Car Repair Question

**Preston** · 09-25-2009, 04:34 AM

I have a 2001 Chevy Cavalier. 140k miles. Worn out in fair condition.

It has rained for a few days, I do not know if this is relavant.

Took the car out for a couple drives today and whenever I would tap the brake the rear passenger side would seize and the car would screech to a stop. If I had been on snow I would easily have spun out, but it was only rain.

I did not get the car up to a speed above 30mph the entire time but it kept doing it every time I tapped the brake, so I didn't drive more than a few miles.

What am I looking at? Any way I can DIY? Or do the brakes just need cleaned? How much should this cost me?

I'm trying to figure out if I should fix this or not.

**Greebo** · 09-25-2009, 05:21 AM

I'm not a brake expert and if you aren't either, I wouldn't recommend trying to figure it out on your own. The risk if you're wrong about the repairs is pretty serious.

I think if it's just a question of replacing the parts designed to be replaced, that you're only looking at a few hundred - $500 tops.

**Preston** · 09-25-2009, 08:43 AM

Took it out for another drive in the early morning hours with no traffic. I read somewhere that putting it into reverse and slamming on the brakes and alleviate the problem. I had a car that had a similar issue before and I remembered someone saying something similar to this and it worked.

So i found an empty lot and then threw it into reverse and got going to a decent speed then slammed on the brakes a few times, the problem isn't occuring anymore.

**Greebo** · 09-25-2009, 09:43 AM

Hmm. Something lodged in the pads/drum? I'd have someone open it up to check it, just to be sure.

**DAAC3DEC** · 09-25-2009, 10:01 AM

I had a cavalier a couple of years back that did the same thing, it was frozen caliper (sp), we solved it the same way for awhile, but then it froze up all together, had to replace it, hubbie did it, cost about $100, did both sides.

**emoore** · 09-25-2009, 11:55 PM

I agree with DACC that it is a frozen caliper. I would get it fixed ASAP since it may happen at a bad time and cause an accident. This is one of those safety car items that needs to get fixed.