Id jack it up right in the parking lot,do some troubleshooting.

do you have roadside asst? it is available thru most insurance cos for a few$ a month. worth it.
AAA? if you do, you want AAA+it is $85/ year. they will make you wait 24 hrs after buying to do a tow, but maybe cheeeper that paying a wrecker. or find a friend w. a trailer.

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1984 123.193 372,xxx miles, room for Seven.

1999 Dodge Durango Cummins 4BTAA 47RE 5k lb 4x4 getting 25+mpgs, room for Seven.

The idea, I suspect, is to totally eliminate the brake drag, which is always present to some degree, making it more difficult to feel/hear a bearing problem. Kicking the side of the tire at the caliper and 180 degrees opposite will also push the pads off the rotor substantially.

In any case, removing the calipers would not be necessary; removing the pads would more than suffice.

The calipers on the subject vehicle are fixed. Jeeps are equipped with floating calipers.

I'm curious. Did you contact the previous owner and ask if any maintenance had been done in that area recently or if he had noticed any problems in concern to braking before he sold it to you. If he did it may help you in isolating your issue.
If you can't find an immediate problem t/s the car there, you may just want to get it trailered home to dig into it.

Also:
1.) How much brake fluid is in the resevoir?
2.) What Color is it?

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1987 MB 190E 2.3 16V- Name Pending
1982 MB 300SD -Old Blue
1965 Ford Mustang - Laura

Did the OP answer the most important question??




















Is it a touring sedan or not?


where's Jimmy to straighten this thread out??

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1984 123.193 372,xxx miles, room for Seven.

1999 Dodge Durango Cummins 4BTAA 47RE 5k lb 4x4 getting 25+mpgs, room for Seven.

I'm mourning the fact that I've developed the same problem. Mine is definitely on a legitimate TD. His may be also......

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

My last truck's wheel bearings went and got to the point of smoking

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

I'd suspect the brake lines to the front calipers are bad and acting like one-way valves. pressurizing the calipers when you use the brakes but not fully releasing. Given a manual transmission and good parking brake, you could slowly limp it home using no brakes. Pick a low traffic time of the day.

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Respectfully,
/s/
M. Dillon
'87 124.193 (300TD) "White Whale", ~392k miles, 3.5l IP fitted
'95 124.131 (E300) "Sapphire", 380k miles
'73 Balboa 20 "Sanctification"
Charleston SC

Man, a year later and I'm finally back to check in. For the record:

I t was stuck brake calipers- they were all less than perfect, and I changed out every one of them, including rotors. Works like a charm, now.

And it is indeed a white touring sedan (and th eonly manual trans I've ever seen on one), Jimmy- just in case that's been keeping you up nights for year...

I had a friend who had a bad wheel bearing on his Jetta's rear drum... it got so hot it boiled the grease, which blew the cap off of the drum, which blew the center cap off of the alloy wheel

-J

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

I will be replacing the brake lines on the 73 220d. I have two questions.

-I have new spare brake lines for my 90 350sdl. will they fit the 220d's.

-Do I really need crescent wrenches to avoid damaging the nuts? I thought I could just WD40 it before I use a regular wrench. What size of nut is it ? is it a 13mm?

This is a big weekend for the 220d. This is the weekend she starts moving again after 3 years of sitting.

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Ben
1987 190d 2.5Turbo