2013 R Spec Pulls to Right when Braking

[onecrazyfoo4u]

Hey everyone, just purchased my buddies R Spec this summer since it was too good of a deal to pass up. It's been running great since then but I had a new problem pop-up today that I've never encountered before in my 30 years of driving dozens of vehicles. So it's always pulled to the right a bit, hasn't bothered me since alignment checks clean. But today it was feeling a bit squirrelly at highway speeds. Didn't seem to track perfectly straight and was very touchy to left/right steering wheel commands. Especially noticeable is it pulls pretty hard to the right when braking. And not just a right hand pull, but seems to crab walk a bit when braking like I'm not tracking straight and true (front tracking to the right upon breaking, rears tracking straight). There was no brake smells or excessive heat at all like a locked up brake caliper would do.

I've never felt this before, and have always done all my own auto work on prior vehicles. I'm going to check the obvious when I get home, like brake pads, calipers, lines, fluid, tires and pressures. But to me doesn't seem to feel brake related, even though only happens when braking. Feels more like a broken sway bar on an old truck (do these cars even have sway bars?). I didn't see this same issue by forum searching. Anybody have ideas on what else to check or had this issue on their Genesis? Just doesn't feel safe driving at 80mph anymore. Thanks for any help you can provide!

 

[jep604]

Hey everyone, just purchased my buddies R Spec this summer since it was too good of a deal to pass up. It's been running great since then but I had a new problem pop-up today that I've never encountered before in my 30 years of driving dozens of vehicles. So it's always pulled to the right a bit, hasn't bothered me since alignment checks clean. But today it was feeling a bit squirrelly at highway speeds. Didn't seem to track perfectly straight and was very touchy to left/right steering wheel commands. Especially noticeable is it pulls pretty hard to the right when braking. And not just a right hand pull, but seems to crab walk a bit when braking like I'm not tracking straight and true (front tracking to the right upon breaking, rears tracking straight). There was no brake smells or excessive heat at all like a locked up brake caliper would do.

I've never felt this before, and have always done all my own auto work on prior vehicles. I'm going to check the obvious when I get home, like brake pads, calipers, lines, fluid, tires and pressures. But to me doesn't seem to feel brake related, even though only happens when braking. Feels more like a broken sway bar on an old truck (do these cars even have sway bars?). I didn't see this same issue by forum searching. Anybody have ideas on what else to check or had this issue on their Genesis? Just doesn't feel safe driving at 80mph anymore. Thanks for any help you can provide!

I can't speak for any sway bar issues but my 2014 3.8 purchased brand new has never had of those issues. It currently sits at 246,400 miles and I had all four rotors and pads replaced with new rotors and Power Stop brake pads at 229,700 miles from brand new. Normally pulling during braking is a rotor size or warp issue because they "grab" differently. Wish I could be more assistance.

 

[onecrazyfoo4u]

So I did a full inspection and there's nothing out of place or broken suspension, axle, or bushing wise. Brakes look great, with only about half wear at 130k miles.

I think I do have a driver's side caliper that is seized though. That corner is cold to the touch when the rest are hot. That would explain the right pull on braking. Don't know how that happened as I drove it daily and it's garaged.

How do I go about getting it freed up? I've never worked with massive four piston brakes. Can I just pop the brake reservoir cap off and use a c clamp to compress the pistons one at a time like I do with my other vehicle brakes? Or do I need to do something special like screw them in or anything? Hoping to just get it unstuck and hopefully back to working normal.

 

[jep604]

So I did a full inspection and there's nothing out of place or broken suspension, axle, or bushing wise. Brakes look great, with only about half wear at 130k miles.

I think I do have a driver's side caliper that is seized though. That corner is cold to the touch when the rest are hot. That would explain the right pull on braking. Don't know how that happened as I drove it daily and it's garaged.

How do I go about getting it freed up? I've never worked with massive four piston brakes. Can I just pop the brake reservoir cap off and use a c clamp to compress the pistons one at a time like I do with my other vehicle brakes? Or do I need to do something special like screw them in or anything? Hoping to just get it unstuck and hopefully back to working normal.

Seized as in not functioning at all?

 

[onecrazyfoo4u]

Seized as in not functioning at all?

Correct, luckily it's not seized in the full brake pressure position; it's seized in the loose position, so rotor still spins freely, but caliper won't activate at all during a drive. Which shows via ice cold brake on that corner when the other three are hot after a drive.

