No Rear Brakes - Tried EVERYTHING

HAZPOCO

MEMBER
JEEP CHEROKEE

1. Make and Model: 2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport
2. Mileage: ~70,000
3. Transmission: Automatic
4. 4 wheel drive
5. Strange sounds: none
6. Fluid leaks: none
7. Repair History

Started off just getting new pads and shoes (front disc, rear drum). Got the car back and found that there were no rear brakes (noticed the problem on wet pavement and tested skid marks on gravel).
Through a couple of visits to the independent shop, got the following new parts: 4 brake cylinders, 4 new hoses, rear brake kit, master cylinder, proportioning valve.

Still no improvement. The shop would be closed the next day, had no suggestions, and I needed the car for the weekend so I took it to a registered Jeep dealership. They spent 6+ hours on it and all they found was that the rear drums were cut too thin. They replaced them both but no improvement. All they wanted to do was start from scratch replacing everything again.

I took it back to the shop and he's replaced everything again, this time with genuine mopar.

The emergency brake IS functioning properly, but still no rear brakes. The peddle is firm. Regardless, lines were bled multiple times and had "good output".

Basically, the system has been replaced in full twice, but still no rear brakes.

The peddle is a little higher than it was before work was started, but as I said, the problem may have existed before work was started.

No squeaks or noises either.

I NEED HELP.

Thanks a lot.

2 Replies

GRICHARDS

MECHANIC
57 POSTS

Is this an ABS or Non-ABS brake system?The fact that the factory-certified mechanics didn't find the fault has me scratching my head. If an ABS equipped system, it sounds like mechanically all the bases have been covered, but no mention of the electronic side. Each wheel will have a sensor feeding info to the ELECTRONIC CONTROLLER for the ABS system - it's job is to process data from the wheel sensors to control hysraulic line pressure and avoid wheel lock-up. It also monitors the system and will generate a diagnostic code if a fault is detected. Has anyone pulled the codes from the jeep computer to check? It SOUNDS like the electronic controller is telling the Rear brakes not to engage, but I'm not a factory-certified mechanic, just a guy who likes to troubleshoot and "fix" things. The rear wheel sensors could be telling the controller that everything is OK, but for BOTH sensors to die at the same time is unlikely, so they msut have a common connection point/signal path. I think your Electronic Controller is under the rear seat, but not 100% sure on 2000 model. Hope this train of thought helps.