woman just dropped a car off at a colleague's, he was out so i asked her if it was booked in,yes she said last week but ive had to get my husband to dig it out for me this morning,whats wrong with it i asked? ,no brakes she said,what i said?, ive had a right time getting it down the big hill on the handbrake she proudly announced
what if you hit someone i said and killed them and went to prison
what did you expect me to do she said
recovery i said
but that will cost money she said as she ordered a taxi home
seriously im still lost for words
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Stick it up her and rip her off for the lot new brakes all round and the pipes too make her pay.!!
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Some people are just so selfish and have no common sense. Of course I have driven cars with snapped springs, worn shocks and rusting brake pipes but I always got it fixed as soon as I found out or scrapped it.
I would never dream of driving with no brakes, well I drove my dads Fiesta which felt like it had no brakes, one look at the pads/discs and I found out why. Didn't drive the car again until after the new pads and discs were fitted.
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How the dickens does a car get so bad that the brakes have completely failed these days.
I'd like to be there to have a good look round this gem when your mate gets to look at it, any chance of some pics of the findings.
We could use them to bump start our very own rogues gallery thread.
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>> no brakes she said,what i said?
Really no brakes, or leaden footed on ice (once) and presuming the foot brake will never work again until repaired?
Last edited by: AnotherJohnH on Sat 4 Dec 10 at 13:53
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Loose or corroded brake pipe would be the simplist way. I suppose there are idiots who let their pads and shoes run down to metal too.
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I suppose there are idiots who let their pads and shoes run down to metal too.
>>
I've seen some sights over the years, don't suppose they're a deposit on what real mech's have found though.
Reno 11, front pads worn to the metal and left till the discs were no thicker than a 25thou feeler blade, should have kept them for souveniers.
Citroen 2CV sort of thingy, front pad missing completely car had been stopping on the piston one side, it had formed a peak like a baseball cap.
Countless others but always remember these two, in both cases the driver's must have had the sensitivity of a Rhino not to have felt the graunching through the pedal let alone being deaf as a post.
I hope we keep the annual MOT test, dread to think what might be running round should it ever go to bi annual.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Sat 4 Dec 10 at 14:05
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She may have just lost her servo assistance. Many drivers think they've lost their brakes when that happens. Similarly, you'll hear them say the steering locked up when they lose power assistance.
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>>
>> I hope we keep the annual MOT test, dread to think what might be running
>> round should it ever go to bi annual.
>>
Cars would be a lot safer if MoT tests were bi-annual.
Think about it ;-)
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Hee hee. The pedants will be along in a minute :-) Oops! Have they arrived?
John
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...if MOT tests were biannual...the pedants will be along in a minute...
Sorry for the delay, been out shovelling snow in the hope no more will fall.
The word for every other year is biennial.
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>
>> Cars would be a lot safer if MoT tests were bi-annual.
>>
>> Think about it ;-)
>>
Ah, slinks off humming quietly..;)
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Many years ago I jumped in Mrs H's Singer Chamois (Hillman Imp) to move it out of the drive, trod the brake and the pedal thudded into the carpet. Fluid could be seen dripping from the rusty patch on the front-to-rear pipe. Without thinking about it too deeply, I drove it from Yeadon to Bradford to get it fixed, braking on the handbrake.
A fair candidate for BB's vilification ...
What I should have done, of course, is crimp said pipe with Mole grips so at least I had some front brakes underfoot.
Recovery? What's that?
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no brakes at all at all
pedal to da metal and not so much as a retard in sight
apart from the owner
that is
will update when i see him next week
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I have to confess I drove a Morris 1000 with a failed master cylinder once - learnt my lesson when it biffed a fence when I tried to stop. - the fence is still there, still slightly indented where the Moggy made contact.
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Good handbrake on the morris though (or it should be, if working properly.)
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It was, when the brakes failed, I thought I'd better try and stop, so I mounted the verge and lifted the handbrake, sadly it locked the back wheels rather quickly and I slid across the verge into the fence...not funny at the time - aged 18 and a bit !
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The cylinder went on my dads 1000 on the way back from London to Manchester on the M6. It happened some where in the south Midlands and he thought the best thing to do was carry on driving all the way to Manchester with no brakes. I suppose there was less traffic in those days.
I would imagine the brakes must have worked a bit otherwise he would have stopped. That said as mentioned above when I first drove my dads Fiesta I noticed the straight away the brakes were not working properly and my dad hadn't noticed. The discs were so scortched the pads were making poor contact.
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"I would imagine the brakes must have worked a bit otherwise he would have stopped"
I think I know what you mean...........
