00 Mustang 3.8 Brakes locked up after brake job

Well It had been about 75k miles on the front pads since they had been changed and my dad asked me to look at his brakes. The pads were worn past the pad on one and almost on the rest of the 3 pads. Fairly consistent. While pushing the pistons back out of the calipers, it was very difficult. Much force needed to be applied. I put new pads/rotors on, new slides and pins. Everything seemed to be good. I went for a test drive and the brakes overheated on my little 3 minute run. I then jacked the frontend up again and the wheel was very hard to move.

The brakes seemed to be stuck on. I then figured my calipers were shot from the brake pads being worn out too much. So I bought 2 new calipers and brake hoses- and installed them and bleed them. The fluid was very dirty that came out. I then took it for a test drive and the brakes were basically locked again.

Ive searched and came up with a few similar posts with suggestions but the previous posts- the owner never made an update on what the problem was.
http://mustangforums.com/forum/6-cyl...r-lock-up.html

Ive seen some posts saying its bad hoses, abs pumps, etc. Does anyone have a suggestion to me as I cant even drive the car to the local shop as Im afraid the brakes will start on fire.

I just came in and checked the abs sensor thats attached to the inside of the mudshield. It seemed fine. I also took the abs fuse out and tried to push the pistons on the calipers back in to see if that would work and once i hit the brake the brakes were locked up in the front again.

I put the old worn out pads back in also and the calipers locked those pads up too.

There is enough room on the calipers where when i install the pads and calipers that the rotor spins freely until you hit the brake.

Skymarshal said:

Well, that's wierd. This is happening on the front brakes only, right? If the rears are fine then the ABS and booster should be OK.

You said the fluid was very dirty. How many miles are on the car? You might try flushing the system and replacing the brake fluid. It's probably never been done, and if there's sludge or debris in the fluid that could be the cause of the front brakes locking. Changing the brake fluid is one maintenance item that people blow off all the time, and it can cause some problems if the fluid is dirty or has absorbed a lot of water.

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yes the rears are fine. The abs lights arent on. How could I go about flushing the brake system out. The guy at auto zone said to run air through the lines, but I cant see how I would ever be able to get them bleed like that. The fluid was a black color but I have fresh fluid coming from the calipers now when I was bleeding it. 109k miles Im sorry I thought I had posted that info.

I took it to a relative who is a mechanic and he said it was the calipers. The new autozone calipers werent releasing. I already turned my core in for these junk autozone ones and i bought a set of carquest calipers and used the autozone junk ones for cores.

Car is FIXED!!!! 4 bad calipers. I gotta thank everyone for their help!