Quite the smoke show (brake troubles)

[RWatters]

My wife pulls up to my work to pick me up the other day and smoke is absolutely billowing out of the passenger rear wheel. When I say billowing, I mean I'm convinced there's a fire. I look and there's no fire, but it smells horribly of tortured brake pad and the rotor looks scored up which, 5 miles ago, wasn't the case. She had left work to pick up our daughter (we work at the same place so we car pool) and then came back to get me so it was done in a REALLY short period of time. Thinking the ebrake was stuck on I did some testing. The ebrake releases normally both when I tell it to and when I leave it up and start driving (it disengages automatically). We had errands to run so we go on with life. It doesn't do the crazy smoke again but after that moment there was always a strong brake smell. The only thing out of the ordinary that she noticed was the tire pressure light turned on while she was driving it. I checked the tires and none of them were below what Mazda recommends. I always run them at 39-40psi warm (so they're at or above 36psi cold).

This is what the rotor looked like after just 5 miles of driving. Before, well, it looked like a normal rotor. lol

Two days pass and I finally get it into the dealership. They called me back today saying they'll need the car for the weekend as they are replacing parts and they aren't in yet. They don't want us driving it until they fix it. I didn't elaborate as I was on a conference call at the time but I have to swing by there later today to pick up a loaner.

Anyone else had this issue? I'm guessing it's a sticky caliper. We are under 7,000 miles on our CX-5 (2016.5 GT AWD) so it's a bit crazy that it happened. Warranty is covering it so I'm not worried.

 

[J.R.]

Excrement happens, hopefully dealer sorts it out and it doesn't reoccur.

Glad everyone's safe!

 

[banjos-n-beer]

That happened to our 2005 6 a few times... always the rears. Then a month ago, it happened to our 2015 CRV.

Yeah, the smell is putrid.

 

[yrwei52]

I believe your problem is caused by Electrical Parking Brake. There's a TSB R052/16C (been revised 3 times) for replacing the rear calipers、discs、and pads due to the rear brake dragging resulting in overheating、brake noise and the outer disc pad abnormally worn out caused by poorly designed rear brake calipers for EPB. Although it was quite the smoke show but you should consider yourself lucky as you will get new revised rear calipers to prevent future problem on electrical parking brake, while us may be experienceing the same smoke show on later date without warranty to cover the cost of replacing those problematic rear calipers!

Glad you appreciate the PDFs. I really enjoy reading them.

The control module is no longer part of the TSB, they found changing it was not effective. I had one rear brake getting hot. I couldn't feel it but I could see the discoloration of the disc so might be worth checking. They did both calipers, the discoloured disc and a new set of pads all under warranty.

This shows how to operate maintenance mode

View attachment 216813

This is the latest TSB

View attachment 216814

This is how to change the rear pad and note NOT to press and turn the piston. You only need to turn slightly without pressing if the pins don't line up.

View attachment 216815

This one shows the operation of the EPB and the emergency braking mode.

View attachment 216816

It's perhaps worth mentioning that I couldn't actually feel mine dragging but I did notice the discolouration of the disc. I then paid attention and noticed it smelling one day so I always prepare a case ready for any situation and collected some evidence which I've shown here in photos. There are the two different temperatures and the discolouration. As it was the dealer fully accepted my explanation and changed both calipers, one disc and fitted a new set of pads. Advice then is go and look and if you see anything, get straight on to the dealer.

 

[banjos-n-beer]

yrwei52- I know there are a few instances with the CX5 brakes and the EPB, but to us it happened twice with our 6, and always the rears. That car had a regular hand emergency brake.

And our 2015 CRV has the older foot style emergency brake (probably similar to your older CRV).

Never found a cause for any of these instances.

 

[yrwei52]

yrwei52- I know there are a few instances with the CX5 brakes and the EPB, but to us it happened twice with our 6, and always the rears. That car had a regular hand emergency brake.

And our 2015 CRV has the older foot style emergency brake (probably similar to your older CRV).

Never found a cause for any of these instances.

Overheating on rear brakes is most likely caused by parking brake not properly released, either by the driver error (I've done it a few times) or mechanical issues. On those old-style cable-operated parking brake it can be a one-time sticky situation due to lack of lubrication or rust. I believe your situation on Mazda6 and CR-V should fall under these circumstances.

