@@watershed44 Oh,I believe it! A friend took his Honda Pilot in because the A/C wasnt working! They quoted him $1600 for a new compressor! So I installed a new relay and she worked like a champ! $7
@@petersmart1999 Yes, if you find a "dealership" that ISN'T a "$tealership" you've found the needle in a haystack! They are that rare, at least in the USA.
Mr. Ray - the main reason I watch your channel is because it seems like you like your work. Doing something you like or love is the best gift life can give you. As an old shadetree mechanic, I always learn something watching your videos. Keep it up! You're doing great.
As a former tech I was surprised that there was no grease applied to the moving surfaces on the shoes and pads. Other than that everything was spot on. It is amazing how many techs don't know about burning in the new pads and shoes.
Another thing I noticed was that when he used the tool to retract the caliper piston, he forced the old brake fluid back into the system. I usually open the bleed screw to flush out all of that old, stagnet break fluid in the cylinder. Lots of time that stagnet break fluid within the cylinder is pretty cruddy.
First of all, it's not grease, but an anti-seize compound. Secondly, it still hardens and causes seizing of the pads, once brake dust gets onto the compound and all that shit hardens into what might as well be cement, essentially. To prevent that, some brake systems come with thin metal gliding strips (like shown in this video). They are the "grease", hence no "greasing" required. Cheers from Germany. P.S.: I'm with ctrlaltdebug on that one. In countries with plenty of corrosion, we prefer to not touch critical fragile components unnecessarily.
@@ctrlaltdebug On the other hand if you loosen them every time you change pads, they will take longer before they seize. If they do snap off, you can in any case bleed the air out by loosening the flexible hose connection.
24:18 that's one of the coolest tools I've seen. I use the old brake pad and a c clamp or adjustable pliers to press the piston back into the caliper. I always check the reservoir before doing this so I don't make a mess. People sometimes add brake fluid to the reservoir when the brake pads are worn, leaving you with a corrosive surprise near the end of the job. Lol
You should push the fluid in the caliper out the bleeder so you don't end up with any crap in the abs pump or master cylinder but I guess lazy is as lazy does
I have used the old pad and channel locks (my C-clamp had rusted solid from being stored in a damp place) and after the Popeye cramps passed, it was not a bad result.
If I'm turning or replacing the rotors, I push the piston back with a screwdriver before I take the caliper off. If that isn't feasible I'll use large channel lock pliers and the old brake pad to push it back in.
The other way is just compress the caliper while it's still on the car. Just have one end pressing on the outer pad and the other end on the piston housing. That way you can never press in unevenly because the slider pins won't allow you.
I always eased boot lips to check brake cylinder seals leak then eased shoes backwards and forwards to make sure cylinders pistons where not seizes in place. Loads of cylinders had started to leak fluid and you have caught it before it becomes an issue. Love the cleaning tool. I also used a wipe of copper slip light coating to stop drums seizing on. Pad slider runs on the casting I used to stroke with a file to remove all rust otherwise pads can stick in the sliders. Had it in the past and had it recently on a four pot caliper, pad looked like a cheese wedge. Vehicle had been laid up a lot with Covid. Again stoked with copper slip. Special silicon grease used on brake slider pins, otherwise it can affect the boot or the slider sleeves if used.
I prefer loading the pads first, allows me to check the pads for proper movement in the slide. A lot of the Autozone pads need hand filing to get them to slide properly.
Lol I never knew until recently that you have to make sure the pads can move easily. My father was a mechanic his whole life and probably taught me as a teenager when I wasn't listening. But now I need to go check my brakes on my rusted out 1998 impreza.
Yeah you're right, I get that alot, I grind em a bit here and there on the wheel, lube em up and good to go after driving it, no wobbling, pulsating. Sometimes a pain in the ass but jobs have to leave perfect. Gotta have happy customers so they refer family and friends.
