Xm 2.5 td brake binding

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noz
Posts: 118
Joined: 05 Mar 2003, 03:33
Location: Central Scotland
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Xm 2.5 td brake binding

Post by noz »

annanoverone
Honestly, you wonder what makes anyone buy a Citroen ( no, only joking, really)
Travelling up to Inverness from the Falkirk area the car appeared a bit sluggish but couldn't put my finger on it. Just turned up the radio and enjoyed the scenery.
When I arrived in Inverness, parked up and got out of the car I found out why. The front brakes had been binding and that dreadful ferodo burning smell surrounded the car. I thought, I'll have to have a serious look at that when I get home.
I did my day's business and jumped into the car forgetting that mornings' problem. I got about 10 miles down the road and was reminded by the smell. I parked at the little chef at Tomatin and and took the drivers front wheel off. Sure enough the disk was cooking and the smell was terrible. I let it cool down and worked the caliper loose. I put the wheel back on and went on my merry way. I knew that as long as I didn't use my brakes I'd be OK to get home where I could take a closer look and have access to all the right tools for the job.
That was fine until I had no option but to brake whilst overtaking one of the countless lorries who drive the length of the A9 at 40 miles per hour (Tesco to name but a few). It was dark and the next place with some street lights was Ballinluig. By the time I got there the wheel was nearly on fire. I got a watering can full of water from the filling station and doused the disk. It was red hot. I cooled it down and freed it off again and drove the rest of the journey at snails pace.
When I finally found the problem it had nothing to do with the brakes per se. In the Right Hand Drive version of the XM there's no room in the engine bay for the brake valve so they've mounted it up under the windscreen behind the scuttle panel. There's then a linkage from the pedal up to the brake valve location with several joints exposed to the weather. One of the joints was almost seized, keeping the brakes on. It just so happens the first port to be opened in the brake valve must go to the drivers front wheel.
Needless to say I freed the joint off and the problem hasn't returned.
Of course, sod's law, 3 weeks later the wheel bearing started to sing like a banshee because the grease had been cooked. The replacement of the wheel bearing is another story.....
cheers
noz
tomsheppard
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Post by tomsheppard »

or electric highwaymen as they call them round our way.
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