Sometimes when i'm on a slippery surface (gravel, rain, mud) my back wheels will continue to spin a little after I have stopped. It's a real pain, because sometimes I'll go to stop and my back wheels will continue to push me, making me have to yank up the e-brake to keep from hitting something. And when i come to a readlight on a wet road, sometimes it'll do it and make my car start to go sideways like I'm doing a burnout (it's pretty funny). I just replaced the shoes, and the e-brake works fine....what could be causing this, and how can i fix it?? PLEASE help!

 

Stall converter acting up? Need a higher stall? Just thinking out loud. Maybe you just have lead in your shoe. Maybe your idle is too high.

 

I'll set my idle and timing....and then a day later, it'll be idling at 1,000 RPMs.....i'll check the timing, and it'll be higher than what i set it at...what's that all about? But i dont think that's it. I know there's a bit of a fluid leak in the rear brakes, but nothing unusual for a 13 year old car.

 

Are the shoes adjusted right?

 

I'm pretty sure they are.....anyhow, it was doing it before I changed the shoes.....so i'm pretty sure the adjustment has nothing to do w/ it.

 

Sounds normal if you have a reasonably high idle. Mine does it in the winter. Thats why I shift to neutral when I try to stop on a slick surface. The brake shoes won't apply unless you really hit the brakes hard, it's how the proportioning valve is set-up. You want more front brake than rear brake, especially when the car is front heavy(like a thirdgen). Timing has nothing to do with it, lower the idle speed a bit.

 

Internal leak in the master cylinder?

Norm

 

The reason I said something about the timing is because when it sets itself higher, that makes it idle higher.

 

Timing has a LOT to do with it. Infact I just finished fixing the same problem you're having. I've got a stock tcc and my rear wheels do little burnouts when weather is bad. I adjusted my timing in my eprom to a very low number and now the car has no pull. I let go of the brake and the car has about as much power as the stock Lo3. It's great but I still need to be careful about how go about putting down the pedal. If you run slightly rich and lots of advance at low rpm the car will chug and you'll make lots of torque. This is great for gas milage and awesome for dry weather driving. It's just the opposite in bad weather. I wish I had a camera and could show you how much of a difference timing has on idle, torque, and overall operation/feel of the vehicle. You can make any car sound like it's got a nasty cam if you run idle rich and have very low timing . It's funny, my car sounds like my friends 370hp 327 with his thin gauge headers.
Since you probably won't invest in eprom burning equipment (makes me sad), you'll just have to lower your base timing IF bad weather. Don't keep it that way unless you enjoy filling your gas tank religiously.
badda bing, badda boom, end of story
Don't lower the base timing so much that the car stalls when you come to a stop too fast, that's when you know you lowered it too much

 

It's funny how 105 people have viewed this and I've only gotten 9 replies....3 being myself. Common guys...i need help. I know that out of 12,000 or so members, Jprevost and I aren't the only ones that have had this problem. Well anyways thanks to you that have replied, cause this is something that I need to get fixed......about a week ago, i was pulling a U-turn on a 2 lane road, but couldn't make it all in one foward motion....so i hit the breaks to back up some, and my car neary slid into a ditch.....that would have really sucked....thank *** (if i offend anyone, too bad) that I fixed the ebrake just a week b4 that of my car woulda been screwed. I really do need to solve this though, I've got a doctors appt. today at 2:15, and it's snowing here!!!, and as most of you know, fast thirdgens aren't can get to be a problem in the rain, so I dread going into the snow and ice....i just wish it wasn't my everyday car. Oh, just to let you know....it's snowing and about 25* here, well exactly a week ago, it was 70*+....damn TN weather.

 

Timing has one optimum setting. Adjust it to that and leave it. Lowering the timing will hurt mileage, power, foul plugs, and build up carbon. Lower the idle or get a higher stall speed converter. The base timing should never change. If it's computer controlled, you are adjusting it 'un-plugged' right? Figure out why your timing and idle speed are changing--1000rpm at idle is your problem.

 

Probably 7 or 8 of those now 115+ hits are mine. Every time I get an e-mail notification of a new reply I come back and see what's new. Probably others who have posted to this thread do the same. Sorry if that's distorted the picture.

I haven't owned an automatic in, well, decades is an appropriate unit of measure here, so your problem is a little bit outside my experience. But either you are developing too much torque from too high of an idle, too much of it gets to the rear wheels from too tight of a torque converter or your rear brakes aren't doing enough work. Or perhaps you've got some of all three conditions.

Years ago I had a master cylinder with an internal leak, probably fluid was bypassing around the cups. No loss of fluid, just near zero rear brakes. It wasn't particularly obvious in normal driving, although I would have had the creep that you describe had this been in a car with an automatic. After bleeding and adjusting and getting the car re-inspected and re-rejected 4 or 5 times for brake balance (it's part of the NJ state inspection routine) it finally occurred to somebody to check the m/c.

Norm

 

You could try getting an adjustable prop. valve ($40 or so) and transfer a little more braking power to the rears. This would apply sufficient braking to stop the wheels when the fronts are stopped.

 

You need to figure out why the car is idling at 1000 rpm. That's way too high. The stock TC kicks in around there so no wonder your wheels spin slightly.

Double check the timing, making sure you disconnect the timing wire first. Then set it to the factory spec., reconnect the wire, and clear the ECM code. After tyhat, if it's still giving you trouble, then I'd check the adjustments on the the throttle body.

 

Just a thought, perhaps the throttle is sticking due to a kink in the cable or binding at the throttle body. Could also be a worn out throttle return spring.

Take care,

 

My Monte Carlo SS did this a couple a years ago. As it turned out, the proportioning valve on the brakes got whacked out and was only letting brake fluid go to the front wheels under braking. If you haven't checked htis ,you may want to...