Tip: Remove 1 slide pin at a time to clean and relube. Then re insert back in place. Reason, some calipers have different upper and lower style pins. It will save you time if you get the pins intermixed thus giving you a rough time trying to reinsert them.
Over all very accurate but a few pro points missed if I may… #1, the calipers can easily be compressed before removal with a pry bar or junk screw driver by prying against the rotor. It will also help find and potentially free tight pins. #2, clean the brackets under the pad shims. A build up will push the shims up causing tight pad fit. Pads need to slip right in and with spreaders on they should actually need held together when putting the calipers on. #3, all bare metal should get a thin coat of anti seize to prevent immediately rusting. The hub and shim pockets of the bracket only! Silicone or ceramic like you used everywhere else. There’s a handful of other things to look out for that will tell you what to look for during the job like uneven wear and why it happened but that’s another video… like I said though it’s overall very good! The 2 most important things are pad movement and the lube used on pins…NO GREASE OR ANTI SEIZE!
Did the fronts on my car not too long ago, I used Akebono pads and their instructions said no burnishing procedure was required, but they did recommend to avoid very quick and heavy stops if you could for the first 500 miles.
I've learned from experience not to push the piston on one caliper in while the other caliper is hanging loose because you run the risk of pushing that other piston out and making a huge mess not to mention you now have to bleed the system.
Never heard of that happening, since the total volume of fluid in the system is unchanged - the master fluid reservoir volume would take the extra fluid.
@@chuckschillingvideos If the pads are worn down almost metal to metal and the car owner tops up the brake fluid level, I'm pretty sure there's going to be too much fluid in the system when new pads are fitted. The mechanic in this video didn't show us that he checked the reservoir level. If the master cylinder cap was not removed the piston on the other caliper would be the weakest point and indeed pop out.
@@chuckschillingvideos Think about it. The force of the fluid coming from one caliper has to go somewhere. There is a great deal of resistance going back into the master cyl and almost none going into the othe caliper, Round and round the brake fluid goes and . .... POP GOES THE PISTON and (right after you mop the brake fluid off the floor. you go round and round to the pars store getting the parts (Like a new boot) to fix the damaged caliper, What we have done with the BS floating caliper brakes is to take a C=clamp and retract the piston BEFORE taking to caliper off. And do them one at a time!,
I would have checked the brake fluid res and removed cap before I pushed pistons back,you never know if somebody has topped it up when pads are low and it ends up pissin out or worse still flips the master seals 👍
Your screwdriver attachment for you air hammer is a slick tool. I use a hand impact tool myself. A couple whacks breaks the screws loose. Being a 1/2 square drive it can also work with sockets.
Hey, FYI, just in case, whatever you do, make sure you use JIS bits. I bought an impact tool from amazon that turns the screw 15 deg every time you whack it. Had a Philips bit shatter once and it took me hours to drill the thing out. Hope this helps
Your information is invaluable to me.... I do my own brake repairs and I knew about brake break-in but didn't realize about burnishing the pads in like you explained it.... I always treat my brakes gingerly until about 50 miles or so as in a break-in procedure....
New rotors need pad material spread evenly around them. Multiple light stops from moderate speed (20 mph) without actually stopping, then up the speed (40 mph) and do more stops. About 20 total stops (without stopping) and you're good. Break in is done.
I've recently got the spreader tool and plan on using it when I replace my pads this year. I've been doing my own brakes since 1968-1971 when I had a Mustang and a Ford van that had only drum brakes. Brake pads and rotors made it much easier doing brake jobs.
Ha man it was great to see you use an air hammer with what we call in aviation a screw buster adapter. Everything in planes is Phillips #2 and #3 so it’s an absolute must to have. I’ve seen people in the auto industry struggle with those Phillips in the rotors forever and hadn’t seen anyone use either a rivet gun like we use or air hammer to knock ‘em out. Best trick
I normally measure the disc thickness to determine whether to replace them. I also use copper grease on the disc retaining screws. I also file or grind off any unworn outside edge of drum braking surface so it is flush with the worn part. That lets you adjust it properly. I am editing my comment because I made it before watching to the end of the video. Final mistake was not checking the brake fluid level. If the reservoir has been topped up to compensate for pad wear / piston movement it is often too high when new parts have been fitted.
