Adjust brakes on 2000 Concorde?

2 questions:

(1) Bought this 2000 Concorde new almost 5 years ago. It now has
39,000 miles and the brake pedal is much lower than when it was new.
Still has original pads - never had any form of brake service.
Anything I can do to bring the pedal up? Brake fluid? Adjustment?

(2) Also - how do I adjust the parking brakes?

Thanks

Jerry

 

Jerry,

Most likely at that mileage you need new front brake pads and to at the
minimum resurface the rotors (although you don't complain about brake
pulsing/warpage). If the disc pad material is down to about the thickness
of the metal backing plate on the disc pad, then you should replace them.
make sure you look at both the outer and inner discs and at both the leading
and trailing edges since it is not uncommon for them to wear a bit unevenly.
Most likely the back brakes should still be OK for a few more miles since
they usually last 1.5X to 2X longer.

You can certainly try to adjust the rear brakes to see if this helps firm up
the pedal. You can generally accomplish this by backing up and then
applying the parking brake. This adjusts them outward. If you don't
regularly use the parking brake or have not adjusted them since getting the
vehicle, then you may need to do this a few times before you feel the
parking brake grab sooner.

Another thing you should check is to see if the brake fluid in the reservoir
is up to the full line. If it ever got low before you added, you could have
air in the lines causing the soft pedal as well. If you do the brakes, you
should definitely bleed the fluid and replace it with new since it can
absorb moisture and also cause problems over time.

Good luck and post what you find since I own a 2001 Intrepid with 36K and am
about to do the front brakes myself.

Bob

 

True, except you gotta wonder why the tell-tales haven't been screeching
their heads off if the pads are worn down.

(obviously you meant outer and inner *pads*, not discs, there) 8^)

True - it would be very unusual on this car for the rear brakes to need
any attention at this mileage. Fronts? Yes. Rears? No.

Not on this car. Service brakes are independent from the parking brakes
on this car. Rear service brakes are disk (no adjustment possible),
parking brakes (on rear) are drum - the disk and drum are parts of a
single piece of metal called a "top hat" for obvious reasons. Backing
up and putting on the brakes will have no effect on the parking brake on
this car.

Also, the parking brakes should not need any adjustment as they do not
wear at all (unless left on a good bit while the car is moving). If any
adjustment is necessary, there is a cable tensioner (at the junction
between the left and rear parking brake cables) that should be adjusted.

There is an adjuster on the shoes themselves, but it should be adjusted
(to bring the shoes out to a specified diameter) only one time when new
shoes are installed (which should never be required over the life of the
car). After that (i.e., after the intial factory build), any need for
parking brake adjustment would be due to cable stretch or shoe wear that
could only be caused by abuse of the parking brake (application of
parking brake for an extened period of time with the vehicle moving).

If your parking brake is truly not applying strongly, then maybe someone
did smoke them. Check them or get them checked and find out who abused
them (either by intentionally applying them with the vehicle moving or
by accidentally leaving them on while driving) if the shoes are worn
out.

No - see above.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

Bill,

I did not realize that all 2nd generation LH's (2000 Concorde) came equipped
with rear disk brakes and (obviously erroneously) assumed the OP had rear
drum brakes. I am familiar with the two part rear disk/drum pads that have
the
additional (never heard it called a "top hat" before so I learned some new
terminology here) brake material area that is used for the parking brake -
this is
what is on my 1996 Eagle Vision TSI which came with the optional 4-wheel
disk brakes.

Thanks for clarifying. In any regard, I do not believe this is a rear brake
issue and still suspect that the front brake pads need to be replaced on the
OP's vehicle.

Bob

 

The FSM calls it a "hat". For some reason, my brain turned it into "top
hat" when I posted.

I'm right with ya.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

if you have rear drum brakes then adusting the rear shoes will help
bring the pedal bac up but if you have rear dics brakes then there is no
adjustment and a brake inspection would be in order. to see how much
brake pad is left and at 39 k i bet it's getting worn out

 

Both - service brakes are disk, parking is drum. And - no - the rear
service brake pads would not be worn out at 39k. Fronts maybe, rears
no.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")