 

DUH! I didn't consider the fact that the total number of views includes everytime we check on here to see what people have written.....I myself have probably checked it about 15+ times. But there's still been quite a bit of people reading and not replying I'm sure. But judging by what I have read, I'ts the idle. I'm going to go check and make sure it's where I like it and make sure it's idling at about 820 RPM.....this should solve it....i just need to find out why the timing keeps raising itself...that's the real problem.....well, THANKS GUYS

 

I had this problem before I rebuilt my rear discs with the GM recall kit; my back brakes weren't working at all. I found out I had this problem when I was backing up my driveway after it snowed. I had my foot on the brake, opened my door and looked back to see if I was on the driveway- and my rear tires were spinning away. That wasn't what I expected to see!

 

How can i check to see if my back breaks are working at all? I dont think they are, cause about a month back, I had my car on ramps changing the oil, and when i went to back off the ramps, the ramps backed up w/ me....i tried to brake, but it wouldn't stop....i keep going backwards across the parking lot and had to yank up the ebrake b4 i hit the car behind me (thank *** i had just fixed my ebrake the weekend b4). (this is important because this means that i was only on my rear wheels, meaning that when i tried to brake, i was only using the rear brakes). It was actually pretty damn funny if you'd seen it.....a car driving backwards on 2 wheels dragging ramps under the front. If my rear brakes aren't working at all, what are some probably causes, and how can i get this fixed?

 

If fluid is leaking out, air is leaking in. Enough air in = you compress that air when you hit the brake pedal instead of moving the rear shoes. After apparently over a month with this condition, I'm sure that you've got plenty of air in those rear lines. Unusual or not, this is a problem. Period.

Fix the leak(s) first, replacing lines if necessary. Pull the drums to make sure that the hardware is all intact and in place. Check for stuck adjusters, adjusters with worn or broken teeth (they won't self-adjust after they get to a bad tooth) and broken springs. Replace and/or re-lube the adjusters. Now would be a good time to inspect under the wheel cylinder boots for seepage as well. Wheel cylinders are cheap, so replace them if there's any doubt. Re-set the adjustment of the shoes. Finally, thoroughly bleed the system. You want to see a fresh fluid stream coming out, not just the absence of air bubbles.

Do this or get it done ASAP. I really don't want to see an accident report/thread follow this.

Checking for things like the m/c comes after fixing the obvious problem.

My bad for not starting with what was right in front of my eyes.

Norm

 

Sounds like your front brakes aren't working. If you were dragging the ramps means the back tires weren't rolling. They stopped on the ramps but your fronts let your car roll. You need to bleed your brakes and get it all inspected or done by a local ASE mechanic. You shouldn't be driving around with an e-brake in one hand unless you're in the snow at LOW speeds.

 

No, it was the rear brakes, cause the rear tires were the only tires touching the ground....mybe I didn't explain it well enought.....but the front tires were on the ramps...those little plastic ones, and the rear tires were on the ground, and when i went in reverse, I couldn't stop...wasn't the front brakes, the front wheels weren't even moving, they were stationary on the rams, which were slidding along w/ the car. Get what I'm saying? And i have only had to use the ebrake at low speeds (less than 5MPH) in the mud and snow....not nearly as much as i might have made it seem...i've only had to use it a few times, when weather is real bad.

 

I agree with some of the above posts. When my rear brakes didn't work on my Monte SS, I decided that this wasn't the time to learn something new... I went to a mechanic that I trust and he tracked it down to the proportioning valve. Given that you have leaks in your brake line, it could be this as well, or even a combination of things... I would give this to a professional and learn from what he tells you he fixes. Then next time maybe...

That's what I did, anyway.

 

I would suggest you get the GM recalibration kit and install it anyways. It's a known problem with our 3rd gen rear brakes that GM actually released a recal kit specifically for it. In my opinion, every 3rd gen should make this change.

GM P/N 10108425, costs around $19, and a few hours of your time to install it.

I had the same problem you're having with my GTA. Not quite as severe, never happened in the rain, only snow and ice, but my GTA idles at around 600rpms also, so your problem just sounds compounded. After installing this kit the problem went away for me. Of course, I also replaced my rear calipers at the same time as they'd rusted up pretty bad from not being used.

 

Well It looks like the logical thing for me to do would be to get it checked out at a shop....looks like i'm gonna be shelling out some $$$, but i need it so ya know. Thanks Norm

 

I think I know what the problem is....I don't think the back brakes are working at all...aside from the incedent on the ramps, it's time to change my front breaks again....and I did them a little under a year ago. Front brakes are supposed to last more than a year right "i've never had a vehicle that long". I'm not hard on my brakes at all....so i figure the back brakes aren't working, putting a lot more stress on the front ones....sound like a possiblilty guys?

 

I haven't had to replace my front brake pads for 3 years now. Still from the previous owner, 4 years ago maybe more.
The front brakes do most of the braking anyways. Something like more than 80% of braking should be with the fronts. So even if your rear brakes weren't working, a year seems way too soon.

 

Any time you're not sure about the front brakes it's worth it to pull one or both wheels and check for pad thickness and scoring of the rotor (inside surface and inside pad too!). You shouldn't find those problems after only one year of apparently easy to moderate use though.

Norm

 

I pulled the wheels off the fron today to do the brakes...and the rotors were VERY hard to turn. Now i know that's not normal, they're supposed to spin pretty freely...do you think that means my brakes binding? Also, i've been pretty disapointed in my cars performance lately, and if the brakes are binding, which is causing the wheels to be so hard to turn, then that explains why my car has felt so slow, and explains why my pads lasted only 11 months. Any suggestions? Thanks guys