300DT being a pain?what to do? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

siral3x · #1 11-06-2007, 11:03 PM

So after I finaly fixed most of the bugs out of my 85 300DT, another problem showed up.
After I drove about 50 miles today the orange 'brake light'? came on today, after 5 min down the road something was not right with my car as it was pulling on one side. I pulled over and the front passanger brakes were smoking and burning. I pulled the wheel off and wow the brake caliper was frozen. I get a pry bar and got the sucker loose and I was trying to make it home. Well after another 10 min that light comes back on and this time the front driver brake caliper starts dragging and burning. WTF? Did the same thing again and made it home. Jack up the car took wheels off and it looked like my brake pads are wayyy overdue. Well cool I'll buy new brake pads, BUT what about the locking calipers??Is it going to happen again??what would have caused my callipers to lock up?
The rear brake pads and brake rotors/callipers look fine.
I don't know much abt these cars, but I don't think the brake pads would cause the lock up of the callipers?? Dunno. Please leave lots of imput.

vstech · #2 11-06-2007, 11:10 PM

calipers sieze when they travel too far and hit rust and corrosion. mostlikely, the fluid has not been changed in a while. also I bet the rotors are a bit thin, allowing the rotors to move quite far in the bore. try changing the pads, and flushing out the fluid with fresh synthetic.

jkoebel · #3 11-06-2007, 11:10 PM

Check brake fluid level?

I'm low in mine, my red brake light comes on randomly when I stop in cold weather...but Autozone is so far away, and the gas stations nearby only sell DOT 3 fluid, not the DOT 4 that the car wants.

siral3x · #4 11-06-2007, 11:27 PM

Rotors look pretty good. Fluid level is perfect, but the brake pads look pretty horrid.
Ohh..and another question. Fuse number 8 aka the heater/ac blew up today. After I looked closer I saw a number 16 written on fuse. Does it mean it's a 16amp? bc I would think it should be in need of a 30amp or so? Ohh..where do I buy these ceramic fuses?Autozone/Napa/???

vstech · #5 11-07-2007, 12:00 AM

fluid level is not important, at the moment, condition of the fluid is. what color is the fluid? bleed out some fluid from the frozen caliper, and see what it looks like. try putting it in a clear jar, and let it settle, I bet it has a few layers. if it's recently changed fresh, like less than 1 year, then it should be fine. otherwise, flush it all out, and put in fresh. also are the flex hoses cracked up? how old are they? they can deteriorate from the inside and cause a caliper to freeze up.

toomany MBZ · #6 11-07-2007, 03:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by siral3x

Rotors look pretty good. Fluid level is perfect, but the brake pads look pretty horrid.
Ohh..and another question. Fuse number 8 aka the heater/ac blew up today. After I looked closer I saw a number 16 written on fuse. Does it mean it's a 16amp? Correct. bc I would think it should be in need of a 30amp or so? According to MB, 16 amp (red) Ohh..where do I buy these ceramic fuses?Autozone/Napa/???

I don't know where to obtain the ceramic fuses, more important is the metal involved, copper is close to brass in makeup, I got mine from **************.com body is plastic.

charmalu · #7 11-07-2007, 11:54 AM

This weekend in Plesanton, Ca. there will be a Good-Guys car show. that is where I usually buy my fuses. there are vendors out at the swap meet that sell packages of the fuses. I think I will stock up on a few more.

Charlie

MattBelliveau · #8 11-07-2007, 12:07 PM

People have mentioned that a bad hose between the caliper and the body port can cause this. These are the flex lines directly connected to you caliper.

MattBelliveau · #9 11-07-2007, 12:08 PM

I recently bought fuses for mine at autozone.

rrgrassi · #10 11-07-2007, 12:23 PM

Avoid the plastic bodied fuses. I had one melt itself to the black plastic in the fuse block.

cnev300d · #11 11-07-2007, 01:43 PM

I went to wal-mart the other night and saw dot4 on their shelves.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jkoebel

Check brake fluid level?

I'm low in mine, my red brake light comes on randomly when I stop in cold weather...but Autozone is so far away, and the gas stations nearby only sell DOT 3 fluid, not the DOT 4 that the car wants.

bustedbenz · #12 11-07-2007, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rrgrassi

Avoid the plastic bodied fuses. I had one melt itself to the black plastic in the fuse block.

My fuse box consists of nothing but plastic bodied fuses. The local parts stores as well as a pack of fuses I got at the dealership... all have plastic bodies.

What other kind is there?

2.5Turbo · #13 11-08-2007, 12:29 AM

Ceramic ones that won't melt

...if they do you've got a more serious problem