@csa: As my expertise in this area is clearly not as advanced as some people, I hereby rescind my comment.
Thanks for criticizing my spelling. That was really appreciated.
"Thanks for criticizing my spelling. That was really appreciated"
Sorry, It Was A Cheap Shot On My Part. I Was Raised Better Than That.
The guys who gave the advice you were disputing, are quite knowledgeable and I took your comment as kind of snipey, my bad.
CSA
Halfspindoctor, I think it takes a big man to make the admission you did. I tip my hat to you.
Welcome to our group. Rattles and strollers are in the mail.
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Someone asked me to post back and say what happened.
While I agreed with those who thought I should get a second opinion, I had no way to get the car anywhere else and then get back to where I was living. A charity stepped in and paid for the repairs.
To the person who wondered how I managed to stop when the brakes failed, my car was loaded down with hundreds of phone books, so their weight did it. Even with working brakes (and the parking brake off), it was hard to accelerate with all that weight, so it just naturally came to a stop.
To the person who thought this post was a hoax, why would it be a hoax? The question and the situation were perfectly valid. In any case, I sure wish this wasn’t my life right now, but it’s real. I have more questions/problems, which I’ll post in a new thread. Just wanted to give the ending to this one.
“so it just naturally came to a stop” No, conservation of momentum means that it is more difficult to stop with a heavy cargo. Unless you were on an upgrade.
The important point you (OP) seem to be missing is: If you own an old car, you need money for the repairs when it breaks. And it will break. If you can’t afford to keep it running, sell it.
No money and no place to live. Instead of going to a day work center or looking for a job he is on an internet forum wasting time.
But they have a computer. Just waiting for their ship to come in, and they’re waiting at the airport!!!
Yosemite
I usually prefer to let you all self-regulate when possible, but Volvo, I think the judgment in your comment is quite unfair. You don’t know everything that’s happened in the past month, and the OP asked for help with the car in a bad situation. How often do people here wonder what happened to people who never post back, or assume they just didn’t like the feedback given?
@InMyTimeofDying, I wish you all the best and I hope you find the help you need.
Here’s what happened: OP overheated his rear brake. This transferred heat to the brake fluid. This made the brake fluid boil. This made his pedal soft and scared the hell out of him because he thought he had no brakes.
But!
He still had brakes. That’s how he stopped. The pedal was just mushy and the brakes were less effective because not as much pressure was being exerted on the calipers/shoes. After the fluid cooled down, the pedal wasn’t mushy anymore and his brakes returned to normal.
I’ve had this happen to me a few times on corner-heavy race tracks with street cars that don’t have sufficiently upgraded braking systems (track tours/track days). It freaks you right out, but all that really happens in the moment is that your stopping distance gets longer. Once you stop overworking the brakes, things cool down and get back to normal.
Pep Boys just got a lot of money out of OP and didn’t even replace what needs replacing, which is the master cylinder. It’s working fine now, but boiling the fluid will eventually lead to a leak past the piston seals, mainly because when you press the pedal and it’s soft, you freak out and slam the pedal to the floor, which moves the seals past their normal travel area and they pick up gunk from the cylinder walls, which eventually fails the seal.
Fortunately, MC replacement is really easy and OP could do it himself with a couple of hand tools and a friend to help him bleed the brakes when the new part is in. Unfortunately if OP is unwilling or unable to do it himself, he can expect another $600 bill to have a shop do it.
Pep Boys just got a lot of money out of OP
Pep Boys cut their “estimate” by over 50% when the charity contacted them. Have a bunch of theories about this, all containing the idea that their initial estimate was inflated. I could see knocking off 10 or 15%, but more than half?
cdaquila, thanks for your kind words.
Volvo & your ilk, yes, I have a 5-year-old laptop. I’m not a bum, wasn’t always broke, and the circumstances that brought this about are none of your business. No, I’m not “wasting time” on this forum, I’m online trying to get help with my car (and find work, and find housing). Maybe instead of condemning me, you could offer a job? Because it’s not that I’m not willing to work, it’s that I’m not getting any job offers for work I can do. Healthwise, I can’t do physical labor jobs, but I’m well educated and can do white-collar work.
Carolyn (cdaquila) you are a fantastic lady. I’m glad you spoke up.
OP, your “handle” combined with your description of your situation worries me. I sincerely hope that if your handle is a manifestation of your current situation you’re accessing help. There are free services for people going through difficult times.
I wish you my sincere best. Life can be difficult at times, but things do get better.
I could see knocking off 10 or 15%, but more than half?
Maybe they decided to contribute to the goodwill repair once a legitimate charity inquired. I’m sure they get all kinds of stories from people but when a real charity gets involved, they try to help out too. Put yourself in their position when formulating hypothesis…
Good luck, it’s a tough environment now to be unemployed. It can be hard to remain positive when you’re at rock bottom. I scraped the bottom once in my life and it made me appreciate everything that has come since. One thing a guy I work with told me about his time there- he had an epiphany when he realized- they can only take all of it. He’s bounced back quite well too and is actually better off for the experience. Things WILL get better and you’re tougher than you realize.
In my location in east central Indiana, we have had several big auto parts factories close throwing people out of work. Many of these people are in a real bind because they can’t sell their houses and move elsewhere because they still owe money on their mortgages. I’ve seen big men break into tears at our local food bank because they have to have assistance. These people will take any temp job they are offered such as delivering phone books.
A car is a necessity in looking for work. A person came last the other day in a beat up old pickup truck. I had pitched an old rusted metal rack out of the garage and this man asked what I wanted for it–he wanted to resell it for scrap metal if I gave him a good price. I gave him the rack–Mrs Triedaq,had been after me to get rid of it. On trash day, we see people making the rounds ahead of the sanitation truck looking for salvageable items.
When I visit our public.library, there are alway people in there using the computers to get on the internet because they don’t have internet service at their residences. People need transportation and the means to communicate in today’s world. Any assistance we can provide on this board is probably appreciated.
Boiling the brake fluid by driving with the parking brake on can occur, especially when loaded with phone books. The boiling fluid puts cas in the lines which is compressible. Modern cars don’t have a front brake system and a rear brake system. The one compartment of the master cylinder handles the right front and the left rear. The other compartment handles the left front and right rear.
$70 for delivering a van load of phone books isn’t enough for the strain it puts on the van, let alone wages. Any minimum wage job would leave you money ahead. You need to talk to the dept of social services or whatever it is called in your state.
I suspect they would have recommended replacing the rear wheel cylinders if you had the brakes inspected before you drove with the parking brake on. 17 year old cars generally show signs of brake fluid seepage from the rear wheel cylinders. I didn’t see an explanation of why they recommended replacing the wheel cylinders, did you ask?