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  #1  
Old 04-08-2003, 11:08 PM
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Lots of smoke from Car...need assistance.

Ok so I am driving Beastie my 71 280SE W108 home from work today. All is going well. I stop at a light and notice smoke coming from the passanger side front wheel well. I pull off from the light, find a gravel lot about 100 yards away. Pull over and sit. For about 15 minutes the car smokes from what appears to be right behind the front passenger side tire.

After the smoke subsides I pop the hood (didn't want to fan any flames). No damage to be seen. Oil level good, water level unchanged, tranny fluid appears ok...smells ok. Start poking around the exhaust manifold....nothing. Check belts and all rubber fittings, lines, wires. OK.

Peak underneath and find some thick black substance that smells like the smoke smelt around the inside of the tire rim. Not a ton of it. Spots of it fairly thick 1/4 ", some dribbling around the rim.

Get brave and start the car up. let it sit a few. No smoke. Start to drive home. Next 18+ miles home....no smoke. Everything electrical still works.

The only odd thing I notice for the rest of the rid home is that my brakes do not seem to be as strong as they were before the smoke. Also whenever I braked hard the car would pull to the left real bad. Was gonna get a brake job and see about fixing this next month. Now however I have lost some breaking ability and the car no longer pulls. It now breaks in a straight line. All be it not as well.

My big question is could a brake pad or some grease from inside the front axle smoke like that?

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  #2  
Old 04-09-2003, 12:32 AM
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Sounds to me like you have a sticking or stuck caliper. You might pull the wheel off and remove the pads and try to compress the pistons to make sure they are free. If not, get a rebuilt caliper ASAP, and ideally, get one for the other side. It's always good to replace calipers in pairs. If the brake hoses show signs of cracking or bad aging, get new hoses as well. This is the time to investigate!
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  #3  
Old 04-09-2003, 12:47 AM
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Sounds like smoking brake fluid

You should check your brake fluid level. It sounds like you might have developed a leak in the brake and burned from the heat while the calipers made contact with the rotors.
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  #4  
Old 04-10-2003, 04:15 PM
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It could be your wheel bearing. It happened to me (A LONG time ago, before I parked the car for 4 years) and there was actually a FIRE in there. Definetly would cause a mishandle under braking if it's a front wheel.
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  #5  
Old 04-10-2003, 04:59 PM
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Think Aaron hit the nail on the head with a stuck caliper. I pulled off the rim and the rotor has a nice purple tint to it and a ton of score marks.

I took it around the neighborhood yesterday from some troubleshooting. Smoked a ton at first. Stopped at let it sit for 30 min. No more smokeage on the way home....but no brakes either. No loss of any break fluid. Ordering new calipers and rotors and all hardware for the front next week. Hopefully this is easier than replacing the headgasket in her. I am a novice backyard mechanic and learning as I go.

Regards,
Damion

Thanks for all the help.
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  #6  
Old 04-10-2003, 06:37 PM
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Damion,

Brakes are easy. Here's the procedure to cover what you need to do:

-Jack front end up, remove BOTH front wheels.

-Make sure steering isn't locked, (leave key in ignition)

-Assuming you'll begin on the driver's side, turn the wheels to full right lock, that way you'll have access to the caliper.

-I'm also assuming you bought new front brake hoses, so to make life easier, just cut the old one in the middle for now and let the fluid drain into a jar. Soak the junction where the hose meets the metal line really good with penetrating oil. You'll need an 11mm flare nut wrench and a 14mm open end wrench to undo that connection later.

-Take a 4mm punch and a hammer and knock the two pad retaining pins out of the caliper and remove the spring clip. The rebuilt calipers should come with all new hardware but keep those around just in case. If the spring clip is broken, discard it and get a new one ASAP if there isn't a new one with the caliper.

-Next, compress the pads back a little to aid removal of the caliper from the rotor. You don't need to compress them far, just enough to get a little clearance between them and the disc surface.

-Now remove the two 19mm caliper hold-down bolts from the back side (you'll probably have to bend the little tabs back on the lockplate first, you'll see how it works).

-Remove the caliper.

-Now it's time to remove the rotor. First remove the grease cap by grabbing it with a pair of large Channel Locks.

-Next undo the 5mm allen screw for the bearing preload nut. Don't unscrew it all the way, just enough to allow the nut to be backed off the spindle.

-Remove nut with Channel Locks.

