2000 Blazer, 4WD four door.

Last week I heard/felt something grinding at the rear and found the LR inner brake pad worn down to nothing. Upon disassembly I found the caliper pins to be sticking so I cleaned and lubed them after which they slid fine. I obviously put on new pads and used a clamp to compress the caliper which was fairly stiff but did collapse, although reluctantly. No way I could compress it by hand. I went to put pads on the RR side to match and broke a caliper pin so I went out again and bought a new bracket and pins. This caliper compressed easier than the LR side but still a bit stiff.

Things seemed to be fine this week with no obvious problems other than odd pad wear since I didn't want to replace the rotors until I'm sure the problem is fixed. Yesterday when I got home I noticed a lot of stink and a little smoke from the RR, which was still 'free' but very hard to turn by hand (also HOT). I have since take both calipers off and sprayed PB into the piston boot figuring I had nothing to lose and both sides are working, even if the calipers are still stiff and release a little slower than I'm guessing they should, maybe 2-3 seconds. Never paid attention to that stuff before.

Unfortunately I cannot do a bleeder test on the caliper since the bleeder nuts are pretty much fused to the caliper at this point. I pumped the brake and cracked the nut at the hose where it attaches to the caliper and fluid wanted to come out (both wheels) but there was no difference in the caliper.

I've been trying to diagnose anything and everything and have decided to just go all out and replace everything between the wheels and be done. I've priced calipers and hoses but how the frick do you unhook the top one that feeds through the frame near the gas filler tube? I can barely see the thing.

Is it a single nut coming down from the metal line to the rubber hose at the frame clamp? Is it safe to push it out of that clamp/holder?

 

the joy of s10s. dont get me wrong i love my s10 but working on these things sometimes just makes you go insane. if you can get the clip out of there and move the line closer to get it off it shouldnt hurt anything unless the metal line is rotted.

if you say your caliper is is locking up a bit, if you break the line loose at the caliper and it frees up then one of the lines is bad causing pressure not to return, if there was no return then either the caliper is bad or the pads are stuck in the slides or the pins are stuck (but you said you cleaned those so doubtful that)

 

Pins are good, pads are loose. Calipers didn't seem to change when I cracked the nut at the caliper. I just figured I'd replace the lines if/when I do the calipers to save some time and aggravation.

Thanks for the suggestion; I wasn't sure if that clip moved or not. Kinda stuck right now and I didn't want to yank it too hard in case it wasn't supposed to move.

 

yeah thats the problem too that clip rots in there and you sometimes have to mangle the heck out of it. at work we usually change the rubber lines with the calipers also unless the metal lines attached are a rotted mess.

 

I'm having a similar problem. Both my back calipers are locking up. I can actually feel the vehicle slowing at the times when it really engages, its hot, smells and is a real problem. It doesn't always engage though, at least not the entire time I drive. I do have an ABS light on as well which gave codes for the EBCM and stop lamp switch circuit. I checked the stop lamp switch and it seems fine.

So it was suggested to me that I change the rear hose from the frame to the axle since that is a common part of the rear brakes that would effect both sides. Perhaps it collapsed and the calipers are not releasing properly. It does seem that after the calipers engage it does slowly, very slowly go back and disengage because the resistance becomes less. So I guess I'm going to try to remove this rear hose which is also very rusted, especially at the frame. That is going to be the tough part. Hopefully it works.

Did you have any success with the problem or does anyone have any other possible solutions to this problem?

 

I have this same thing, the brakes would get hot from not releasing, but would release after sitting for several hours. I found out that rubber hoses degrade after awhile. Replacing them cured the problem