So may father-in-law's 1993 Ford Explorer is back in the stables being attended to. The brakes were, well, toast.... So, I dug into it this morning. He was saying it was the Master Cylinder, but I wanted to make my own independent assessment. Pulled off the front driver's tire. I saw grooves the size of a small country in the rotor. So, we know the rotor's going. Looked at the caliper, the rubber covering the piston's completely shot, and we can add calipers to the list. He had brake pads in the car, so at least I had those on hand.
Dove into the car, removing the caliper, hanging it aside and then tackling the spindles. Now, mind you, this is a 4wd vehicle with automatic engagement and first generation ABS from Ford. As I start removing bits (after a trip to Autozone for parts, and then a stop at Checker for the right wheel hub socket) I find that the wheel hub nut is shot. It appears that the last time it was apart it was reassembled wrong.
So then it's a trip to pick-a-part, the local bring your tools and remove the bit junkyard. With extra bits now in the toolbox I headed home with my buddy Chip in tow (I dragged him out as it's looking like a bigger deal than originally thought and he's a Ford guy.)
Rotors go on easily, followed by calipers/pads.. also pretty easy.... Bled the system out a lot. Took it out for a test drive and the rear brakes keep locking up. It was a pretty hairy and scary drive. Back in the driveay we take the rear wheels off, then the drums (after I finally remembered to release the emergency brake.. d'uh).... turns out the shoes (or what's left of them) are totally cranked out as far as they'll go and were more or less rubbing on the drums all the time. Now, mind you these are supposed to be auto-adjusting brakes.
With the brakes slackened significantly and then reset (you drive backwards and forwards for a bit) we took it on the next drive. Brake pressure is variable at best and we think it's air in the lines. Back to the driveway, bleed everything off again. We've got good brake pressure in the system, so it's time to go around the corner again.
I drive for the first bit and the brakes are ok except at slow speeds, then it wonks over and there's no pressure. My buddy Chi doesn't believe me and wants to drive. 1/2 of a block later and we nearly miss a stop sign. Something's seriously wrong. So, I track back through the system in my head and determine it can only be either the master cylinder or the ABS system.
We pulled out the Haynes manual on the car (I have a huge collection of them. They aren't the greatest references, but there's still good information in them). I was thinking, "well, we'll just put in a new master cylinder and be done with it..."
And then I read the manual, and I swear it's the first time I've ever read something like this in a Haynes manual... "If it's a 1996 or earlier to do not attempt to repair this at home, take it to a qualified mechanic.." So it turns out that this first generation ABS system is so "special" that it requires a special factory method for taking care of this. Now this totally sucks. I've never not been able to fix my own cars, why the heck do I need to take it to the dealer?!?!?!
But, thinking that I'd never seen a warning like that before in a Haynes manual (normally they give you a half-asses work-around) I figured that discretion is the better half of valor and we'll take it to a proper Ford mechanic friend tomorrow.
Thus ends the second chapter of the saga of the 1993 Ford Explorer.
