Brakes chirp after inspection

My 2007 Toyota Sienna was perfectly well behaved until the day I brought it in to have the tires rotated. They told me they also did a "brake inspection" (unrequested) and everything checked out ok.

Well ever since then I hear a "chirp chirp chirp" coming from the rear when I brake. The frequency of the chirp coincides with the speed of the tires.

I took it back in and they said they can't imagine they could have caused it since their inspection was purely visual. But on my request they did a more thorough review of the brakes -- and couldn't see anything wrong. Since the chirping only occurs about 30% of the time, perhaps the mechanic didn't hear it.

My questions are: could a brake inspection cause such a thing? What is likely wrong -- something misaligned? something warped?

I'm a reasonably light braker and the car isn't even a year old.

Thanks for any insight Dave

Reply to
davepkz
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what he said..........ditto.........

and......let me make it clearer fer yuh...........with.........

When, is a visual inspection not a visual inspection?

That's what Jeff's tell'n you......so read what he wrote, not what yer read'n.

then.......ask the techs that did the inspection this.......

"Did the caliper pistons seem to retract ok?"

:)

and.......the answer to the question will be answered.

:)

~:~ marsh ~takes a toke........walks down to the next bay......looks at the pads.. push's the piston in........brakes ok mister....see you in 8 months~ ~:~

Reply to
Marsh Monster

If your Sienna has 4 wheel disc brakes, then a visual inspection is sufficient to determine remaining pad thickness. If the pads are getting worn, the pad wear indicator - a strip of metal that touches the rotor after the pads wear down to make a squeaking noise that makes the customer take it in to get checked - may be touching the rotor.

If it has drum brakes, then it is necessary to remove the drums to inspect the brake shoe lining thickness. Removing the drum could have disturbed some of the dust that normally builds up inside of the drum, making noise. If it has drum brakes, a cleaning and adjustment will probably make the noise go away.

Reply to
Ray O

Reply to
philthy

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They "MOST" likey...bent the backing plates, which are now hitting the rotor.

anywhoooo.......it's a mess i guess that i guess this mess is not at rest till THEY confess they did suppress the fact of the mess that they did mess with the brakes that gives them unrest because this mess may jest.......cost them time to fix.

those.......diks !!

:)

~:~ marsh ~sips his crownroyal....takes his screwdriver BACK out.... and fix's his mess~ ~:~

Reply to
Marsh Monster

It is unlikely that a vehhicle that is less than a year old has worn the rear pads down to the indicators, especially without first having done so to the front and the dealer missing it, but my success in fixing cars that dealers could not comes from leaving no stone unturned.

One more possibility if the van has 4 wheel disc brakes is that the parking brake is a mini drum brake. If the vehicle was driven with the parking brake on, then a buildup of brake dust may make noise.

Also, even if it has drum brakes and the shop removed a drum to inspect lining thickness, I would still consider it a "visual" inspection.

Reply to
Ray O

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dejavu

~:~ mm ~lays off the smoke fer a bit ~:~

Reply to
Marsh Monster

Thank you for all the replies.

The rear brakes are drums. When I took it back in, a mechanic (not the same tech who originally did the inspection) took off the drums and looked for "glazing or debris" and reported no apparent problems. So I thanked him and drove away... and still get chirping roughly 30% of the times that I brake.

It sounds like his theory of what happened was likely similar to that of most of you folks (ie. that the original tech did in fact remove the drums and disturbed some interior dust), so now I'm even more confused that this second guy found nothing.

As for the other suggestion that they may have "bent the backing plates," I don't follow what that means.

PS. Yes it is under warranty... though obviously that's only useful if the shop can identify what is wrong. It's now been 7 weeks since this all started so unfortunately I doubt it will go away on its own.

Dave

Reply to
davepkz

Do you have drums in the rear????

Most likely you don't. The suggestion that the backing plate (dust shield) was bent and now rubs the rotor seems most plausible. When inspecting the rotor sometimes you must bend back the dust plate in order to get a good view of the rotor. They may have overcorrected when they bent it back in place.

Reply to
tnom

Bent backing plates are not a common result from inspecting disc brakes.

Sounds are difficult to diagnose without hearing them first hand but chirping sounds from drum brakes are usually caused by glazing or dust buildup in the drums and from the brake shoe contacting the backing plate. Sometimes pulling the shoes away from the backing plate will stop the noise, sometimes a small coating of high temperature disc brake grease will stop the noise.

Reply to
Ray O

He just said he had drums in the rear of the vehicle. Why don't you believe him?

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

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lol

Reply to
Marsh Monster

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what he said.........ditto.....

and..... make sure a spring wasn't moved around and now rubbing on the hub.

Ray's on the money.....recheck the rears close and do the lube.

