Gary Franks
New member
I have repeatedly experienced my service brakes seizing (applied) immediately following an offroad incidence of wheel spin and/or application of left foot braking during a wheel spin in 4H and 4L.
When this occurs, I wait patiently (more than 5 minutes, less than 30) and do nothing and the brakes will release by themselves and I’m back to normal.
My Jeep is a 2008 Wrangler Unlimited Sahara 4x4, automatic transmission with optional factory Trac-Lok Limited Slip Rear Differential and 3.73 axle ratio. Stock wheels and suspension. All recalls have been applied (12/23/10).
It has taken several incidents over several offroad trips to identify the circumstances that cause the brake seizing and how it gets corrected.
The first time that it happened, I was in 4H driving on sand dunes and on two occasions that day I got somewhat stuck and one or more wheels were spinning. I may have been using left foot braking in an attempt to reduce spinning. Once I was unstuck and driving again, I noticed that the vehicle seemed sluggish and discovered that the brakes were locked up as I was driving.
I stopped and began futile attempts to correct the problem: changing from 4H to 2H and to N to 4L; pressing the ESP button; tapping the brakes while driving; pulling the IOD fuse. In the meantime, my girlfriend was busy reading the Owner’s Manual (there’s an owner’s manual?!
). She read the part about pressing and holding the ESP button for five seconds to “fully” disable the ESP. That seemed to work – we thought. In retrospect, we have concluded that the brakes coincidently released themselves about that moment.
The last time that this occurred, I was in 4L, therefore ESP was definitely off. Again, I got myself in a bad spot, one or more wheels were spinning, and I may or may not have used the left foot on the brake (I’m not sure). This time, I absolutely did not attempt any corrective measures (changing gears, etc.) and the brakes released themselves after 10 to 30 minutes. In fact, as I sat quietly and patiently waiting, I could hear and feel the brakes periodically creak as they eased up.
Could this be just a crazy ECM computer? Could this be something mechanical? It does not seem to be related to ambient temperature (some instances were in hot weather, but not all). It does not seem to be related to overheated brakes because I was not riding the brakes or using them excessively as I might have if I were going down a long hill. Although it sounds as though they are easing up as they cool, maybe it is just slowly losing pressure.
In some instances (not all), the “ESP BAS” malfunction light will turn on after the incident. I don’t recall any warning lights coming on during the actual wheel spin (I’m not 100% sure). I must confess, after having read the Owner’s Manual section on ESP, I don’t think that I really understand what the difference is between “partial off” and “fully off”.
Obviously, I will be taking the Jeep to the dealer soon, but I wanted to get your comments first so that I could properly advise the service advisor. Sorry for the long post. Thanks for your input. I’ll report back when I know something definitively.
When this occurs, I wait patiently (more than 5 minutes, less than 30) and do nothing and the brakes will release by themselves and I’m back to normal.
My Jeep is a 2008 Wrangler Unlimited Sahara 4x4, automatic transmission with optional factory Trac-Lok Limited Slip Rear Differential and 3.73 axle ratio. Stock wheels and suspension. All recalls have been applied (12/23/10).
It has taken several incidents over several offroad trips to identify the circumstances that cause the brake seizing and how it gets corrected.
The first time that it happened, I was in 4H driving on sand dunes and on two occasions that day I got somewhat stuck and one or more wheels were spinning. I may have been using left foot braking in an attempt to reduce spinning. Once I was unstuck and driving again, I noticed that the vehicle seemed sluggish and discovered that the brakes were locked up as I was driving.
I stopped and began futile attempts to correct the problem: changing from 4H to 2H and to N to 4L; pressing the ESP button; tapping the brakes while driving; pulling the IOD fuse. In the meantime, my girlfriend was busy reading the Owner’s Manual (there’s an owner’s manual?!
). She read the part about pressing and holding the ESP button for five seconds to “fully” disable the ESP. That seemed to work – we thought. In retrospect, we have concluded that the brakes coincidently released themselves about that moment.The last time that this occurred, I was in 4L, therefore ESP was definitely off. Again, I got myself in a bad spot, one or more wheels were spinning, and I may or may not have used the left foot on the brake (I’m not sure). This time, I absolutely did not attempt any corrective measures (changing gears, etc.) and the brakes released themselves after 10 to 30 minutes. In fact, as I sat quietly and patiently waiting, I could hear and feel the brakes periodically creak as they eased up.
Could this be just a crazy ECM computer? Could this be something mechanical? It does not seem to be related to ambient temperature (some instances were in hot weather, but not all). It does not seem to be related to overheated brakes because I was not riding the brakes or using them excessively as I might have if I were going down a long hill. Although it sounds as though they are easing up as they cool, maybe it is just slowly losing pressure.
In some instances (not all), the “ESP BAS” malfunction light will turn on after the incident. I don’t recall any warning lights coming on during the actual wheel spin (I’m not 100% sure). I must confess, after having read the Owner’s Manual section on ESP, I don’t think that I really understand what the difference is between “partial off” and “fully off”.
Obviously, I will be taking the Jeep to the dealer soon, but I wanted to get your comments first so that I could properly advise the service advisor. Sorry for the long post. Thanks for your input. I’ll report back when I know something definitively.
