For every driver, brakes are regarded as a device that makes them feel safer and more comfortable driving the vehicle. This makes the driver feel comfortable with their speed level. So, people felt afraid when their brake pedal got stuck hard and the brake lock up during the drive. It is the scariest thing ever.
Here, not to worry about this situation. Learn how to fix locked up brakes and get your car running again without any trouble.
Table of Contents
Causes Of Locking Up Brakes
If you have ABS( Anti-lock brakes), they should not lock up while driving. Otherwise, this may become an underlying problem.
Whatever the types of brakes perhaps, if your vehicle deviates sharply to one side or the other when the brakes were locked. It’s a sign that your vehicle is in major problem. So you have to make dealerships to repair it. Some other problems are caliper piston problems, master cylinder issues, and a variety of other problems.
1. Brakes Without Anti-Lock Brakes
In this case whenever you apply hard and stead pressure can lock up while driving. This occurs mostly when you slam on the brakes. If you braked so hard, your tires may sound like a screech, in this situation, you can expect that your brakes will lock up.
2. Brake Callipers
Brake calipers are part of the most important component of the braking system. The brake calipers hold your brake pad against the rotors. When you maintain pressure, your rotor’s kinetic energy is converted into heat energy. When reducing your pressure or vehicle’s speed, your vehicle cannot stop when your caliper is not functioning properly. This leads to brake locking. If you found any problem with your brake calipers, take your car to your experts for inspection.
. Bad Brake Booster
Sometimes the cause of hard brake pedals might be a faulty brake booster. If the diaphragm inside the booster fails, it will not hold the vacuum or take in atmospheric pressure. This situation can result in difficulty in pressing down your brake pedals.
What should you do when your brake locks up while driving?
- If your car’s brake locks up, remain calm; panicking will cause you eccentrically and will only worsen your situation.
- First, turn on this emergency blinker and honk the horn so that the nearby vehicles can give you enough space.
- Slow down your car’s speed level gradually and turn off the cruise control. Continue steering while slowing up your vehicle.
- If you are driving on the highways move to the shoulder and decelerate there so you are not in the midst of traffic.
- If you are in residential or working areas with intersections, you have to stop your vehicle sooner and quickly. Here is how to do that gradually, downshift your car from ‘D’ to ‘3’ to ‘2’ to ‘1’. In this case, you should not put your vehicle in park or reverse mode. Hold your foot on the brake pedal so that your anti-lock brakes can decide to kick in.
- Next, pump the pedal to build up pressure. If you are moving in below 40 mph, slow your vehicle to stop soon, you can also use your hand brake (parking brake).
- Park your car in a safe place where you can pull over that will slow your vehicle down, like grassy fields, and gravel roads. Until your car stops completely, you should not turn your car. In this case, you can use your emergency brake.
How To Fix Locked Up Brakes?
The brake system locking is familiar in before days while driving. So in this article, learn how to fix locked up brakes. When speeding over black ice or wet leaves, it is tempting to slam the brakes when you need to stop. However, this will lead to system licking and may risk you while driving. In a car without ABS when you came to know that the brake is locking you should rapidly leave the pedal and pump the brake until the car stops.
If your car with ABS, You feel like vibration and pulsing underneath the pedal as you stop which prevents it from locking up and sliding. The brake system completes the pumping process on your behalf. You should not take your foot until the process gets over because the mechanism in the car is doing the work for you. The ABS System operates through a computer in your vehicle which sends messages when it feels wheel decelerations. It also reduces pressure on the wheel which leads to stopping the vehicle. If the anti-lock brake system is faulty, the brakes can lock up.
What If Your Car’s Brake Line Is Damaged?
To fix the damaged brake lines, you have to get them replaced, but make sure they got the recommended brake lines for your vehicle. In this case, if the brake line of one wheel is damaged, you should change your other wheel’s brake line which can spoil soon. It is more important for this process.
Materials Required
- Brake fluid
- New brake lines
- Some rags
Mechanicals Tools Required
- Lug
- Wrench
- Screwdriver
- Jack stands for the replacement process
You need to get raised Your car. First, check the mesh line passes through your piston’s housing to the metal side of your brake line. Use a screwdriver, to remove the retainer clip at the hose fittings. After removing the brake line fittings as it’s a connection point, place your rag under the connection points which prevents the brake fluid contained. Make sure that the brake fluid should not have contact with your skin.
If your line has attached to any other connections remove it gently. Now you can see your brake lines, in which you can reverse the process to install your new brake line. If you want you can contact your experts.
Conclusion
Here are simple steps to fix your braking system failure. Before that, if you found any problem with your braking system, you should inspect immediately and take your vehicle to your experts or fix it by yourself by these steps. Because brakes are an important part of your vehicle.
We hope that your doubts are cleared by this article. If your doubts persist, you can put your comment below in the comment section.