when I press the pedal coming from the front offside wheel, and when warmed up I get an intermittent loud squeak occasionally but round every right hand turn/bend it does it consistently!
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sharvy · Post by **sharvy** » 11 Jun 2004, 18:52

Jermey - thanks for the info - I did replace both and fitted new pads.
Sharvy<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by jeremy

I had something like this when I replaced the pads on our ZX and not the discs. the discs were not very bad but were not good. the new oads (Delphi) took a long time to bed in and would smell horible. this was due to them wearing in strips as they conformed with the wear pattern of the disc, high spots burning and overheating . . .
When I replaced the discs i noticed that the Delphi pads must have been slightly larher than those I took out and had been running on a corroded strip ner the centre of the dsc, just outside the original shiny contact area. I suspect this was the reason for the smells etc.
New discs and pads have cured the problem and the system feels much better.
I note you replaced one disc. You should do both.
Jeremy
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Dave Burns · Post by **Dave Burns** » 12 Jun 2004, 05:35

If it all looks ok and you are still head scratching, get a seal kit and replace the seals, I did this as a last resort on a fiesta, became apparent that the seal was the problem as soon as it was removed, it had swelled up to such an extent that the new seal would fit inside the swollen one, it made the piston abnormaly stiff to move so the pads stayed in contact with the disc.
Dave