Shop Fiat Brakes

I live in China and have a 2002 Siena with 46,000 miles on it (75,000 km) - 1.5 liter 4 cyl. front wheel drive, 5-speed. The brakes begin to stick (staying on with varying degrees of slightness) once the temperature gets over 25 C (77 deg. F). At 30 degrees C (86 F). they get sticky enough so that the brakes get very hot (judged by touching the wheel rims) on just a 10 mile drive. Below 15 deg. C. (59 deg. F) they don't stick at all. I'm afraid I'm frying the brakes, but I'm waiting for the Fiat dealer to get a new brake pump, which they said is the problem. I'm skeptical about that though, because they don't seem very competent and seem over-eager to replace anything that has the slightest problem. The brakes don't stick at all if I just use the hand-brake while driving around, but once I use the brake pedal, they get progressively worse the longer I drive even if I stop using the pedal and just use the hand-brake again. Before I pay for a new brake pump (and they said probably they will want to change the ABS pump also), I want to find out if it could be anything else like a stuck valve or something I don't know exists. Both front brakes heat up evenly, and the back don't get hot at all. The Fiat dealer put new rotors and pads on the front, but the problem seemed exactly the same before and after that. I pulled out the ABS fuse for a while, but that didn't seem to change anything.

bjFiat; Check the brake fluid for contamination. Take some of the brake fluid from the master cylinder, mix it with water in a clear jar. The brake fluid should mix (water soluable). If there is a contaminate, it will seperate. Make sure that the master cylinder isn't OVER-FILLED. Brake fluid will expand with temperature. If the master cylinder is too full, it can cause the brakes to apply as it has no where to expand to. Have all of the brakes inspected. Adjust the rear brakes if applicable.

no contamination that i could find - master cylinder not over-filled. took it to a different mechanic and had the brake fluid flushed and replaced. then they said they would "adjust something". the problem never went away, but after that it was intermittent and not as severe.

Find out if mechanical or hydraulic problem . Jack up front and place on jackstands. Press and release brake pedal .Turn wheels and feel for drag . Loosen bleeder on affected wheel. If brake does not free up its mechanical ,maybe a sticking piston. If it frees up its hydraulic , most likely a bad flex hose.

Happy New Year. I have a Fiat Punto, 2002 registration, manual drive. It's developed a problem: after driving at speed for 45 minutes or so, there is a screeching noise, sometimes a scraping noise. The noise goes when the steering wheel is in a certain position. At times it the noise is not too bad; at other times it is very loud and sounds like something serious is going wrong. Gentle braking sometimes momentarily quietens the noise.

We took it to a garage and who took it for a drive, and they thought it was the clutch or the gearbox. Does that sound reasonable? i didn't know the steering was connected to the gearbox.

We had the brake pads changed less than a year ago. The front wheel has a recent dent in it, probably from an incident with a kerb, so I wondered if it could instead be a wheel alignment or brake alignment problem? Any thoughts?

Of course a guess but I'd be looking at the brakes and bearings. New pads alone are not the end all of a brake job. The damage to wheel should be fully checked out as to what else might have been damaged,

T

I have been travelling around the world for the past year and my car as you can imagine has suffered from not being used. Due to the fact I have spent all my money travelling I dont have a massive budget to get it fixed so want to try and do as much of the work as possible myself. What would you recommend as the process to get it back into the land of the moving?

The car is a 2000 1.2 fiat punto elx 16v. Evidently the battery needs charging/changing but in this situation im not sure where to go next.

Any advice would be appreciated

Was this just "one" year? How bad was the storage spot - outdoors - real wet, muddy or on dirt will make it harder.

Ok: Trash the battery if you found it dead. They really fail fast when left dead. If you must leave a car again there are ways to have it ok when you return it to use again.

Put some fuel injector solvent in the gas now. Hope for the best with that. Hope you left it full too!

Get tires up to pressure and give the thing a try with a new charged battery to start. Hit back what happens if it doesn't start.

Brakes may be rusty and not work well first few tries or be rusted enough to need work. Make sure you can stop the car before going out for any ride to test what else might be needed.

See what ails it with a test run. Report back. Plan on a service - oil and filter change, fuel filter would be a great idea right away. Of course check all fluid levels and don't forget to check that spare tire has air in it too,

T