Don't forget to check the break Fluid when you push back those pistons. It happens to me once that i overfill the break fluid reservoir while i push back the pistons 😅😅
I kind of feel like those little rotor screws might be there to keep the rotors from falling off on the assembly line before the calipers are installed. The struts and knuckles and hubs and rotors are probably delivered to the Assembly Plant as completed subassemblies; at least that's the way I remember it from a tour of the Honda Assembly Plant in Alliston, Ontario. But unless you have a Honda Engineer tell you that is for sure the reason for those screws, yeah, they've gotta go back. Car companies don't spend money on extra parts and fasteners unless there is a reason. They are a pain in the butt, especially on the salted roads in my northern climate! Another great repair, and another great video, Ray. Thanks. :)
I too reuse the screw, but I feel it is more important in VW land where there are no lug studs to hold the rotor from spinning causing the holes to get unaligned as you try to reinstall the wheel.
It’s very hard to find mechanics like you. I am blessed to work at a shop where they take pride in what they do just like you😊 Keep up the good work!!!!❤❤❤❤❤
If I could be certified to be an Auto Technician just by watching your videos I wouldn't have gone to school for it. Honestly, you show and tell(teach) as if you're an Instructor. I love your videos!
He hasn't shown how to get a broken tap out of a bolt hole of an engine block with the hole at the front of the engine and the engine still in the car. I'm having to figure that one out for myself. No success yet.
@@jeromebarry1741 center punch and hammer, needs to be on the small size though. taps break like glass. work a sharp center punch around in the hole and it will come out as bits and dust.
used this with drum brakes on my boss's FJ40. He had terrible drum brakes for awhile. All the other senior techs in the shop attempted adjustment after adjustment of the two wheel cylinders in each brake, changed and filed shoes, changed hardware, banged on the backing plates, rebuilt the cylinders etc. Test drive after test drive they'd either hang up or fail to stop the truck. They were brand new OEM Toyota drums. Mounting them backwards allowed me to stick my dial indicator on the braking surface and found the ridiculously bad runout of each drum. More than double the allowable spec in the FSM. Took the drums up to the local machine shop for resurfacing, put them back on properly. Adjusted the eight wheel cylinders and the truck has driven and stopped since. Never fail to think outside the box. In a pinch you can use the axles of a vehicle as a lathe.
I love that piston-compression tool. Back in the day, we used a big C-clamp. Which was often a pain to keep on the piston and/or caliper, when trying to compress the piston. Just gotta love auto mechanical innovation!
Hi Ray - Love your content!! I always check the level of the brake reservoir if the pads are this worn - if not, the brake fluid could end up coming out of the reservoir to bad places...
I was surprised that you waited until installation to push the caliper pistons back. It was one of the first things I did just in case a caliper was stuck or a brake hose was defective preventing the piston from retracting.
I agree to an extent, but we don't see that really at all down here in FL. Corrosion doesn't exist here like up north in the rust belt. I've not replaced a single caliper on a vehicle since I moved down here over a decade ago. Back up north it was nearly a weekly thing on a vehicle coming through for brake work that a caliper was seized.
Sorry if this is obvious, but the reason why the wheel hub has lubricant on its face is because someone had to get a torch and large hammer out to remove the rotor the last time. Just a shade tree mechanic in Ohio, but I have to do this with my vehicles. Just did my wife's Subaru for the first time, and it was a combination of MAP gas and a 4lb hammer to get the rotors off. They go back on with either fluid film or brake and caliper grease. They literally fall off without any help the next time.
