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all four brakes locked up at the same time

Hello all--new member with a 2008 Saturn Vue XE, 105k miles.

Last week all four brakes locked up on me--felt like i was driving with the pbrake on. Limped it into a pep boys--closest place--and they gave a ridiculous quote on changing out all brake pad, the rotors on front and back, the calipers on the front. Got the car home, husband checked the brakes--the pads on the back were worn, rotors were fine. Pads, rotors and calipers on front were fine--pads were a bit worn but not to the point of needing to be changed out. won't be going back to a pep boys anytime soon needless to say.

So the hubby has changed the brake pads. we read somewhere on the net--can't remember where--that the brake lines could corrode from the inside--supposedly a common problem with the vues/saturns of our year--and create a situation where all four brakes would lock up. so he replaced the lines. got new brake fluid and noticed that the fluid in my reservoir was sticky. not sure what could cause that--we haven't done anything to the brakes since about 40K when hubby changed the front pads. maybe water from condensation or humidity--we are in FL.

So now he has been trying to bleed the brakes and they are bled but the brakes still don't work. maybe it is a master cylinder problem?? or the booster pump.

thanks in advance for any insight!!

Wish I could help you on that one, but I've never heard of that happening on ANY vehicle. Got to be a GM exclusive. Perhaps it's the master cylinder, but in my 40+ years of tinkering with cars, I've never seen that happen. And I've worked on all brands of domestics and a LOT of imports. I hope someone here can help you.

thanks for the reply and just a quick update on that--hubby got sick and tired of messing with it, left to go do something else, came back, put the car back together, and took it for a test drive--so far so good--brakes feel different but then all four pads were replaced and all four lines replaced.

none of my husband's friends had ever heard of this situation happening before. i guess it could have been worse--all four brakes not working at all and having a crash.

If someone at Pep Boys put power steering fluid in your master cylinder, this would happen.

Andy, if someone actually did that, could it damage any of the seals in the system or the rubber brake lines from the ends of the steel lines to the calibers? I know PS fluid circulates in rubber lines under pressure, but there are different kinds of rubber made from different materials (said the analytical/polymer chemist)

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Rube the 2008's over time seem to have developed a frightening trend of corroding from the inside, Over time, with aged fluid in the system, it has created problems where the calipers will close on the discs but not retract when the foot is taken off the pedal. The valves on the master cylinder in general seem to have been ruled out.

I remember I poster on our site that said that they only way they could get their one affected wheel to free up was to pull over, put the car in reverse, hit the gas gently, and the calipers would retract.

All rather strange

Good grief! Seems like GM should have had to issue a recall and replaced all of the brake lines with something COMPATABLE with DOT 3 or 4 brake fluid. Brake hoses could have also been effected, I suppose. The more I read about problems with VUE's, the less appealing they've become to me.

You would be amazed how many times I have seen this. The easiest way to tell if the wrong fluid has been added is the rubber boot under the master cylinder cap. If the rubber under the cap is bigger than it is supposed to be then the whole system will have problems. You have to replace or rebuild every part that has rubber in it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 02 LW300 (Post 53848)

If someone at Pep Boys put power steering fluid in your master cylinder, this would happen.

I guess that would be one way for them to keep me coming back. too bad for them my husband knows his way around a vehicle. will run all of this by my husband and see what he thinks. while he knows his way around a vehicle, not so much with computer stuff. ;)

Saturn/Equinox brakes seizing

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rubehayseed (Post 53829)

Guys, this is my findings on the mystery brake issue affecting the GM Theta platform cars. I’ve found that this affects 2010 and older Sat/Equ/Torrent/XL7. If you experience brakes intermittently seizing its probably one of two things. Either the master cylinder has begun leaking into the brake booster. Or the brake hoses from the metal lines to the calipers have become obstructed because a metal band bracket is rusted inside and squeezing the hose shut. My case was the latter. Now, please understand that I changed the booster/master combo first and actually bled the lines BEFORE realizing the hose problem. Logic would dictate that they aren’t clogged if you can bleed them. Logic would also suggest that they don’t all go bad at once. DONT Trust logic when it comes to mechanical stuff. My theory is that the lines swell a bit when new fluid is introduced into the system and that would explain why it gets worse when people try replacing various parts on the system. Some people make out okay doing just the booster/ master cylinder job but others like me go nuts trying to figure out how it could get worse by putting on new parts here and there. I believe that they all deteriorate at the same rate and when you mess with it, it goes kaflooey. If you live in a state that uses tons of salt on the roads, this is likely going to be a problem sooner or later. Yes, it could be a faulty ECBM but again, it probably won’t be intermittent and lots of people had problems after repairing or replacing the module. The lines are half the price online. (Rock) I hope this helps, change all of them like the previous poster🙂

Firstly, welcome to the forum.

Thanks for your informational post.

I can see the MC leaking into the booster creating a situation where you have enough pressure to close the calipers, but insufficient system pressure to draw the fluid back and release them,
I would think the brake fluid level would steadily decline and in the absence of any other leaks would be a good indicator of that condition. Did you see evidence of fluid level decrease?

Indeed as others have stated, the metal lines on these are known to corrode from the inside out.

Have not heard of a rusty bracket squeezing the rubber brake line hoses partially closed. Those lines usually have a big metal crimped-on type connection where they meet the metal lines. Unless the line shifted and the rust built up between the clamp and the actual rubber, I don' really understand how what you are describing is physically possible.

Could you please describe it in a different way?

I'm not challenging you nor messing with you. I'd just like to understand.

For the record, I totaled an 08 VUE XR w/100K on it and thankfully never had this problem.
Did this ever become a recall? If this isn't a safety hazard, I'm not sure what is.