Brake is locked up

When the brake is sticking, stop on a slight incline, shift to neutral, place a block about a foot downhill of one tire, then loosen the steel lines at the master cylinder. Hope the brake does not release. If it does, we will have to discuss the solution. It will likely cost more than the car is worth.

If the brake did not release, crawl underneath and open the bleeder screw on the sticking caliper. If that lets the brake release, the best suspect is a constricted rubber flex hose. A few more tests will verify that.

So the brakes are not sticking, yet they are getting hot? Something is rubbing, but the car moves freely? Any chance you can post a couple of photos, including the lower ball joint? Was this problem occurring before the brake parts were replaced? What area of the tread is wearing?

Remove the tire. Pump the brakes a couple times then back the brake bleeder out. If you get a spurt of brake fluid you probably have a bad rubber brake line. When you apply pressure the damaged hose acts like a check valve and holds the brake on just enough to cause the brakes to get hot.

The other option is a bad wheel bearing that is letting the rotor shift and rub the brakes. It would cause tire wear but if it's that bad it should be readily noticeable.

If it lets the rotor tilt, the tone ring can move way from the wheel speed sensor, and that will cause a loss of signal even though the computer sees the circuit is okay electrically. The type of defect will be described in the diagnostic fault code. Those need to be read from the ABS Computer and recorded to tell us where to start.

Please let us know what you find ;)

Cheers, Ken