 

[jep604]

Correct, luckily it's not seized in the full brake pressure position; it's seized in the loose position, so rotor still spins freely, but caliper won't activate at all during a drive. Which shows via ice cold brake on that corner when the other three are hot after a drive.

Wondering if you have a brake line issue? It's odd that one caliper is malfunctioning.

 

[onecrazyfoo4u]

Wondering if you have a brake line issue? It's odd that one caliper is malfunctioning.

Yeah is pretty random to happen overnight. There's no brake fluid loss and all the lines are firm, no rust. Maybe I'll try bleeding that line first to see if there's a blockage. Any problems bleeding traditionally by pumping the brakes and cracking open the caliper bleed valve? Don't want to mess up ABS or anything.

 

[Gunkk]

Presuming bad caliper here: I DO NOT recommend doing anything that will result in brake fluid running upstream toward the HECU and MC. Doing so could push particulates from the caliper up into the HECU and trash it. HECU = ABS unit. And HECUs are very expensive to purchase new in box, if you can find one.

Remove the caliper, disassemble, inspect, and rebuild if possible, replace if not. Also inspect the flexible brake lines at the caliper. Replace if any sign of wear or contamination exists. Brake lines can fail and create blockages.

Do a proper brake flush (requires a scan tool for the HECU).


Alternately, the HECU has failed. In my silver 2012, I had an HECU failure during Hurricane Irma evacuation in 2017 that resulted in losing braking in one of my front wheels. Just one. It made the car yaw something awful. Not so cool with the wife, 2 kids, trunk full of luggage and 10 gallons of fuel in jerry cans in bumper to bumper stop-and-go traffic on I-75. Anyway... consider that a possibility as well if your caliper and brake line inspection comes out clean. The HECU actuates each wheel independently and has vavles for each, and if one fails (as mine did) it can do as you describe.

 

[onecrazyfoo4u]

Presuming bad caliper here: I DO NOT recommend doing anything that will result in brake fluid running upstream toward the HECU and MC. Doing so could push particulates from the caliper up into the HECU and trash it. HECU = ABS unit. And HECUs are very expensive to purchase new in box, if you can find one.

Remove the caliper, disassemble, inspect, and rebuild if possible, replace if not. Also inspect the flexible brake lines at the caliper. Replace if any sign of wear or contamination exists. Brake lines can fail and create blockages.

Do a proper brake flush (requires a scan tool for the HECU).


Alternately, the HECU has failed. In my silver 2012, I had an HECU failure during Hurricane Irma evacuation in 2017 that resulted in losing braking in one of my front wheels. Just one. It made the car yaw something awful. Not so cool with the wife, 2 kids, trunk full of luggage and 10 gallons of fuel in jerry cans in bumper to bumper stop-and-go traffic on I-75. Anyway... consider that a possibility as well if your caliper and brake line inspection comes out clean. The HECU actuates each wheel independently and has vavles for each, and if one fails (as mine did) it can do as you describe.

Well dangit, seems like these are picky brake systems. Was really hoping to avoid having to pay dealer premiums to work on it when it's a simple thing I can normally do myself. ABS appears to be working just fine as of this morning on icy stops; I could hear all sides actuating it seems.

I'll plan to disconnect the caliper from the brake line before attempting to re-seat the pistons with a c-clamp. That should avoid anything being pushed back upstream. When I hook it back up to bleed, will it really cause issues if I do the traditional pump the brakes a few times and hold, then crack the caliper bleeder valve a few times? I would love to avoid shop fees and I've done this on all other vehicles with ABS without issue.

Checking the TSB, it looks like you can bleed traditionally at each caliper, it just won't flush out the HECU valves. At least appears like I can do something to try to troubleshoot and see if I can fix it before diving into potentially deeper problems. Granted this TSB is for 2008-2012, and mines a 2013, but should be the same I imagine. https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2013/RCRIT-13V489-0349.pdf

 

[onecrazyfoo4u]

Well the more I look into this the more I think it is the dang HECU. Cruise control is disabled with the warning sign, which points to the HECU crapping out, and is a common symptom with the driver front brake disabled.

Has anyone had luck getting recalls/TSBs applied even if I'm outside of the listed manufacturing dates by 3 months? Exact same issue, yet mine was built a few months later...sure doesn't seem like they really fixed the problem ugh...

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[Gunkk]

Red dash light = HECU.