I had front and rear struts and upper mounts replaced on my 1988 Chevrolet Nova. The mechanic said I should have work done on my brakes: replace the front rotors and pads and the leaking rear cylinders.
When I picked up the car, the brake pedal was newly squishy and the brakes were not as effective as before I dropped off the car. In other words, the brakes now had symptoms of needing work, whereas before there was nothing unusual about their performance. Based on little driving since then, the squishiness (also described as spongy or soft brake pedal) seems to be most noticeable with the first pressing, then decreases with subsequent pumping.
The car is driveable, but the brakes are certainly behaving differently from before the work on the struts. I can see that there is a bit of spilled brake fluid around the reservoir, so someone apparently topped it off recently. The clutch and brake fluid levels were fine when I checked them in April.
I am still checking my records about the last few episodes of brake maintenance on the car. But what puzzles me now is why the work on struts would trigger symptoms of brake problems that had not existed at all before.
When the rear brake cylinders are replaced it means opening up the brake hydraulic system This means the entire brake hydraulic system has to be bled after doing the repair.
From what you describe, it sounds like the brakes weren’t properly bled.
As I stated in my original message, there were no symptoms prior to the struts replacement. The question is whether the mechanic was poking around among car components and introducing new problematic symptoms. Dealing with brakes normally would have been a separate matter from replacing the struts.
I am checking around among mechanics for the brake work. The question was how the symptoms would be triggered by something unrelated.
Yes, I am familiar with the idea of bleeding the brakes, topping off the brake fluid, etc. when… actually working on the brakes. And maintaining or repairin brakes. The car was in the shop to replace the struts. How did replacing the struts lead to the squishy brake pedal, a new symptom of needing brake work. Possibly it was time for maintenance of the brakes, but there had not been any symptoms of it before the visit.
Addition: the brake fluid in the reservoir is clear, meaning new. So the mechanics did more than just top off the fluid level a little. A lot of fluid was removed, then replaced with new fluid. The squishy pedal suggests to me that air was introduced to the lines.
Before the visit, the brake fluid level remained at its normal level in the reservoir, and the fluid was somewhat discolored, meaning not new. And the pedal was not squishy.
Have you even talked to the shop that did the struts ? Seems like that would be the first thing to do . They may even be able to solve the brake problem .
As one of the former members of this forum used to say ( A car that will not start is annoying but one that will not stop is dangerous ).
Thanks, did not know that. So it is reasonable that “something” happened involving the brakes.
No, I have not returned to the shop to have the brakes bled because I am still considering whether to continue hiring this shop for work. So the larger question is whether to have brake maintenance/repair work done there, or elsewhere. Either way, no need to go back just to bleed the brakes. Here I am assuming that their assessment of leaky rear wheel cylinders and worn front rotors and pads was correct.
The possible air in the brake lines, plus the alignment they said they performed but which resulted in alignment being out of spec according to two subsequent alignment checks at two tire shops, and a couple of other discrepancies and mishaps with that shop, are why I am currently getting quotes from other shops for the brake work.
Air can enter the brake lines/hoses while they are disconnected, brake bleeding is necessary after reconnecting the hoses. If the bleed screws are rusted in the brake calipers, that might be the reason they didn’t do a good job bleeding the brakes.
I’ve never run into that before. Usually they just had a clip that bolted to the strut. But yeah if the hose had to be disconnected, that could do it. I only saw the insert though and not a complete unit. Like the kind that gets clamped on.
