I have a 00 Mustang and i just changed my front brake pads 2 days ago. Today i noticed a burning smell coming from just the front left wheel. Ive changed pads before but never had this issue. Any help apprieciated.

 

Stuck caliper. Happened to me on my second set of brakes.

Mustangs are bad for this.

Is it one or both wheels? Mine just happened to one and it made the wheels hot to the touch.

 

If you raise the wheel off the ground and can't spin it by hand your caliper is stuck.

 

Same here, I have had to replace all of mine since I got the car (6 years ago and started at 110k miles). I used anti-seize on the bolt that was catching until I had the $ and time for a new caliper... helped a little. That one the rubber had a crack in it so it dried out, the other 3 whatever grease they had in there broke down over time

Check your rotors when you change/fix it. Mine were warped from the heat

Edit: one of the rears stopped working after I snapped my axle so that could have been the cause for that one... the other rear was just bad.

 

Is there anything that can help prevent seized calipers or is it inevitable? I mean what can cause it? lack of use? dry conditions? corrosion or pitting of the pistons? or is it just a Ford design flaw?

 

Its a combination of a lot of things, brake dust, rust, heat, water from rain, and the fact that brake fluid will suck up moisture like a sponge. Very seldom does brake fluid get changed as part of maintence. As all these things buildup in the system, the gap between the caliper bore and the piston closes up and blinds up not allowing the piston to retract. Another problem that happens alot is that the rubber hose will "implode" or collape inside and not allow fluid the return.

It has been said by a lot of people that if you were to drain and flush the Dot3 brake system when it was brand new and install Dot 5 fluid that you could eliminate alot of these kinda problems. I think its just a part of life and yoiu deal with it as it comes.

 

My problem was the calipers wouldn't "float" because those were rusted/locked up. The only one I had problems with the piston was my 1 rear I didnt break