Am I not speaking english??

[AFJuvat]

Father-in-law (FIL) calls last night at 9PM with the following condition:

Red brake warning light with a big exclamation point lit up on my dashboard. The book says when this happens, you are supposed to pull over immediately. I drove home, now what do I do?

I drive over to his house - note a few good sized puddles of fluid under the car. It smells like brake fluid.

His brake reservoir is empty. As he has been using his brakes, he now has air in his brake lines.

I refill his reservoir with brake fluid. I have him pump the brakes. Fluid is squirting out of a cracked metal brake fluid line which each pump of the pedal.

Advise FIL that truck is NOT safe to drive under any circumstances. The brakes may work now, but they may fail at ANY time, and you can be certain that they WILL fail.

FIL then asks if the car is safe to drive to work, then to the repair shop

NO NO NO a thousand times NO!!!!!!!

"If they went bad, I could just use the emergency brake"

I reply at that point, that he would risk his life, as well as anyone else who happens to be on the road.

I will avoid that part of town today.....

[Overpaid Slacker]

Maybe you are, but does your FIL understand English?

JP

[notfarnow]

Spooky!

Just before christmas, my brother stopped by with his whole fam damily. He mentioned his brake light was on and it was making "some grinding noise". Had a look, and sure enough no pad left and the rotors were starting to get chewn. He was going to drive to Montreal like that (600 miles), with his wife and two kids. He thought I was being dramatic and condescending when I told him it was seriously dangerous... wouldn't listen.

I pulled the "trump card" and told his wife and 12 yr old stepdaughter that the car was seriously unsafe. My brother was pissed, but he got the car fixed within a couple days.

[notfarnow]

Here's another similar story from a guy on the vwdiesel performance forum:

His sister had been complaining about noisy brakes, so told her to get it fixed ASAP. About a month later she called and said the car wouldn't budge... he drove out, jacked the front the car and found this:



Sometimes it sucks to be the family "car guy". You feel like you need to watch over everyone's vehicles to ensure they are safe.

[TSNAPCRACKLEPOP]

LOL>>>>>

my dad long ago taught me to drive as if there were no brakes on the car!!

it really makes you watch the developing traffic situations ahead and to the side, and helps ride motorcycles too!! try it sometime!!

sticks work better than autos

i never use the white bucket as a calpier support, to anal looking for my wire milk crate.

[legion]

My wife's aunt and uncle drove down from the UP of MI (900 mile trip) in a 15 year old Buick with a bad wheel bearings on one wheel.

My wife's uncle is notoriously cheap--even though he is loaded. He only buys things that are a "good deal". Problem is, most of the stuff he buys (cars, boats, houses) are a "good deal" because they are in extreme disrepair.

The bad wheel bearing was on the rear-left wheel. It had about a half-inch of play side to side (on a non-steering wheel!!!). I let him know that there was a chance that wheel would come off on the trip home. He drove the family home without fixing it.

[notfarnow]

"If you can't afford to fix it, you REALLY can't afford to NOT fix it."