-Now remove the outer bearing from the hub. It will pull out. If it's tight, jiggle the hub a little to free it up.

-Now remove the rotor/hub assembly from the spindle by pulling straight back towards you.

-Take the assembly over to the bench, put it in a bench vise (front side down) and clamp it in so you can remove the rear grease seal and inner bearing.

-You now have to remove the grease seal. Snap-on makes a great tool for this (a general seal removal tool) but short of that you can "deform" the edge of the seal with a hammer and flat chisel to get it out.

-Once the seal is out, remove the inner bearing.

-Now separate the hub from the rotor. You'll see the five 10mm allen bolts which hold it all together. An impact wrench makes easy work of this.

-Once the 10mm bolts are out, tap on the underside of the rotor to free it from the hub.

-Discard the rotor and take the hub and clean it up VERY THOROUGHLY. Make sure ALL traces of old grease are gone from inside the hub, especially in the little nooks and crannies around the bearing races.

-Now take a "whizzy wheel" and clean the rotor-to-hub mating surface very thoroughly. Remove and traces of scale or rust.

-Next it's time to clean the bearings. Do so in the same manner with a good solvent. Make sure all old grease is removed. Lightly blow them dry with compressed air. Also don't forget to clean the bearing preload locknut!

-Now, with the hub back in the bench vise, introduce the new rotor up to it and align the holes for the 10mm allen securing bolts. Make sure not to confuse them with the lug bolt holes!

-Add a dab of blue Locktite to the threads of the 10mm allen bolts and run them in evenly, torquing them to 80lb/ft.

-Next you'll nedd to pack the bearings with fresh grease (I recommend the Mercedes-Benz original grease). You can buy a bearing packer but short of that you can put some grease on the palm of your hand and "work" it into the bearings thoroughly (this is the hard part to describe).

-Apply some fresh grease to the inside of the hub and drop the inner bearing in.

-Now it's time to install the new hub seal. I would STRONGLY recommend that you buy a seal installer kit to do this but you can also use a large socket which has the same OUTER diameter as the hub seal.

-Place the hub seal onto the hub evenly, place the socket over the seal and GENTLY begin tapping the seal down into the hub EVENLY. You'll hear it when it bottoms out against the bearing race. The new seal will sit just a HAIR above the edge of the hub.

-Next, clean the spindle thoroughly of all the old grease and then coat it with a thin layer of fresh grease. Next, introduce the rotor/hub assembly to the spindle.

-Install the outer bearing after you pack it with fresh grease.

-Next, install the locknut. You now will have to set the bearing preload.

-To set preload, begin tightening locknut with a pair of Channel Locks while simultaneously turning the rotor COUNTERCLOCKWISE. When the rotor won't turn anymore, back the locknut off 1/4 turn and tighten the 5mm allen screw.

-Now clean out the grease cap and pack it 1/2 way full with fresh grease.

-Install grease cap by evenly introducing it up to the hub and tapping it down evenly and gently with a plastic hammer until it seats.

-Now it's time to install the new caliper. Use the two new bolts that come with it, and also the new lockplate. Place the caliper up to its mounting point and install the bolts remembering to first put the lockplate on. Torque the bolts to 90lb/ft. Bend tabs of lockplate over one edge of each bolt.

-Get your new pads and apply some COPPER anti-sieze paste to the backs and top and bottom edges of the pads. Install the pads into the rotor, install the new spring clip and drive the new pins through.

-Now take your new brake hose and thread it into the caliper. Tighten it up with a 14mm open end wrench (not overly tight).

-Remove the old piece of hose from the junction inside the wheel well and introduce the new hose up to the metal fitting.

-Tighten that down (make sure you start the 11mm metal fitting evenly into the hose opening).

You're done! Repeat this procedure for the other side. When that's all finished, raise the rear of the car and remove the wheels. Soak the bleed screws with penetrant and change the brake fluid. I recommend using Ate SL DOT4 or MB original brake fluid.

Good luck!
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  #7  
Old 04-10-2003, 07:37 PM
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Very good write-up, Aaron. You should submit it to the DIY forum.
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  #8  
Old 04-10-2003, 07:42 PM
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That is a herculean effort of an explanation Aaron. I cant even finish the whole thing but will be sure to reference it later!
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  #9  
Old 04-10-2003, 08:14 PM
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Aaron....

Thank you very much for the write up. This will come in very handy next week.

Damion

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