Pulsating Brakes?

I have a 99 Grand Marquis with about 150,000 miles. Great car, the engine has never been tuned up; doesn't appear to need it. I have had some front end problems recently.

Anyway, I noticed that the brakes pulsate. I took of the wheels and noticed that the brake pads are good, they are not worn. The brakes were done at about 20,000 miles ago so I wouldn't expect them to be worn out yet. I do know that the rotors have never been turned. The guys who work on my car tell me that they are disposable rotors and shouldn't be turned. Is the pulsating due to warped rotors? Can bad wheel bearings produce the pulsating brakes?

Reply to
kabinnnn
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Yes your car needs new rotors and turning them would only exasperate the problem as the rotors will only become even more warped than they are now.

Don't expect to keep your car for a long time since it's obvious you neglected to keep up with any type of maintenance. I can totally visualize your air filter with dirt and leaves caked onto it. I can see your spark plugs all old and decayed with barely any life left into it. I'm sure your PCV valve is fouled up causing your engine to burst it's oil seals. I can also picture your fuel filter clogged with all sorts of nasties starving your engine of fuel and wearing out your fuel pump prematurely.

That is right! Expect your Crown Victoria/Grand Marquis to be dead and short lived. It's days are numbered thanks to it's negligent owner.

Reply to
eastwardbound2003

Naw, can't be the hurc. This person's use of the English language is much too "proper" for it to be hurc. SC Tom

Reply to
SC Tom

No, this is not hurc. Shame on you! How dare you mistaken me for such a low-life scumbag aka hurc.

Reply to
eastwardbound2003

lmfao better check headers lmfao tom the tard

hurc ast

Reply to
conradblack922376

his tone was a little rough but I saw no lies in his post, I read the original message and thought 150k is a little high for a 99, didnt notice he's never done any maintenance on this car, ha!

Reply to
Petebert

Reply to
tom

Many things can cause pulsating brakes - particularly on a poorly maintained vehicle. Calipers are mounted in such a way that they can move - and if reasonably well serviced, a simple warped rotor does not necessarily have to cause a pulsation. Couplesd with seized sliders, it will.

More common than simple warpage, particularly on vented rotors, and fords, is the rotors collapsing between the fins, so you get wavey rotors.

More common yet is "pitted" or eroded rotors, where great slabs of iron dissapear from the faces of the rotors, or huge hunks of scale make the rotors thicker in several areas.

In all 3 cases, best to replace the rotor. Machining can remedy a simple warpage - but a thinner rotor has more trouble handling heat, and is more likely to warp again. It will not be successful on "wavey" or pitted rotrs, because the waveyness is due to a mechanical defect thet will just get worse - coming back again, and pitting is generally to deep to clean up without having the same effect as with warped rotors. Replacement rotors for the Ford are cheap - even if you pay a little more than for the "budget" rotors and buy quality.

Bad wheel bearings will cause all kinds of other nasty symptoms (like noises) before you would get brake pulsation.

Reply to
nospam.clare.nce

Plus it's not form Hurc's usual provider:

OrgName: TELUS Communications Inc. Address: #2600 4720 Kingsway Avenue

City: Burnaby

StateProv: BC

PostalCode: V5N-4N2

Country: CA

Reply to
berkshire bill

Thank you for posting *its* address. Only I thought the nasty trashy scumbag lived in Yellow Knife in Canada? I say we should go pay *it* a visit and take a rifle to *it's* head. Effectively putting *it* out of it's misery.

Reply to
eastwardbound2003

I don't know about the proper English thing. The word is exacerbate not exasperate.

Reply to
Reece Talley

Okay, here is the real deal. I have been looking at this ng for months and always felt reluctant to post anything because there are way too many trolls like this dick head HURC.

Anyway, contrary to what you may believe, my 99 Grand Marquis is well maintained, although I admitt a I haven't changed spark plugs. I have replaced filters etc, but no plugs. The car gets 26 mpg highway, which is higher than my brother's 2003 Ford Escape with a smaller engine, go figure. Spark plugs appear to be a bitch to replace. Looks like you gotta remove the fuel rail or whatever the hell you call it?

Anyway, I look for advice in this ng and I thank you all for your comments regarding brake rotors. I will get them replaced and eventually I will replace the plugs. Again, they look difficult so i won't do them myself. I do change my oil with synthetic and I do it myself.

I still think it's amazing that an engine can run geat after 150k miles with no tune up. When I was a kid, I was changing spark plugs every 20,000 miles and they really need it.

Reply to
kabinnnn

wrote

*It's* in Calgary, Alberta.
Reply to
MasterBlaster

In my book a "Tune up" is defined as: Replacing the rotor, distributer cap and points. Reseting the timing. Replacing the spark plugs and wires. Replacing the filters. Flushing the transmission (if automatic). Cleaning out the carburetor via disasembling the reasembling. Oil flush & radiator flush. Replacing various belts and hoses.

See what I mean? Most of the above can really be done on a modern automobile anymore. New cars are equipped with fuel injection, and electronic ignition with no moving parts. Most new cars have 1 serpentine belt and hopefully a timing chain so it's easier to keep an eye on it plus it lasts a heck of a lot longer thanks to space age rubbers and so forth.

That is why when you said you never tuned up the engine, it was assumed that you never replaced the filters or changed any of the fluids.

Reply to
eastwardbound2003

Sorry for the mis- understanding. I really meant that I never changed the spark plugs. I'm not sure how long they are expected to last. I do remember those days when I did all of what you mentioned like replacing caps and rotors etc. Sure was a lot easier then but I don't miss doing that stuff. I do my own oil changes because I want to make sure that if I'm paying for synthetic, I'm getting synthetic.

Reply to
kabinnnn

Spark plugs last a lot longer today, mostly because of unleaded fuel, which is much less corrosive to the plugs. Leaded fuel has phosphorous in it to keap the lead from sticking to everything - and forms Phosphorus Acid when burned.

Reply to
nospam.clare.nce

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