I have used a very thin film of copper anti-seize under the rotor and under the wheel and rotor. Using painted rotors helps the wheel sticking problem but having to change a tire never happens when you have a BFH to knock the wheel loose.
Yup...once you've spent an hour pounding on an alloy wheel, trying to get it off the hub due to the galvanic corrosion, you learn to lubricate the hub faces...every...single...time...
I say that coating was put there by Honda because most of that brake drum is cast aluminum. Did you notice all the shiny shiny inside it? (A rust belt survivor, I, too, am a fan of anti-seize or Fluid Film for hubs, drums, rotors,wheels..)
It's always a pleasure watching a Pro at work......Wish we had someone like yourself where I live....Every time I find an honest technician, the either retire or move !!!!
Hi Ray you always refer to bolt sizes as "mil" the correct way is "mm". Mil refers to a thickness measurement term , .0001 = a tenthousanth of an inch. Thanks for the great work. What is your opinion of duramax engines? In particular 6.5 duramax used in some rv's. Longevity, mpg etc. Thanks Ron
I notice you took the rears off in a star pattern but then where it counts, you take the fronts off closest lug next. However it's not a big deal since they were cold: Just a habit to develop for when you're taking them off hot so you don't warp the rotor. I agree 100% with the rotor replacement policy. Once labor is included, new rotors are just as cost effective, but the main thing is braking power. Making sure you get quality rotors that are just as heavy as factory rotors, you give your customer as much mass in new rotors as was designed in the new car. Remember: The heavier the rotor the more distance you can have maximum braking power before they get too hot and can't absorb any more heat. The rotors are the heat-sink! "Turning" rotors only makes them lighter (as does slotting and drilling), reducing their mass which reduces and/or shortens braking power. Re: "Slotting" and "Drilling" rotors. The purpose of these two modifications is to increase braking power *_when the brakes are wet!_* The holes and slots release the steam coming out of the pads that is trying to separate the pads from the rotors and keep the pads pressed against the rotors as hard as possible. It is a racing modification that is meant for race cars and is NOT recommended for street cars. Slotting and drilling rotors *_decreases the mass of the rotors_* and *reduces* braking power when conditions are dry. Anybody driving a street car as though he's in a race, *when it is raining,* should have his head examined.
I stopped using the parking brake after having to ride a coworker home and back the next day. We drove to work in the rain, temperature went below freezing during the day, by quitting time the parking brake was frozen.
Hey Ray, if you don't have any caliper hangers, wire coat hanger makes great hangers. You can cut the length you need. I've always used wire coat hanger for my caliper hangers.
Based on the amount of brake cleaner that you use, have you ever considered getting a pressurized sprayer like the one made by Sure Shot? Harbor Freight released a clone recently. I think that you'd save a fortune, but of course we wouldn't get to see the empty cans fly and roll across the shop...
Did the pads and rotors on my Ford yesterday. Had a hell of a time getting the rotors loose from the hubs. Luckily I had heat available and they still had to be pounded off. Took all the fun out of the Saturday shade tree job.
A lot of the older Nissan and 'Yota pickups from back in the 80's actually had 2 plugs per cylinder; it has to do with 'squish' and 'quench' areas inside the combustion chamber approaching the point of ignition in order to effect a more complete burn. It's somewhat rare, but is found on Japanese engines more'n anything.
When I do a bolt on brake job, I torque the bracket bolts to spec. Then I torque the caliper bolts to spec. With blue lock tight. Before I remove the calipers I retract the piston with a prybar between the pad and rotor. You are a good mechanic. I just prefer accuracy. That's why I use my torque wrenches.
I always mark a stud and corresponding hole in the drum or rotor if reusing those parts, to keep the parts in their original orientation since there are minor variations in axle flanges, etc..
