Is my rear brake dragging?

S1C EM

Well-known member
Joined
May 7, 2019
Location
Athens, GA
TDI
Jetta Sportwagen
Got home this afternoon and noticed when I walked around to the passenger side to let my son out of the car, I smelled a really strong “burning brake” odor right over the rear passenger wheel well. I’m not mechanically savvy enough to know how to check this out, but does it sound like I’ve got a brake dragging? Given that the car is CPO, I’m in good mind just to take it in to be looked at.

Thoughts?
 

roadlust

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2004
Location
Yakima, Washington
TDI
2003 golf gl reflex silver (sold) 2013 TDI 2 door Golf Blue Graphite Metallic 6MT Premium Package.
You can feel the heat with your hand if the brake is hot.
 

Wilkins

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2005
Location
British Columbia
TDI
05 Jetta Wagon 5sp, 10 Sportwagen 6MT
:eek: Don’t put your finger on the disc to see how hot it is without being very careful, but after a normal drive of any length I can touch the disc and it is only warm. If the brakes are dragging it will be much hotter, could be nearly red hot. I melted the VW symbol out of the wheel and lost a wheel bearing prematurely from a dragging brake.

Once long ago I turned the end of my finger yellow and crusty from touching a hot brake disc. Didn’t feel a thing - for about 2 minutes, then the pain started.
 

Fogcat

Well-known member
Joined
May 11, 2019
Location
Central NY
TDI
2011 Jetta Sportwagen
You should definitely be able to feel the heat if it is dragging! And yes...DO NOT put your finger on that rotor...lol. Long ago I learned that same lesson as Wilkins posted. Compare sides, they should be equal. Massive heat will accompany a drag.
 

JELLOWSUBMARINE

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Location
yes
TDI
2011 Jetta Sportwagen, 6M, red/tan, navi, pano, 83 5m diesel pickup, 82 p/u trailer,.04 5.5 TDI Passat wagon (gone), 80,81,82 diesel p/u (gone), 80,82 sportruck (gone), 59 passthru bus (long gone), 79&87 westy (gone), 57 baja bug (long gone), 73 914
You could jack it up and spin the wheel as well.
X2

I also love my cheapo harbor freight IR tempurature gun for these things
 

Bradm

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2019
Location
Wisconsin
TDI
02,03,05, Jetta 99.5 Golf
Also, if it’s been dragging you might notice an unusual amount of brake dust
 

S1C EM

Well-known member
Joined
May 7, 2019
Location
Athens, GA
TDI
Jetta Sportwagen
Also, if it’s been dragging you might notice an unusual amount of brake dust
Could the dragging be intermittent? Drove a little bit today and didn’t notice the same smell when checking that side of the vehicle. Weird.
 

roadlust

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2004
Location
Yakima, Washington
TDI
2003 golf gl reflex silver (sold) 2013 TDI 2 door Golf Blue Graphite Metallic 6MT Premium Package.
The breez could have been blowing the smell from the other side of the car. When I say your hand can feel the heat if it is hot enough to cause the smell it is hot enough to feel by touching the wheel. Don"t burn your finger trying to touch the rotor.
 

JELLOWSUBMARINE

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Location
yes
TDI
2011 Jetta Sportwagen, 6M, red/tan, navi, pano, 83 5m diesel pickup, 82 p/u trailer,.04 5.5 TDI Passat wagon (gone), 80,81,82 diesel p/u (gone), 80,82 sportruck (gone), 59 passthru bus (long gone), 79&87 westy (gone), 57 baja bug (long gone), 73 914
Probably a dumb question but was the emergency brake on?
 

Wilkins

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2005
Location
British Columbia
TDI
05 Jetta Wagon 5sp, 10 Sportwagen 6MT
It was the emergency brake mechanism that seized up and caused my brake to drag. Initially it was intermittent but after a few weeks it became constant. I think the cause was overzealous application of the lever which resulted in the adjustment mechanism galling. While waiting for the new caliper to arrive I could stop the dragging temporarily by adjusting the pads as one would do as part of a brake job, but the ‘screw’ kept getting stiffer and every time I used the parking brake the brakes started dragging again. After I changed out the caliper I tried to get the broken one apart and sheared a set screw in my brake adjustment tool. The adjuster wouldn’t budge.
 
