Club 80-90 Forums

Just completed our first trip and have a few questions, firstly The temp gauge has stopped working and a bloke told me I was a printed circuit board that can deteriorate and needs replacing is this true or is it a dodgy connection somewhere? Second, the red oil light never comes on at all, could be a bulb I suppose but there is a TIM oil pressure gauge does anyone know what it should read, the gauge only has numbers on it going from 0-100 in increments of 20 doesn't say PSI or anything just OIL and finally (I think) on the way home started to hear a constant high pitched squeal coming from the front drivers side wheel, I was doing 60 MPH on the M-way, if I turned slightly left or right the noise went away and also when I pressed the brake, I came of the M-way and the noise stopped once I got down to 25-30 MPH. As I drove through town I could hear an occasional squeal, is this a bearing and if so is it easy to sort out, just order a Haynes manual

Thanks in advance folks

Engine??

The squeal noise sounds very similar to something I suffered last weekend. As you say, a little turn of the steering or slight application of brake stops it for a few seconds. The handbrake did not alter it so I assumed it was front end.

When I got home I thought to check the front wheel bearings and found that the right hub was very hot. As I bent done to do this I also got a whiff of hot linings (obviously brake at this end of the vehicle.)

The following day I stripped down the caliper and found that the pads were very dry and rusty on the contact points (where they touch the caliper frames). I have cleaned these up and applied copper grease to the contact areas. I think that this has freed them off but as I haven't driven anywhere since I can't be sure. I am using it tomorrow for a short run so will see how it goes.

It has also been suggested that it could be a failing flexible brake hose restricting the fluid and preventing the caliper piston from retracting smoothly. I hope not! Mind you, now I have looked it seems like the hoses and the adjoining pipes could do with replacing!!

cheers
Garyd

Engine??

Err sorry
its a 1.9 DF its a replacement engine, not sure when it was done vans covered 130K

If it is the wheel bearings save yourself a lot of money and grief and get them from Brickwerk's, trust me (look at previous posts) you will not regret it.

garyd how do you get on with your squeal? Thanks for the info Im going to check the brakes as soon as I get a chance.

Wow weird stuff, the same thing is happening with my near side front wheel at exactly the same speed, it occured on a run too Wales at the weekend there and back, but on a plus side at least the blind Sunday drivers on the A55 could hear me. Will be interested to know the outcome of this one.........

Sounds to me like the pads are squealing. Painting the BACK of them may stop the squeal but: If the pads, hub etc are getting hot and a smell of burning, it could be a seizing caliper. Try jacking up the "hot" side and see if the wheel is free to spin. If not you have a binding brake. Either caliper seizing or problem with brake flexi!
Hope this helps.

Either caliper seizing or problem with brake flexi!

Does the exclamation mark mean this is a big problemo

Team28crew wrote:

Either caliper seizing or problem with brake flexi!

Does the exclamation mark mean this is a big problemo

No, it just means I am a crap typist!!!! Sorry. Should have been a .

Phew, cheers meggles

Update.
have been using the vehicle each day this week but only five miles each way - not really far enough to get hot. Haven't heard the squeal though.

With regard to the '!' - we actually started to try to replace the hoses and found that the metal pipework is rusty/seized together with the bleed screw in the calipers. It will be a bigger job than we had time for so is waiting for the weekend. So maybe the '!' is warranted?

Garyd

If I had to take a guess, based on my own experiences over nearly 40 years of motoring, and 2 years with a T25, I would say it is more than likely a seizing piston in a brake caliper. This will mean you need a new/recon/ good used caliper. Shop around for a good deal it shouldn't be too expensive. Certainly shouldn't warrant a !. There is also a chance that, where the pads sit inside the caliper recess, there is a build up of rust. So, clean everything up first (needs doing anyway) and grease all contact points (not where pads meet the disc) with the appropriate grease and try again.
Good luck

Thanks for the advice folks, I give it a go at the weekend (weather permitting).
garyd let me know how you get please and good luck