~:~ marsh ~takes a toke~ ~:~

Reply to
Marsh Monster

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What i'd like to know is.....did they admit to taking the drums off the first time? (finally?)

anywhoooo......I wouldn't worry about a safety factor at this point, but I would still have another shop look at it at NO CHARGE. Most shops check brakes for free. I would do as RayO suggested, have a close look at ALL the parts on the inside and make sure ALL the contact points are LUBED !

Theory ??

IF.....they DID remove the drums the first time, (which they led you to believe they didn't, or so you led us to believe)....they may have used an "air blower" to clean out some of the dust.....or.... they "may" have dislodged a chunk of debris that's now embedded into the shoe. This is ALL theory of course, but theory is the starting point......so go to a DIFFERENT shop and get a second opinion for free, or simply act like a fool.....and tell em you get yer brakes lubed every year....(lol).......that way you can get'm looked at, and the contact points lubed up at the same time !! Do that, tell them about the chirp, don't tell them how it started, keep yer mouth shut, and see what they find !! Maybe a chunk of debris embedded in the shoe, maybe dry contact points, maybe a bent backing plate from where the ORIGINAL guy that didn't (lol) do anything but a visual inspection..."whacked" the the drum on the BACKSIDE.........and bent the backing plate in,,,in the process. And to the poster (i fegits who, but expect a remark)...who stated in the thread that a backing plated should not be bent under a normal brake inspection.......I have this to say.......check enough brakes..... and yer GONNA bend some. Fact, not Fiction. Trick is.....don't be a dummy....bend the damd thing back out.

:)

anywhooooooooooo.......... .......if the tech happens to find something or gets the noise to go away.....be a good feller.......buy his ass lunch.

Cuz he jest proved he was a better tech.....than TWO others that CLAIM TO BE techs.......and tell him that.....cuz.....SHT...... when yer good....and you know it.....it's still nice hear.

:)

GL.......let us know

~:~ marsh ~takes a toke......sips his crownroyal......grabs his screw driver.... reaches down......bends the backing plate back out......oops~ ~:~

Reply to
Marsh Monster

Brake inspection, if it was a "visual", then it should NOT cause any noise that wasn't there before. But it shouldn't chirp as well. Maybe the noise was there before but you didn't notice?

Get it fixed under warranty.

Reply to
johngdole

ok agreed - I'll take it somewhere else (likely after the holidays) but this time say nothing but "it chirps."

If they too find nothing I'll have your suggestions to run past them and ask them to look again.

A side story in case you're curious-- The original shop is a large dealership, and upon asking around a bit i found out they farm out oil changes & tire rotations to a third party a block away, reserving their own employees for less routine jobs. So that's who the first tech was. The second mechanic was an actual employee, though. And the guy who made the "visual inspection" remark was yet a third guy -- who for all I know wasn't a mechanic at all, just a customer service frontman. He said that when I first returned with the concern and frankly I think he was trying to make me just go away.

Anyway, thanks again to all.

Reply to
davepkz

They'll fall in love with you that second time. I also love all these how-to-bitch replies with little actual car advice.

Brakes squeak from time to time. It's normal.

Another thing that's "normal" is to mess up the drum components while freeing a stuck drum, or not even knowing how to correctly remove the drum. The tech would then be tempted to adjust your brakes down a bit so the drum fits back on easily. You would most likely feel a difference in your brake pedal firmness after you got the thing back. All this is less likely in a car 1 yr old, though.

Most drums self adjust when you are in reverse and step on the brake. Try this a few times. Start soft and work to a near skid from maybe 5 mph in reverse, 5-6 times. See if you notice the pedal getting firmer. If no change in the pedal, then probably nothing changed.

J
Reply to
Dll

The latest 'SCAM' out there seems to be these $tealerships that use an impact gun to hammer on wheel lug nuts and then claim they have 'no' clue 'why' the rotors or drums 'mysteriously' warped causing brake chirps and pulses.

It is a scam, plain and simple!

The only way to mount wheels in this day of light parts, it to snug up the lugs, then use a hand torque wrench on them to finish them.

The folks with the impact hammer are just out to steal from you. Even if they say they use 'torque sticks', a 'perfect' torque stick, run by a machine on the trigger, can be off +/- 15%, let alone a used one or a happy trigger finger. This means on 100 ft pounds, you could be off 30 foot pounds between nuts on a 'perfect' hammer gun job. This is more than enough to warp things.

I mean even back in the early 1970's when lightweight 'mag' and aluminum rims became popular, we all got taught to only tighten them up with a torque wrench to avoid warping. We also had 'torque sticks' back then and they were not accurate enough.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail > My 2007 Toyota Sienna was perfectly well behaved until the day I
Reply to
Mike Romain

We know how these dealer techs operate. I don't think many of them have even seen a torque wrench. Instead of a crank pulley holder they use an impact wrench to break loose the pulley bolt, etc etc. Toyota manuals obviously don't mean a thing to Toyota techs. ;)

Reply to
johngdole

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