One thing that used to cheese me about working for Autozone was the fact that their new rotors typically had less than 0.020" of material above the marked wear limit, and some of them shaved that down to "damned little". They weren't alone in that. Once upon a time, you could expect to be able to put fourty thousandths of wear on a rotor before it went below the wear limit, but the manufacturers figured out that a new disc that went past "worn out" at the same time as the pads (if not before) was a great little profit center.
That must be an autozone thing. We typically turned off up to that much to get rid of grooves and they would still be in tolerance. Of course we stocked Wagner parts...
@@912ruckus2 Weird. I've personally put 45k miles on my car and just had my brakes inspected and the only issue is a slide is sticking. I don't even need pads yet.
That lubricant on the front wheel hubs is probably copper paste, that might be the reason the front rotors came out so easily. At least that's what I use when I do my own rotor replacement
Great video. I would never use an impact or air tool on a locking wheelnut key though, they tend to be made of chocolate and break easily. Ratchet and torque wrench every time!
You also have to watch when pushing the piston back in that the master cylinder doesn't overflow. Usually as the pads wear people see their master cylinder level drop and keep topping it up. Pushing the pistons right back can cause overflow in that scenario. Car paint doesn't like brake fluid!
*Neither does the floor or ahot exhaust manifold. Although with Ray's floor one might not notice. TCCN would not tolerate that floor and neither can I. Cheers!*
tip for you when doing rear drums on anything! theres allways a lip on the outer edge inside the drum. grind it off with a flap disk to make it easier to take off for the next guy
Hi Ray. Why do the automatic brake adjusters never seem to work, on your jobs? You always seem to have to nip them up manually. Over here, that’s only ever necessary when somethings gone wrong, or when fitting new shoes. Otherwise they take care of themselves, with the ratchet advancing by one tooth, whenever there’s enough movement to allow it.
I can give you 2 reasons. #1 Is that Florida is very flat, almost no hills to speak of in the area that Ray is in and almost all cars are automatic trans. so almost nobody will use the parking break. Lack of use means the auto adjuster can not do it's job. Witch feeds into #2 Dirty threads on the auto adjuster prevent it from turning to make the click and adjust it self. So it is a 2 part problem that you will see all over Florida.
Most self adjusters work either by actuating the parking brake or when the normal brakes are pressed hard while in reverse. With a hybrid, in Florida where folks typically have driveways, and no hills to require using a manual parking brake, they may not get enough inputs to adjust at the same rate of the wear. At least that’s my theory. In the north, salt roads in winter rust the adjusters solid.
Where is here ? I have never known an automatic adjuster work properly ! here in London older motors could always do with manual adjustment. I miss the days of the old square head key to do it with too !
We use salt here too, but automatic trans is the exception, not the norm, so handbrakes are routinely used every time we park, before leaving the car. Regular use is probably what keeps them from seizing up.
Along with watching your repair and testing you do I must say you have a lovely part of the world doing your test drives. England has less pleasant views especially in London where i am. 👍🇬🇧
I don't spray rubber parts with brake cleaner it tends to make the rubber parts hard and brittle. Great job paying attention to details removing rust, etc. Other mechanics will not even bother with it.
Another quick question. What’s the purple grease you use on the slide pins? We’ve tried everything, down the years, from regular hmp, through copper based and silicone grease and now we’re using an ultra high melting point grease that lists brakes as one of its’ uses, but it’s petroleum based, so I’m sure it’s not ideal for the rubber dust boots. Sticking caliper slide pins are a routine pita, so if there’s a better product, even if I have to get it from the US, I’d like to know about it.
I thought the same it was like a waste of time watching someone put brakes on the same as we all do. But I like this guys videos anyway so I don't mind.
I have that manuel impact wrench, you hit with a hammer and believe me it is well worth not having to turn on the compressor, wait for it to fill the air tank, run the air hose outside, bleed the system of water, adjust the air pressure, trip over the tangled hoses... just to loosen two screws on the discs
I LOVED my 8gen Civic EX! I put 152K on it. Now I've been driving a 9Gen SI for 9 years, with 107K, and I still love driving it. Brake jobs on Civics are so easy to do. I use Hawk pads and they are awesome.
