Faith called in Saturday (4/4) about her brakes not working after she replaced her front pads. She’d done it successfully before. She admitted to loosening an incorrect bolt. The boys suggested that she had loosened the banjo fitting on the brake line allowing air to get into the system. They asked if pumping the pedal made any difference. Apparently it did at first, but wasn’t at the time of the call. They suggested that she needed to bleed the system. Since she could no longer “pump up” the brakes, my opinion is that the front brake portion of the reservoir is now dry, and the banjo fitting is still loose. She needs to tighten the fitting, REFILL the reservoir and THEN bleed the system.
The answer is that a mechanic will probably have to go to the car and check or the car can be towed to a shop. Your answer is better than mine but a non-trained mechanic doesn’t get the job done here. There are too many long distance questions.
The car should be towed to a shop where a qualified mechanic can correct the problem and get the system back in order properly.
A car that cannot be started can ruin your day.
A car that cannot be stopped can ruin your life and the lives of others.
This need to be corrected by someone qualified, not by the same lady.
If the banjo bolt was loosed, I would not re-tighten an old seal washer. Replace 'em.
I had two buddies call me late on a Sunday after they did just this, mistakenly took off the banjo bolt. Then they over torqued the banjo fitting and stripped the threads and it would not seal. My job was to put the car on my trailer and take to our Pro buddy. DOOOGH
Torq on the banjo fittings I am familiar with are about 12-16 ft-lbs. Easy to strip.