I just changed my frnt brakes and while driving a day later, the front left caliper started up in flames! What could be the cause of this? My brakes where working fine, then started to feel like they do when they are not completely bled.

 

they overheated from dragging.


my first suspicion would be the flexible brake line.

athough you should have noticed a "pull" when driving it.

now that it cought on fire, id rebuilt the whole thing.

 

Same thing happened to me once on my 82, only I caught it before there were any flames. The rubber flex lines just deteriorate and crumble inside, then get clogged. When that happens, they either won't clamp or they won't let go.

 

that happened on my dads van. the guy said that the break caliper seized and caused a tremendous amout of heat from the friction. He said the chances of that happening is like the chance of winning the lottery.

 

A lot more people would be rich if that was the case.. Those rubber flex hoses go bad quite often on older cars and can easily hold the brake on (happened on an '85 Reliant that I had a long time ago. Lots of smoke)...

 

i had a seized caliper but i noticed it before i drove it anywhere...well.... actually at that point my car couldnt drive but it was really easy to put a rebuilt one on. and it has been workin good since then. can calipers seize so that they dont clamp down or is the force on them too much so that it seizeing cant hold it back?