I have a totally stock '97 Stratus SE 2.5L V6 w/ 104k miles. I grew up building mopars, but this problem's got me stumped.

The brakes have always worked fine. There are about 20k on the rear shoes. A few months ago when stopping at a stoplight I noticed smoke coming from the right rear! I had been driving about 50 mph for about a half hour, then hitting a couple stoplights when I noticed this. When I got out, I could see the heat coming off the right rear wheel. I let it cool down, jacked up that corner, and the wheel spun fine. When I got home (the wheel had not heated up again), I pulled the drum off and found no material left on the shoes, worthless springs and clips, and melted rubber caps on the cylinder.

I put new parts in, including the hub (in case the bearings got cooked too). All was well for a couple of weeks until I was in a similar situation - highway for about 30 minutes, then a few minutes on city streets, then I suddenly had a bad pull on the steering wheel. Got out and found the same right rear wheel was over 500 degrees (had my non-contact thermometer with me then)! Again let it cool down, drove home, and found the same destruction as before, but this time it took out the abs sensor too.

Of course all this time I've been brain dead and not changed the drum...

I've been on the same roads between the two times things cooked and not had problems.

I'm hoping someone has a suggestion where to go from here. Could it be a sticking proportioning valve? The left front is fine, so it's not the master cylinder. Something wrong with the abs block or abs valve for that wheel?

Thanks for any help!!!
Roger

 

Just went through a similar situation with the wifes '99 Cirrus.....only with rear disc, right side also.

Thought the caliper piston was sticking, so I swapped out the caliper.

2 days later.....same ****. WTF????

Turns out, the right rear brake line on these cars runs along (too close IMHO) next to the exhaust system. The heat from the exhaust system had caused the flexible brake line to collapse internally which allowed brake fluid to flow to the caliper, but blocked the normal return or pressure release of the fluid. Thus locking the caliper.

Changed the flexible brake line, and haven't had a problem since.

I not a mechanical novice by any means, but this had me stumped for over a week...LOL. In all my 45 years I've never had a collapsed brake line....leave it to Chrysler. Of all people to solve my problem, a goofy redneck at the local junk yard said he'd seen this over and over with these cars. He was so right.

Worth a try if all else fails.

 

Too much heat near the right rear lines makes sense. Your explanation of the brake hose's damage would explain my problem, too.

I had changed the brake hose and afterwords had another failure, but I didn't flush the line. With all the heat during each failure, I'm sure the brake fluid boiled, but not sure for how far up the line. The new brake hose may have fixed the original problem, but bad fluid would continue to cause problems.

Just after I started this thread, I flushed the entire brake system - new fluid from the master cylinder to each wheel (except in the ABS valves, since I don't have the tool to turn them on). My brother-in-law has been driving it ever since - highway and around town. So far - keep my fingers crossed - there's been no more problems.

So what have I learned from all this? Your heat explanation makes a lot of sense. That's something for everyone to keep in mind. But the bottom line is when something like this happens, do everything right the first time. I often try to get away cheap, doing as little as possible to try to get by. This is an example of how headaches, wasted time, and parts getting replaced multiple times can easily happen when not doing a job right the first time!