Well, I finished the front brakes. What fun! I had never done that before on this car.

Which leads me to my question - I smell something like burning plastic (definetely something burning) coming from the passenger side front wheel. Is this what burning grease would smell like? Maybe I left a little bit inadverntly on the rotor? Maybe something more insidious?

Any ideas?

__________________
86 300 SDL - Vesuvius

96 SL 500

Assumption is the mother of all screw ups.

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. - Dylan Thomas

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing - Edmund Burke

how did you tighten the bearing?

Clean the rotor off again, if its just something on the surface it will wear off.

__________________
1985 300TD Turbo Euro-wagon
1979 280CE 225,200 miles
1985 300D Turbo 264,000 miles
1976 240D 190,000 miles
1979 300TD 220,000

GONE but not forgotten
1976 300D 195,300 miles
1983 300D Turbo 175,000 miles

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...e485-1-2-1.jpg

I tightened the bearing by making the hub bolt tight and then backing it off by about 1/3. I will pull it apart tonight and recheck the hub bolt. I will let you know....

__________________
86 300 SDL - Vesuvius

96 SL 500

Assumption is the mother of all screw ups.

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. - Dylan Thomas

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing - Edmund Burke

OK that sounds OK.

Its just something on the rotors that will burn off.

__________________
1985 300TD Turbo Euro-wagon
1979 280CE 225,200 miles
1985 300D Turbo 264,000 miles
1976 240D 190,000 miles
1979 300TD 220,000

GONE but not forgotten
1976 300D 195,300 miles
1983 300D Turbo 175,000 miles

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...e485-1-2-1.jpg

My guess would be the smell is grease on the rotor. Depending on the kind of rotors you got, they come with a protective coating that may or may not need to be wiped off first. The OE's don't need to be wiped off, but maybe that coating stinks when it's scraped off by the pads (did not notice it on mine). If yours came with a coating that needed to be wiped off, most likely you just missed a little. Or you could have gotten a little wheel bearing grease on the rotor while setting the play. Burning wheel grease smells hellacious.

Also, not to start something, but you might want to read this thread: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=236897 in regards to setting play. There seems to be more than one school of thought on setting play. I run with the anal school of thought, so I set the play using the specs and tools mentioned in the thread. I doubt that has anything to do with the burning smell, but if you're going to re-do it anyway, why not buy a $15 tool and be exact? That said, if you're experienced enough to know the feel of setting it by hand, it's your call. I am a newbie and thus chose to trust the tool, not my hand.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

It seems that the hub nut was nestled right up against the hub. I backed it off a 1/3 of a turn and retightened it. would that cause the burning smell?

__________________
86 300 SDL - Vesuvius

96 SL 500

Assumption is the mother of all screw ups.

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. - Dylan Thomas

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing - Edmund Burke

thanks bodhi, I did read the thread. What a fun topic! It looks like an oil thread.

I kind of buy your guess at grease on the rotor. It smells on only one side, and it does smell hellacious. Kind of like burning plastic, but not really. In any event I may just get the dial indicator. Can't hurt and Vesuvius is worth $15.

__________________
86 300 SDL - Vesuvius

96 SL 500

Assumption is the mother of all screw ups.

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. - Dylan Thomas

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing - Edmund Burke

I adjusted my Wheels without a Dial Indicator just as I had done with all the vehicles I had worked on before.
I ended up overheating the Grease inside of the hub (it had an oder too).
After removing the Hubs again and cleaning out all of the roasted Grease and replacing it with new Grease I did it the correct way. Everthing has been fine for almost 2 years now.

A few Members have had success without using a Dial Indicater; more like myself have not had success not using the Dial Indicator.
But, I have not read of even 1 failure by a Member who has used a Dial Indicator to adjust the Wheel Bearings.

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I would think it would have to be pretty tight to burn the grease, but I guess that could be the case. I mean, too much friction = excess heat, so that could be it. I don't have any personal experience with that, so someone else could probably confirm that.

Yeah, that thread made my head spin. I just figured I couldn't go wrong by buying the gauge and setting it. Plus it was kind of fun to use.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

I have seen rotors with a coating to prevent rusting while on the shelf. This should be removed with brake cleaner before installation. Try a good rinse of the rotor and pads with brake cleaner and see if that cures the problem.

__________________
Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )

Check the rotor carefully for heat discoloration, if you did not rebuild or replace the caliper, it could have a seized piston, keeping the pad in contact and overheating it. 9 times out of 10, pushing back the pistons does nothing except make room for the new pads, but a ridge of dirt can build up on the piston that will jam up when pushed back, or a piston can be pushed back a little crooked causing trouble, and burnt brake does stink.

__________________
1984 300 D runs, interior
1984 300 D light hit in front, RUST, mint/perfect dash, decent interior (see above), parts car
(hate to kill one)
1998 Dodge diesel

I have smelled burning brake pads before (like when I use them on my motorcycle going down a hill). That is not the smell. I am not ruling out a caliper issue, I just would have no idea how to tell. I am pretty new to a lot of this stuff, so I kind of feel my way through it.

I suspect grease is burning somewhere, I am just not sure where. I did see some dark discoloration near the outer edge of the rotor. I am not sure if that is from burning grease or a bad caliper.

I took the car out tonight, and I still got that odor even after I reset the hub nut. While I am not ruling out that I fried something by using the backing off method, the odor would have me believe that either the caliper is messed up like mentioned or I got grease on the the pads when I was reinstalling and it is burning off.

If the grease is burning off, would it discolor the rotor?

How do I check the caliper?

__________________
86 300 SDL - Vesuvius

96 SL 500

Assumption is the mother of all screw ups.

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. - Dylan Thomas

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing - Edmund Burke

OK, I did some reading and it seems that if the piston is stuck in the caliper, there would be a drag on the wheel. To me that would mean that if I were to turn the wheel by hand, it would drag more than the other wheel, right? If so that is not the case. The wheel seems to turn pretty freely. Also I noticed the discoloration of the rotor happens in a narrow band (maybe 1/2 inch) around the rotor, not for the whole length of the rotor.

I think my next step is to pull the pads and see if anything is on them. I am assuming that a grease spot would be visible from the rest of the pad.

BTW, I used a C Clamp to push the pistons back to put in the new pads. I am not sure if I needed to as there did not seem like much resistence, it was just how I was shown to do brakes. Perhaps that was incorrect as well?

__________________
86 300 SDL - Vesuvius

96 SL 500

Assumption is the mother of all screw ups.

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. - Dylan Thomas

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing - Edmund Burke

I think I am honing in on the issue.

I got some brake cleaner and the rotor cleaned up nicely. It looks more and more like I got grease on the rotor while messing with the hub nut.

I will clean it up one more time and see what I get.

BTW, I know I am talking to myself, but this is for someone who searches and wonders "what ever happened to the guy with the stinky passenger wheel"....

__________________
86 300 SDL - Vesuvius

96 SL 500

Assumption is the mother of all screw ups.

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. - Dylan Thomas

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing - Edmund Burke

It sounds like you probably had some residual grease on the outside edge of the rotor. You'll know soon I guess ... if you keep getting that discoloration after cleaning it up, it could be a stuck rotor or maybe a defective pad. But I'd drive it around and assess, then take it from there.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)