I'm happy I found this site and already it's been helpful. I bought my 04 Chevy Aveo about 9 months ago and so far so good. I enjoy driving it and love it for it's fuel economy. I had to fix a few things on it last December but now it's running like a charm.
Last December my passenger back wheel locked up solid on me! At first I thought the e-brake was stuck on or a frozen bearing. I have to mention this all happened on the first cold snap right before xmas. I wacked it a few times with a pry bar and managed to get it loose but the e-brake had a lot of play in it. I drove it like that for aabout week and then I decided to make it occur again to figure what was wrong with my e-brake. I drove the car in reverse and jammed on the brakes and I did a few brakies. That's when my wheel ceased solid.
So I rocked the car back and forth on the icy road but it wouldn't give in . So I got it towed to a shop and when they removed the back drum they found that the brake shoe had come unglued. After that, they noticed that the brake cylinder was shot and the wheel bearing was in pieces.
They had to order parts from GM which took 3 days because they had none in stock in my province. I had to buy a whole backing plate kit. It came with the shoe, backing plate, hardware and brake cylinder. It was cheaper this way than buying all the parts individually. Then I also had to buy a bearing for $180 cdn from GM because I couldn't get it anywhere else. I'm still red in the face about the $180 bearing!
The shop thinks the brake cylinder might of let go and caused this. But then the shoe might of came unglued and caused some of the damage. Or, the bearing might of been worn out and could of started this chain of events. Keep in mind I might of caused some damage to the shoe or bearing while I rocked the car back and forth....lol! I can't pin point how this whole mess started but I'm happy it didn't leave me stranded in the middle of no where.
In the OEM it does state that the brake fluid should be flushed every 2 years. I'm assuming it was never done and it could of caused the brake cylinder to fail when the weather dipped to -27C over night. Brake fluid absorbs moisture and that moisture could of froze when the temperature dipped that night.
So after reading about this online, that's how I ran into this wonderful site and I'm glad to be part of the Aveo community!
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Rescued Aveo