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S1C EM

Well-known member
Joined
May 7, 2019
Location
Athens, GA
TDI
Jetta Sportwagen
It was the emergency brake mechanism that seized up and caused my brake to drag. Initially it was intermittent but after a few weeks it became constant. I think the cause was overzealous application of the lever which resulted in the adjustment mechanism galling. While waiting for the new caliper to arrive I could stop the dragging temporarily by adjusting the pads as one would do as part of a brake job, but the ‘screw’ kept getting stiffer and every time I used the parking brake the brakes started dragging again. After I changed out the caliper I tried to get the broken one apart and sheared a set screw in my brake adjustment tool. The adjuster wouldn’t budge.
Oh, wow! Maybe I should just lay off the P brake until I have it looked at. I’ve always used them to keep pressure of the tranny when parked, but I’m wondering if that’s a little different on the the DSG anyway since it actually disengages.......or would that be more reason to use it?
 

S1C EM

Well-known member
Joined
May 7, 2019
Location
Athens, GA
TDI
Jetta Sportwagen
Update on this. Local VW dealer has the car today and just called to confirm what I told them when I dropped it off; E brake has a really short throw and may be sticking slightly even when released. The service advisor told me this morning that the short throw on the brake was normal, but after looking at it, it’s shorter than they thought. Only one click and engaged.

Will update as I have more info to share.
 

ihatespeed

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2013
Location
holbrook, ma
TDI
11 tdi wagon 6mt 15 golf 6mt (Wife's) 2000 Ford 350 7.3l 6mt 4x4 (technically a TDI)
I had a rear caliper dragging, seriously hot, i thought it was the parking brake, but nope, it was the piston dust boot, let a little water and crap into the piston bore and it was causing the piston to not fully retract. I fixed it with a judicious cleaning and a 5 dollar dust boot.
 

tallcat75

New member
Joined
Mar 3, 2017
Location
Albany, NY area
TDI
2011 JSW
I've had a breakthrough!

I too have been plagued by rear brake dragging for a while, but just this very morning I had an epiphany. My left rear caliper has given me problems ever since I bought this car brand new ('11 6MT JSW). It's currently on its second replacement caliper in ~126k miles. A seized parking brake cable took out the first one along with the bearing. I replaced it again very recently due to carrier corrosion (pads were stuck very badly) and was frustrated yet again to find it dragging (very hot after commute to/from work, 28 miles.)

I first verified it's not a hydraulic issue by cracking the bleeder and still having problems turning the hub/rotor. I found relief for a few days after cleaning the brake grease (applied by me) and sand that had built up around/beneath the abutment clips and pad ears (I don't put grease on the pad ears, no need to attract dirt there,) making sure there wasn't an excessive amount of grease at the end of the slide pins (hot grease hydraulic action is supposedly a thing); I even went as far as completely cleaning the end of the pin and inside of the hole to make sure there wasn't more grease than needed. The re-manufacturer had gobbed in a lot of blue high-temp grease. I had also completely wound back the piston which seems to have made the biggest difference and is the whole point of this post! I had done the parking brake pull/release several times afterward to get it back into adjustment, by the way.

By taking the parking brake cable off of the caliper and manually actuating the parking brake lever while rotating the hub/rotor by hand, I found that when the lever is completely extended/released, the parking brake is actually making the caliper squeeze the pads (slightly)! By engaging/pulling the lever just a touch (a millimeter at most, I suspect,) the parking brake lets go and the hub/rotor spin more freely. I was under the blind assumption that when the lever is completely released, the parking brake would not be squeezing the pads at all.

Looks like it's cable adjustment time...I hope that both calipers release at the same amount of cable tension (which will undoubtedly change as the cable stretches over time.) The right caliper does not seem to have this issue, at parking brake released, it spins quite freely. Maybe this is why the newer models have electronically actuated parking brakes.
 
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