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I psoted on another place about a Morris Minor....
w3ww.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=53230
Towing a car - Thu 21 Jun 2007 14:39
I still remember it well.
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In the days of drums practically half the cars on the road had dodgy brakes. I've lost count of the number of vehicles I have driven on the road that needed skill, or a lot of space, to stop them.
A master cylinder going wrong doesn't usually just collapse and give no braking. Vigorous pumping of the brake pedal will provide almost normal braking in most cases. But it does indicate that attention is needed.
Fluid in the drums resulting from leaking slave cylinders can be quite bad.
One of the worst things is a leaking or defunct servo in a modern car with power brakes.
I hate dealing with brakes - all that filth, all those strong springs - but I often had to in my self-maintaining days. What's a bit of pollution and a few minor wounds compared to not being able to get a move on because the car won't stop from any respectable speed?
I think the expression is np-brainer.
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The Moggie's cylinder was located in the chassis under the floor by the driver's feet - wide open to attack by road filth and salt....sadly they failed suddenly.....I owe that car a lot, RWD skills and how not to stop in a hurry.
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>> The Moggie's cylinder was located in the chassis under the floor by the driver's feet
>> - wide open to attack by road filth and salt....sadly they failed suddenly.....I owe that
>> car a lot, RWD skills and how not to stop in a hurry.
>>
Smart 4-twos have their master cylinder under the floor...the brake pedal is attached directly to the cylinder/servo assembly.
The brake light switch is there as well, and often fills up with water.....
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Sounds like they based it on the Moggie - if you ever drove one the pedal sprouted up from the floor and was connected directly to it - nonsense design.
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>> The Moggie's cylinder was located in the chassis under the floor by the driver's feet
>> - wide open to attack by road filth and salt
The cylinder was inside a box section, and not in fact very exposed - corrosion of the cylinder from outside does not affect the inside. The big problem was that to change it the O/S torsion bar had to be removed.
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I remember there was a removable flap in the floor above it so you could notionally check it !
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>> I remember there was a removable flap in the floor above it so you could
>> notionally check it !
and wasn't it a gert big brass nut to undo to see the fluid?
Really was an idiotic place to put the thing though and as FT remembered a pita to change...or re-rubber as we used to do in those days before everything became throwaway.
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"What's behind you" or "The Moggie reminiscence thread". :-)
So while we're at it, do you remember that stuff that you could use to "save" a de-coke? You drove round looking like a destroyer putting down smoke for HMS Price of Wales. Emissions, officer?
John
Last edited by: Tooslow on Sun 5 Dec 10 at 15:20
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Worst aspect was removing the mounting bolt that went through the m/cyl. The torsion bar doesn't have to be removed a strong bar will move it sufficiently. Trick is to lubricate the bolt occasionally.
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>> a strong bar will move it sufficiently.
If you can find any metal to serve as a fulcrum.
>>Trick is to
>> lubricate the bolt occasionally.
Trick is to stay away from the little monsters altogether :-(
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Mine was a love/hate relationship. One plus point was that you didn't need a HRW as you could wipe the back window from the driver's seat at a stretch....so you know what's behind you !
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Nowt wrong with them, youngsters these days are cosseted :)
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>> The torsion bar doesn't have to be removed a strong bar will move it sufficiently.
That is not nice.
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>> I remember there was a removable flap in the floor above it
There was a pressed-steel cover held by 6 screws, I think. That sort of thing is OK until the caged nuts start to go around...
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First jopb i did on the SWMBO to be's Minor was (and I didn't know when i started) to restore the brakes from 50% to 100% operative.
One piston each side at the front seized, rear cylinders (both) solid in the back plate so not floating.
She complained the brakes were too fierce when it was finished - I learnt a lot from that car.
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Fierce brakes on a Moggie ! Wonderful cars to learn things on, not least the forgotten (obsolete ?) skill of using a starting handle - still have all my fingers !
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...not least the forgotten (obsolete ?) skill of using a starting handle - still have all my fingers !...
Moggies start a treat on the handle, partly because they have an electric fuel pump.
Little chance of injury due to so little compression.
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Still a good training tool - start up on a cold morning was
1. Ignition on
2. Choke out
3. Hit fuel pump with blunt object
4. Insert Starting handle,
5. Find TDC
5. Engage handle....
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>> Little chance of injury due to so little compression.
8.5:1.
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...8.5:1...
From the factory, maybe, but not after years of use and abuse.
Turning a Minor over on the handle really was very easy.
A petrol Land Rover we had was much harder, and could cause injury.
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whats behind you? - Bigtee
