Rear tire locked up

AMYB1121

MEMBER
BUICK LESABRE

I have a 1997 Buick LeSabre Limited with about 100,000 miles on it. I got in the car about a month ago and hit a large pothole which caused my ABS sensor light to come on. It turned off after driving it a couple of days. I got into my car the other night and put it into Drive and pulled out of my space and the rear passenger side tire locked up. I was able to put it into reverse and park it again. I got in yesterday to see if anything had changed and I drove it a block and it was fine, or seemed to be. My car is FWD and some have suggested it could be as simple as the brake pads/drums. Any suggestions? Thanks for your help! :D

1 Reply

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

More than likely the shoes are locked/seized to the drum. A lot of times when they wheel cylinders leak the shoes will stick to the drum.

We are going to have to replace them most likely so here is a guide that will help with this:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-replace-rear-brake-shoes-and-drums

Below you will find the process from the manual on how to remove them but they may be stuck. If they are stuck then you are going to have to break them free and there are a couple ways to do that. First, you may be able to do it by driving it in reverse and that will cause them to release. However, if they do and you drive forward again and apply them then they may lock up again. So it is going to take some thinking about where you can do this so that when they release, you can work on it right there.

Next you will need to un-adjust the shoes and then use a hammer on the front of the drum to try and break them loose. This will take patients and a lot of penetrating oil.

Please let us know how you make out. Thanks

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