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[mean dog]

Hi guys, brakes again on my '98 4 litre Grand Z J,
Driving home this evening the last 5-6 miles,  Jeep was getting sluggish and the auto box kept changing up and down, So I that something was not as it should be!
Stopped out side house, hell of a burning smell, the two back wheels were belching out smoke!! Can't be calipers, two would not seize up together, would they?
So I'm guessing metering valve, something's gone kaput and the back brakes have not released. Birty Dastards has come to my rescue a couple of times, so I'm asking for your expert and wise advice once again, as I'm diving to Italy in about 3 week's to bring my boy back home .
Cheer's
 

[Mike Pavelin]

Master cylinder?

[sprintagogo]

Handbrake was left on! typical female mistake  

I think the ZJ only has a single rear brake flexy hose like the XJ so maybe that is breaking down internaly and not releasing the fluid after brake use?

Try pumping the brake pedal a few times as hard as you can then run back and crack open a bleed nipple. If you get a small squirt of fluid then you know pressure is being retained by the system somehow.

I still think it is likely to be a handbrake issue, the cam that applies the brake shoes for the handbrake can seize and this is not uncommon so check to see if the handbrake cables are releasing when the handbrake lever is off. Jack up the rear wheels and see if they are free to turn (jack up both wheels incase you have a limited slip diff and make sure the transmission is in neutral).



This is how the handbrake shoes look inside the drum, to get in just pull the caliper off (2 x 13mm headed bolts then slide it off). The expander cam is at the top and the threaded adjuster is at the bottom. These are actually cherokee/liberty KJ brakes but the ZJ ones are visually identical.

[mean dog]

Thank's for your addvice, Mike & Sprintagogo,
Will let you know how Iv'e got on, Might book it in to main stealership and let them have a look and see, wife nagging ''get it done proper, we got a long way to go'',
and I have not got a lot of time my self.
Thank's again guy's

[sprintagogo]

Crikey! For what they will charge you I bet you could almost buy another Grand of that vintage!!! By the time they have needlessly fitted new back plates, shoes, discs, pads, calipers and handbrake cables with a couple of hours workshop time I am sure it will be an appalling invoice!

But on the plus side, your brakes might be fixed!?!?!?

[Bishops Finger]

As most know Im of the mechanically inept send the bloody thing to a dealer and get ripped off for so called peace of mind type...but if you know a decent local garage they are not rocket science to sort....