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To be clear: the car leaked fluid, AAA driver said faulty bent brake line, mechanic said rusted brake line, mechanic said that since res, line and caliber were "dry", then that is why the calipers were replaced. We did pay for the repair, so the car is not a hazard. On the positive side, we sold the car and son is driving safely. The question is do I have a case for bitching at the service station and telling them they did me wrong? And not that it matters, I have replaced about a half dozen calipers in my day. And the dealership I traded it in to didn't even sit in the front seat.
Sometimes you have dual or triple problems. When a good mechanic is in there, he will fix all the existing problems and any others that he sees during the inspection.
Not all garages are out to screw the public, some do take their work seriously.
To be clear: the car leaked fluid, AAA driver said faulty bent brake line, mechanic said rusted brake line,
Do you have some reason to believe that it wasn't both bent and rusty?
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mechanic said that since res, line and caliber were "dry", then that is why the calipers were replaced.
You didn't mention this before, just that the master cylinder was dry. Brake fluid is very corrosive once oxygen hits it; if the calipers were dry there could be concern about corrosion forming. Sounds like replacing the calipers was a legitimate preventative measure for safety's sake.
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The question is do I have a case for bitching at the service station and telling them they did me wrong?
My question is, why do you even want to? Seems like a waste of time. But no, I don't think there's significant evidence here that they did anything wrong.
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And the dealership I traded it in to didn't even sit in the front seat.
They seldom do. Unless this is a lower-tier used car dealership they're probably going to send a 15-year-old car with 100K miles straight to the auction anyway.
You realize those seals are 100% independent from the caliper assembly and can be replaced on their own, right? You're replacing an entire assembly because you can't be bothered to change $5 in seals? Really? Man, since you have a money tree in your yard, can I come over a shake it a little?
That works for DIY but, sometimes the replacement remanufactured caliper is so inexpensive, it's not worth the work of replacing seals.
You know, if your master cylinder reservoir is empty before you notice something is not right, you are really not paying enough attention to checking under the hood (sometimes you can observe a lot, just by looking) and how the car drives.
The average American driver goes down the road like his butt, both feet, and both hands are shot full of Novocaine...
Not even close. You got lucky the ONE TIME you did it. Most of the time the piston doesn't come out easily. Often removing the seal completely requires a considerable amount of time with a dentist's pick. To do it RIGHT you need to hone the cylinder to reestablish a crosshatch pattern for proper sealing before reassembly. And a goodly amount of the time after you go to the trouble of taking the thing apart you find that the cylinder is pitted or cracked and can't be used anyway.
And on top of all that, by rebuilding the caliper the shop is taking on the full liability in the event that the repair fails. By installing a new or reman caliper most of that liability is passed back to the supplier.
Bottle of pop. Funny.
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Originally Posted by BostonMike7
Not all. Rear calipers with integrated e-brake use a rachet mechanism to push the piston out when the e-brake lever is pulled. These can be a total PITA to rebuild, plus the ones I'm familiar with are cast iron and rust like hell internally. Not worth rebuilding yourself.
But same applies to regular calipers I've rebuilt as well. If I crack the brake hose and see rusty brake fluid oozing out, I don't even bother. Reman calipers for a lot of makes are dirt cheap. $25-35 or so off rockauto.com or local parts stores.
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Originally Posted by WMak70
You guys have hit it exactly........there is more to a PROPER rebuild of anything than just popping out a seal and putting in a new one. I won't take my time to disassemble, clean, inspect, hone, and then rebuild a wheel cylinder or caliper, when I can buy a new one so cheap. Your quickie job may fix it temporarily, but probably not long term.
Leave brakes to people who know what they are doing.
To be quite honest, I am in no way trained on it, and could have very well done a half-ass job without realizing it. I always tried to read DIY posts and would only attempt something that I thought I knew completely how to do, but its not like I have anything to compare it to, to know for certain. (and they were only the front calipers).
Since it's not a car from the 60s with a suicide single master cylinder, and was completely dry, to me that would indicate a leak in both the front brake system and the rear brake system. Since front calipers and a rear brake line were replaced, that would seem reasonable.
Even though there is a common brake fluid reservoir, it should be divided at the bottom so the rear cannot be completely depleted of fluid by a leak in the front system and vice-versa. That's the point.
Furthermore, it's not unreasonable for a car that is fifteen years old to need calipers and have a rotted brake line.
The reason the calipers likely needed to be replaced is that the bleeder screws rust in place and can't be removed. If you can't loosen the bleeder screws you can't bleed the system. Our Suburban has done this to me a couple times now, front and rear, so brake lines and calipers. I know there are kits to get those screws out but it's quicker to swap in new cailpers.
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