Re: Brakes dragging...Help

[zm@mhcnet.att.com (Zafer Mehmood [209])]

Mitch,
	You didn't mention the year/model of your Audi. Well, I had
the same problem on my '87 5000TQ last summer. Both front brakes would
drag on a  hot day when the A/C was on (same symptoms as your car).
Brakes would release when the underhood temperature dropped. Neither
of the calipers were stuck so I figured that pressure was building up
in the brake lines when the underhood temps were high. After a lot of head
scratching, suspecting the ABS unit and bleeding the brake fluid,
I finally narrowed it down to the brake master cylinder. The test
(as suggested on this list) was to open the brake line fitting at the
brake master cylinder when the car was showing symptoms. When I did
this, some fluid squirted out, indicating that it was under pressure.
The brakes released immediately. This indicated that, when hot, the
brake master cylinder was not allowing expanded fluid to escape back
into the reservoir. I replaced the master cylinder and since then, have
had no recurrence of the problem.

Hope this helps.

Zafer


> 
> My brakes are dragging intermittently.  The diagnosis below is kinda long, 
> but if you have even had a problem such as this, please let me know how it 
> was fixed.
> 
> It has hapened twice now...both times with 3 people in the car on the 
> freeway on a hot day.  I'll be driving along at 65 or so, and the steering 
> wheel will begin to shake violently.  I thought it was that I had thrown a 
> weight, but it comes and goes.  It's real violent, and shakes the gearshift, 
> so I know the whole driveline is getting rocked.  I also noticed a loss of 
> power.  The power loss was so bad, that the cruise floored it, and it still 
> was losing ground.  On the way home this last time (we aborted the trip) the 
> front brakes were squealing.  When I got home, I noticed that when pulling 
> into the garage (which I have to inch into) I'd engage the clutch a bit to 
> inch porward, and then the car would stop like the brakes were on (which 
> they weren't).  I've tried it this morning, and the car coasts nicely in the 
> garage (much differenly than before).
> 
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