Brakes screeching when you barely hit the brakes.

[chodo]

Every time I drive more than 10 miles per hour, maybe not even that fast and hit the brakes it seems like my brakes are locking up and dragging the rear tires or something. I had a brake failure that the Ford Engineering team could not ever figure out, had it replaced, it was falling dead to the floor no brakes. It is happening again, just not as often, but now this, what do you guys think is going on?

[Ol Forder]

I don't understand the symptoms. First you said...
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: chodo</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Every time I drive more than 10 miles per hour, maybe not even that fast and hit the brakes it seems like my brakes are locking up and dragging the rear tires or something.</div></div>
Then you said...
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: chodo</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I had a brake failure that the Ford Engineering team could not ever figure out, had it replaced, it was falling dead to the floor no brakes.</div></div>
This sounds to me like 2 separate issues. When your rear brakes lock-up, is your pedal going to the floor at the same time? I'm assuming when you say "hit the brakes", you mean not applying such force to lock-up the brakes. If that's the case, the first one sounds like a freezing master cylinder (boths wheels locking) or a freezing wheel cylinder (if it's just one). The second issue sounds like you're losing hydraulic pressure or booster vaccuum (not a frozen cylinder).

Either way, brakes are not overly complicated. If your dealer couldn't figure out the problem the first time, I wouldn't be suspicious of the problem, I'd be suspicious of the dealer. You should consider another dealer. Talk to some buddies that have had good experiences with other dealers and go elsewhere.

Also, I don't know if you have ABS (no vehicle description in your sig). If you do, that comes into play as well.

[Ol Forder]

I just noticed another symptom you described in the title to your posting "Brakes screeching when you barely hit the brakes". That's another deal altogether. More questions are begging to be asked. Had the truck been not driven for an extended period? Did the screeching go away after some driving? If the answer is <u>yes</u> to these questions, then the problem is likely surface rust on the drums and/or rotors. If the answer was <u>no</u>, then my guess is the shoes and/or pads are glazed. Usually the best solution to this ailment is replacement shoes and/or pads.

I'm curious, has this vehicle been in deep water recently?