@Bing I’m the same way. It drives me crazy when people misspell things or use improper grammar. I have a friend who is possibly the worst speller on the planet, and getting email/IMs from him is… Grating, to say the least.
But I also agree with @“Joe Guy” that it’s un-neighborly to fuss at a new visitor over his English mistakes. I don’t have a problem with telling kids who come on here typing in txt-speak (“i no i hav prob w/ car u fix now pls kthxbai” and similar BS) but when it’s a simple misspelling and everything else is written in understandable English, we should give 'em a brak… Brea… A Pass.
BTW, @“John Andrew McCormick” is also correct. Sometimes I fall victim to this myself. I’ll type a paragraph on my phone and not notice that it has decided that I said something inane or rude instead of what I thought I was typing. Technology has come a long way, but it can still bite us if we’re not watchful.
The OP claimed to be a recent college graduate and said he knew he misspelled brake and did not edit it. He is unemployed and with a very tough job market a future employer is not going to give him a free pass.
None of which is our concern on a car repair help website. We aren’t here to be his career counselor or life coach.
OP will have to learn how the real world works on his own much as most of us did. I’m not OP’s dad and unless OP is willing to take care of me when I retire, I’m not interested in the job.
I understand but it is not a “misspelling”, it is using the wrong word. Misspellings are one thing but word usage is something else again. At any rate isn’t it Illinois DOT that started the “Give 'em a brake” campaign? Cute but I don’t think they did anyone any favors with that and furthered the confusion with the youngsters. I’d be writing to the governor if Minnesota did that. Mature adults don’t need cute warning signs to get them to slow down-just the facts Mam.
Cute but I don't think they did anyone any favors with that and furthered the confusion with the youngsters.
Wouldn’t shock me. For a long time as a kid I thought the word was spelled “kidnergarten” because of a line from one of the Ramona Quimby books.
… Of course, I was, like, 7 and not yet a college graduate, but still…
I'd be writing to the governor if Minnesota did that.
Keep that pen ready. It’s been done in the past, and there’s talk of doing it again, although currently posting signs that spell out the minimum fine for speeding in a construction zone seems to be edging the “give 'em a break” proposal out.
Just an update if anyone is curious:
The mechanic said that everything is fine, far as he can tell. The front brakes and calipers are brand new, the rear brakes are maybe half way through their life span but otherwise fine, there are no leaks far as he could tell. I asked him about a bulging brake hose as someone had mentioned, and he said you’d never see that on this type of car and that it wouldn’t cause this issue.
His best guess was that it is the Brake master cylinder going bad, but can’t be sure since the break light wasn’t on at the time and the pedal was working fine. We agreed it was best to wait till the issue is persistent rather than intermittent so he can take a look then, rather than take an almost $300 guess. He assured me that the brakes are not in danger of failing, only that the issue I’m seeing (needing to press the pedal farther to stop) will become more frequent and eventually persistent first.
So for the time being I’m just going to keep an eye on it and save up. Thankfully I just got a job, and I’m staying with relatives to save money so I should be ready financially in time to repair it. With a little luck I’ll have enough to get the evap system fixed (there is an error code related to it) as well, since I’m 99% certain I’ll need to do that to pass an emissions test, and transfer my registration and whatnot over from FL to PA. It’d be MUCH easier to do all of that at once.
I wasn't going to say anything but now that you mentioned it, 10% of college grads think Judge Judy is on the Supreme Court.
Well, there IS an opening...
(Actually one of the “unintentionally funny moments” on TV was when I was watching a special on the Greenbriar bunker for congress in the event of nuclear war. They had it for congress and their families, and another one for the president. They said NOTHING about the legislative branch; I suppose the thinking is, “Lawyers are like cockroaches–surely we can find 9 of 'em that survived the blast and work with that!”
The mechanics best guess is that the master cylinder might be going bad. When it involves brakes I don’t want guesses. Get a second opinion . Even at 300.00 to replace the cylinder that would be better than crashing into the back of someone.
I second a second opinion. You don’t mess around with a master cylinder. I had one fail once while driving. I was a couple of blocks from my house when it failed. At the first stop sign the brake pedal went a little lower, at the next stop sign the pedal went to the floor and I had no brakes. I was able to creep home using the parking brake.
Bunkers- They had one for Congress…But said nothing about the legislative branch???
I am sorry but anyone doesn’t find a recent college grad using the same wrong word in a post annoying puzzles me. Especially when he admits he saw the error but was too lazy to correct it.
I also don’t believe him, You can’t accidentally do that 4 times,
If the car has rear drum brakes they don’t have to be worn out to mimic a failing master cylinder.
Being out of adjustment is enough to create a problem like this so I hope the mechanic took this factor into consideration before dismissing the rear brakes as the cause.
I have a bit of an issue with the mechanic telling you to motor on and his guarantee that the brakes won’t fail.
So what happens in the event of a panic stop at 70 MPH and the pedal decides to go to the floor instead of just sinking a bit…
“I asked him about a bulging brake hose as someone had mentioned, and he said you’d never see that on this type of car and that it wouldn’t cause this issue.”
That’s is not true
The car does have rubber brake hoses
They can fail like I said, I’ve seen it, and it can lead to an accident
What concerns me more is that this mechanic is advising you to keep driving until it gets worse
If you hit somebody, and there are injuries, it will get worse
On the Camrys I have owned (3) the rear brakes are adjusted by using the parking brake. If you haven’t used it in a while (maybe never) the rears will not adjust. I would try manually adjusting the rear brakes before going to more expensive things. Just my thoughts.
Yes,either a period and a capital B, or just a comma. However , I didn’t even finish high school. No offense taken. At least we don’t seem to getting posts in stream of conciseness, text message English anymore.
Brakes that sometimes don’t work are not dangerous? Really? One thing I don’t EVER mess with is brakes. If I have a problem I diagnose it until I know what is wrong and FIX it. There can be no worse feeling than stepping on the brakes when you really need them and finding that they don’t work. Courtesy of a horrific repair job by Sears (many years ago) I was left without brakes on the Cross Bronx Expressway in Manhattan during rush hour. By the grace of god, and some slick shifting using a manual transmission, I managed to get us out of harms way without dying. Don’t let that happen to you!!!
