Smoke

[cuneus]

So on the way back from the MOT after a few miles there is a funny smell, look in the mirrors and can see smoke

Stopped and thin white smoke coming from OS wheel arch (not steam), no fluids under car

At home let it cool and get the rear up. The OS UJ,caliper etc is much hotter then the NS
Both UJ, hubs and thence prop can be turned by hand

All the brake tests passed in the MOT

Any ideas where to start ?

[TOPTON]

If the brakes are fine I would be heading towards the wheel bearing starting to cook itself because its running dry of grease. Not really worth stripping to grease them, may as well change it. Not a big job----just a super tight hub nut

[jmorgan]

Pads sticking slightly and heating the disk thus heating the UJ and the grease melting and coming out onto a hot disk and burning off?

Edit. Or had the brakes got hot through, er, judicious use?

[adam quantrill]

Could be one side handbrake binding a bit especially if the MOT place adjusted it to make it work better. Jack up the rear and check for dragging maybe on one click of the handbrake to see if that's the case.

[cuneus]

TOPTON said:

If the brakes are fine I would be heading towards the wheel bearing starting to cook itself because its running dry of grease. Not really worth stripping to grease them, may as well change it. Not a big job----just a super tight hub nut

Thanks for the suggestion - first thing I did was feel the wheels not overly hot and both the same. Also the smoke was coming out much higher up

[cuneus]

adam quantrill said:

Could be one side handbrake binding a bit especially if the MOT place adjusted it to make it work better. Jack up the rear and check for dragging maybe on one click of the handbrake to see if that's the case.

No adjustment but I will definitely check that - thanks

[Wedg1e]

I had a sticking caliper piston a year or so back, smoke belching out from the n/s rear wheelarch, total brake failure as the fluid boiled... ended up spending £120 or so rebuilding the calipers.

[TVRleigh_BBWR]

Wedg1e said:

I had a sticking caliper piston a year or so back, smoke belching out from the n/s rear wheelarch, total brake failure as the fluid boiled... ended up spending £120 or so rebuilding the calipers.

I 2nd this. Breaks may pass the MOT but does not say they may not be sticking a little esp with more use than on a MOT test.

You will get a lot of smoke if they are sticking, esp. if like most they are put on my Ny-Locks, as these will melt and make a lot of smoke on there own, plus the grease in the UJ's will also smoke if it gets worse.

[cuneus]

Had a look this morning and have decided to get: plasters, whiskey and a swear box

Any tips? (have read Ian's page on rear brakes)

Meanwhile decided to build a little platform for the pre filter:

[Jack Valiant]

If it were me I would jack the rear of the car up as far as you can get it. Place on decent axle stands.

Take off both rear wheels and chock the fronts.

This gives reasonable access and view, clean and give the handbrake mechanism a bit of a squirt of WD and
get a willing helper to vigorously operate the handbrake, this can help free off the self adjuster and you can see that the mechanism is working. Do not get it on the main pads or handbrake pads.

Start car and put in gear let it run for a bit with wheels turning. (Assuming you have the LSD) Turn off and check for excessive heat in the area of the calipers.

This should pin down the area causing problems, good luck!

Chris

[cuneus]

Jack thanks for that

I was wondering how to identify whether it was the normal or handbrake caliper

[Jack Valiant]

Handbrake pads are the much smaller ones fella

[Jack Valiant]

Found this for info:

[jmorgan]

I fort them big screws were also adjusters. The ones with the split pins.

[cuneus]

I took out all the main pads (why are the pins not made of stainless?) and they all looked OK.

The OS handbrake pads were very tight so I backed them off slightly and put stainless! split pins back in



Took it out for a test drive and no smoke ......