Hello and Happy Thanksgiving!
I just completed a rather nice run from Laurinburg to Charlotte,
about a 2 hour trip each way. The weather was great, and the car
ran well...But it didn't stop quite as well.
About half way through my trip, I noticed that my brake pedal
travel was much
higher than I was used to. I almost wet my pants until I realized
that the car was still slowing down, and the pedal got much better
when I pumped it quickly. I made the trip there, and suspected a
leak somewhere. (For the record, everything in my braking system is
less than two years old - all rubber, hoses, cylinders, etc.) When
I got to my destination, I found that my brake fluid was still at
the same level it was when I left - at the full mark.
I began to look at the car, and found that my e-brake cable had
come loose from the driver's side of the car. From the metal on the
ends of the cable, it looks like the cable sheared through the pin
that holds it to the metal lever coming from the rear of the brake
plate!
After some thinking, I thought that one or more of my wheels
were grabbing, causing fading from the heat. The only problem is
that when braking or driving, the car DID NOT pull from one side to
another. On my way home, after a long twisty road, I pulled in to
get gas and felt each wheel hub. The hubs were all cool, along with
the calipers themselves and the brake drums. This would seem to
rule out the brake dragging theory.
Where does this leave me? Well, AFAIK, I can try to adjust my
rear brakes to take up some slack and hope that does it. But, how
would they "un-adjust" so quickly? If that doesn't work, I'm going
to guess that my brake master is messed up. That's no big deal;
it's a lifetime warranty item which was "professionally rebuilt".
I'll just have to pull it when I get home. Oh yeah, these brake
pads this guy bought feel like they're made out of plywood. They
were cheap ones, but in very good shape so I used them. That'll
teach me to use the cheap stuff.
If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. The car is safe to
drive, but if things get any worse, then I'll have to take it
someplace to get it fixed. Thanks, and enjoy your Turkey!
Michael S. Lishego
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/3706/
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