Since there's a TSB for sticky electrical parking brake issue on 2016(.5) CX-5, I do believe the EPB (and calipers) is the cause for OP's problem.

BTW, my 1998 Honda CR-V has hand-operated parking brake. And I hate those foot-operated parking brake!

 

[banjos-n-beer]

The tech felt CRVs don't have caliper pin lube issues, but rather the pads do.

Strangely enough my QX has a foot pedal parking break as well. It's like I've gone back 25 years to my high school days. Lol.

 

[Unobtanium]

What is with CX5's and brake issues? This is obviously a problem on this car. I luckily have not had any issue at 64k miles, on stock pads/rotors still, but enough others have that it has to be a flaw with either the caliper assembly lube from the factory, or the design. I have put hundreds of thousands of miles on cars and NEVER had brake issues.

 

[RWatters]

New calipers, pads, rotors for the rear end per a TSB as was mentioned in here. We will get it back Monday.

 

[Anchorman]

What is with CX5's and brake issues? This is obviously a problem on this car. I luckily have not had any issue at 64k miles, on stock pads/rotors still, but enough others have that it has to be a flaw with either the caliper assembly lube from the factory, or the design. I have put hundreds of thousands of miles on cars and NEVER had brake issues.

Erm, yes, Mazda know all about it and are fixing it under warranty. It won't effect yours if it doesn't have an EPB. It's not really an achievement. If you read the TSB you'll see what causes it.

 

[Unobtanium]

Erm, yes, Mazda know all about it and are fixing it under warranty. It won't effect yours if it doesn't have an EPB. It's not really an achievement. If you read the TSB you'll see what causes it.

Ah, yeah, not a fan of EPB's.

 

[RWatters]

Ah, yeah, not a fan of EPB's.

I'm a fan of it on a family DD type of car. It frees up space and it disengages automatically when you start moving. There's no confusion of whether you pulled it up far enough either (not an issue for me but my wife maybe).

On a car I intend to drive like a jackass from time to time give me the old school way of doing it.

 

[Unobtanium]

I'm a fan of it on a family DD type of car. It frees up space and it disengages automatically when you start moving. There's no confusion of whether you pulled it up far enough either (not an issue for me but my wife maybe).

On a car I intend to drive like a jackass from time to time give me the old school way of doing it.

To me, an E-brake in an SUV is the last-ditch defense against something bad happening. Whether it's chalked on blocks being worked on, or whether it's parked on a slanted street. I want cave-man simple and stupid.

 

[korean_mazda]

I have a 16 GT. I distinctly remember reading in the owners manual about the parking brake automatically releasing when you drive the car. Can anyone confirm?

 

[ceric]

Yes. Normally.
What TSB says is when it is not normal.

My Mazda3 had excess pad wear at the rear left corner.
(30% vs. 70% for other 3).
Mazda nor the dealer had any good explanation for it (my wife's car, by the way)
They replaced the pad at no cost for part. I paid the labor. 50/50 basically.
Still don't know why.
At this recent oil change, all seem to wear evenly. So, mystery continues.

 

[Anchorman]

Whether we like EPBs or not, they will become standard in the not too distant future as legislation forces them in. Every day around the world, accidents are caused by people not setting the parking brake properly and with an EPB, even aunt Daisy can apply the same force as Jethro Clampet. Most manufacturers are working on the standard fitment for future models with a manual transmission.

 

[Nelson de Leon]

Whether we like EPBs or not, they will become standard in the not too distant future as legislation forces them in. Every day around the world, accidents are caused by people not setting the parking brake properly and with an EPB, even aunt Daisy can apply the same force as Jethro Clampet. Most manufacturers are working on the standard fitment for future models with a manual transmission.

Does the EPB disengage when the accelerator is engaged?

 

[Anchorman]

Does the EPB disengage when the accelerator is engaged?

Yes and the new model has autohold too

 

[RG_Flyer]

To me, an E-brake in an SUV is the last-ditch defense against something bad happening. Whether it's chalked on blocks being worked on, or whether it's parked on a slanted street. I want cave-man simple and stupid.

On mine it is a necessity (manual). I can appreciate the cave-man thing however.

 

[Nelson de Leon]

Yes and the new model has autohold too

The autohold engages the brake pedal I think.