I’m curious about the passenger side caliper potentially hanging, given the paper thin pads. I know the local shops will just slap the new pads in, to not open the system, then do calipers 6-12 months later. Good to see this side of the business to better inform the side of the business that I currently work in. Thanks
As an old retired mechanic I now only do family work so I always change the rotors you can not know if the old ones are warped but like you say a lot of DIYers just do a pad slap.(false economy.)I also give the caliper a good clean & replace if required.
@@LesReeves You would use a disk run out gauge to check if a disk (rotor) is warped. A professional should have one and not just replace disks needlessly.
@@JazzFunkNobby1964 As I have said in the past I'm retired & do not posess all of my tools anymore so changing rotors to me is a fail safe & they are cheap so to me that makes sense.Cheers.
Rear drums contribute plenty of stopping power along with front discs. But they are more complex than discs so I don't know why manufacturers held onto them so long.
Drums are quite popular on the small cars - most of the stopping power is taken by the front discs, so the lower efficiency isn’t a problem. Also, the car needs a hand brake (legally in EU), it’s complicated to arrange a mechanical disc brake alongside a disk - many cars now have drum handbrake with a disc rotor as part of the drum. Adds unsprung mass to the wheel…
@@colinprice712 Not that complicated. CR-V's used to have them. Better is rear discs with electric parking brake motors - more reliable than corroding PB cables and silly drums.
@@Slicerwizard - When the professionals in the professional shop don't know where the caliper hangers are, which is not very professional in itself, any reusable piece of wire is better than a single use piece of plastic.
I could be wrong but I believe that this is the first time that we've seen 3 vehicles in the shop all in various stages of disassembly at the same time!
@18:47 You don't have to impact them back in... Sure... But spare a morsel of anti-seize on those set-screws, Ray! Up here in the Rust Belt (Best Belt!) never-sneeze goes between every surface except the pads and rotors / shoes and drums... We gotta get you to do a life-swap with a rust belt mechanic for one whole month one of these summers... There's a reason you can buy ready to install complete knuckle-rotor-caliper-pad and hub-cylinder-shoe-drum replacement assemblies, because up here sometimes you just gotta amputate at the knee to change the socks...
It always triggers me that you never use moly grease on the hardware. It’s not just for rust belt vehicles. It’s in the service manual for many vehicles. I’ve travelled all over the country and world teaching mechanics. I’m required to teach “by the book”. You have a much larger audience, and many people are picking up your bad habits. Do it right. Don’t be lazy.
Bingo and he puts Scotty down, he never let the air out of the slide pins.. I would not pay him for a break job.. and no way would I let him change my oil!!..
@@tom535 I wouldn’t be that harsh, because the reality is, he’s giving you a better brake job or oil change than you’re gonna get 90% of the places. This is why I do it myself.
@jcnikoley I understand BUT I do my own as well,, come on could you Imagine how much his oil changes are with the CAN OF SNAKE 🐍 OIL$$ not going into my car that junk he puts in every oil change is for people who do not take care of there stuff,, and same with his Transmission changes,, I would never put that junk $$ in my car's Ray Should know better..
This is Bob LD's partner. I remember doing front brakes on my pick up years ago. No brakes oh crap! My buddy who helped me thought it was hilarious, because he neglected to tell me to pump my brakes first. Thank's buddy!
I'm not a mechanic of any sorts but I'm the type that learns all sorts of things just because. My brother is actually a boss mechanic for motorcycles of all types, shapes and sizes. Just chiming in to say your videos rock and awesome! Thanks! That's all.
I live up north in the rust belt. That pneumatic hammer impact screwdriver is the the best. Haven't had a problem with those rotor set screws since I got that tool. So easy and works every time!
