Brake questions on 2007 expedition

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robby001

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Have some questions for all of you. Yesterday when the wife was picking our kids up from preschool, she was headed down a side street and went to stop and she says the pedal went down a little too far and felt spongy and also make a click noise. She let the pedal up and re applied the brakes and this time it felt fine. Now after asking her some questions I am still at square one since she apparently wasn't paying that much attention to what happened. :rolleyes:

Now our outfit is a 2007 limited that has only about 29,000 miles on it and my feeling is there are only three things that could be wrong.

1. The wife not applying attention and expected the truck to stop faster than it did. (Don't like this one as it carries the kids and wife)

2. The brake lines might have had air in them and should be flushed out completely.

3. The master cylinder is bad. (Just find it is hard to believe never had a problem with this ever before)

What do you guys think of these possibilities? I am leaning more towards getting the fluid flushed. If that is the case I was going to do a full brake job before taking it in and having the local garage do a full flush on the brake system. This leads to a few more questions.

1. What is the torque spec for reinstalling the factory wheels (20" factory)

2. What size sockets are needed and allen sockets?

3. What are your opinions of a good but not overly expensive brake pad? I am just going to get the original rotors cut.

4. Should you really use a calliper tool to press back in the piston. Usually I put pressure on the piston and then open up the bleed valve and let it go in and then close the bleed valve before letting the pressure off.

Any help on this will be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much
 

Stoned06

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I would first bleed the brakes. Check your fluid and if it's dark, it needs changing. If that doesn't fix the problem, then I would guess the master cylinder is starting to go bad. The fact that when she hit the pedal again (essentially pumping the brakes) it was better, I tend to think bleeding the brake lines is your answer.
The clicking could be the ABS activating? If so, she was trying to stop very quickly or the roads were wet.
Factory 20's would be in the 90-100 in/lb range.
On my '06 I believe the socket is a 21mm or 13/16 (basically the same).
At your mileage, your pads and rotors should be fine. I have 65,000 on mine and tow a boat and they have good life left. So I wouldn't replace them yet unless you want better pads just to be safe. EBC makes a good pad if you want to replace them.
 
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robby001

robby001

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Thanks for the reply. The brake fluid doesn’t seem dark but the more I sit here and think about it. The more probable it seems that there is moisture in the fluid and that when she pressed the pedal the moisture on one side evaporated causing the pedal to sink and then when repressed new fluid was pumped in and no water was present.

I thought also that maybe it was the ABS with the clicking but she says no but who really knows. Hard to hear anything when you have a 2 and 4 year old in the back seat. :) Oh the roads were dry sorry.

I was thinking of just doing the brakes while I was at the full system flush. I would love to get some high performance pads but the money just isn’t there at the moment. But what do you think is a good pad from a local auto parts dealer like O Reillys or Napa?

The truck was bought used from California and it seems like the brakes have some fade to them. Wonder if they could have caused any issue with lots of hard braking on the freeways?
 

Stoned06

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If the fluid isn't dark, you could have air bubbles in the lines if a previous line bleeding wasn't done correctly. Water usually isn't an issue unless the cap was left off of the resevoir for a period of time, or you have/had a leak in the lines.
As far as good pads from O'reilley's or the like, I don't know what they sell so I cannot help you there.
 

GAINMOB

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i agree with stoned...bleed the brakes for signs and if its fine look at the master cyclinder...i have an 04 and my rotors/pads/master all went out/bad/needed new parts at the same time...1st i did the brakes...still spongy so i rebled the brakes again...still spongy...matter of fact...the brake went to the floor when attempting to pump...new master cylinder...solved...
 

Boomer

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Speaking about wheel lug nut torque. Read the owners manual. My 07 EL Limited has the 18's and require 150 ftlbs. Had a torque wrench for decades, had to buy a new one that had a higher range when I bought this monster.
 

Stoned06

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Speaking about wheel lug nut torque. Read the owners manual. My 07 EL Limited has the 18's and require 150 ftlbs. Had a torque wrench for decades, had to buy a new one that had a higher range when I bought this monster.

:eek: I've never heard of 18's needing 150 ft. lbs. Not doubting that's not what the manual says, but that seems really high. That's got to be a ****** to remove!
 

Boomer

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Yep, page 303 owners manual. SOB to remove, again yep!. I keep my torque wrench in the vehicle, it of course has a really long handle. Would mine being an EL make it higher?
 
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robby001

robby001

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Thanks for all the advice guys. I will be looking into it this weekend and will update you all with what was found.

As for the 150 ft lbs that is damn high. I remember one time I torque an F-350 dually to 150 ft lbs and had to actually back off a bit due to the brakes sticking.

Thanks again hope we will have good news for you and myself lol next week.
 

tnwrarick

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Thanks for all the advice guys. I will be looking into it this weekend and will update you all with what was found.

As for the 150 ft lbs that is damn high. I remember one time I torque an F-350 dually to 150 ft lbs and had to actually back off a bit due to the brakes sticking.

Thanks again hope we will have good news for you and myself lol next week.
I wonder if the 150 was in n-m, not ft lbs. Might account for some of disparity.
 

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