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Any ideas? 1999 Montana brake problem

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alfa147x

alfa147x

Lifer
My girlfriend drives a 1999 Pontiac Montana. Early last week her van started to act funny:

At slow speeds and braking a rubbing sound comes from the back
Weird creaking noises from the front when going over speed bumps
ABS Light comes on sometimes
Hard to accelerate


Besides the creaking noise I think the parking brake is stuck on.
Any way I can further diagnose this?

Thanks guys!

Also: Her car has 175,000 miles on it and the front brakes were changed 7,000 miles ago
 
The rear, if I remember correct, has drum brakes. If so you will need to take the drum off to inspect. Could be a spring broke and something is dragging. Where ever you take the drum off be ready to work on it there as you will probable not be able to get it back on.
Parts you will need. Drums, Shoes, and hardware kit. If it is not wet then the wheel cyl's are probable ok.

The ABS light might be on if one of the rear wheels is dragging and the ABS is freaking out as one wheel is not spinning the same speed as others.

If one wheel is dragging that will make it hard to accelerate.

Noises from the front is probable a whole other issue. Maybe strut mounts, engine frame bushings, etc...


Best thing to do is a full rear brake job. That should fix most of your problems. After that drive it and see if anythigtn else pops up. Advance has some coupons right now so use those to save some cash. Up to 40% discount.
Not to hard if you take your time.
 
OK so the struts shouldn't make noise. Could be a host of other things though - ball joints, control arm bushings, things of that nature. Probably be best to have someone look at it and determine what it is, can't really diagnose that kind of thing easily over the internet.
 
I'm starting to think that noise was just due to that the car is old. The repair shop didn't say anything about any suspension problem
 
Could be. 11 years and 175k miles has a way of making vehicles show their age.

All noises can be fixed, but whether it is worth the money to fix them is the question. Comes down to what is making the noise - some things you don't want to let go, like ball joints and tie rod ends as they can lead to wearing out tires faster, or worse, folding up the wheel on you.
 
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