any mechanics offer opinion on this?

birkee

You've lost me.
Drum brake or disc caliper brake on the back?
Hydraulics are part of the handbrake on drum brakes, insofar as, that if fluid leaks, it contaminates the brake linings and drum, so the handbrake is rubbish.

The point I reached was, that drum or disc, they operate cast iron components (porous) that have been soaked in hydraulic fluid, and need to be degreased for replacement parts (brake linings or pads) to be effective.

no-oneknowsme

birkee wrote: »

You've lost me.
.

Who has ? Me or someone earlier in the thread discussing drums etc?

optimus_primera

birkee wrote: »

You've lost me.
Drum brake or disc caliper brake on the back?
Hydraulics are part of the handbrake on drum brakes, insofar as, that if fluid leaks, it contaminates the brake linings and drum, so the handbrake is rubbish.

The point I reached was, that drum or disc, they operate cast iron components (porous) that have been soaked in hydraulic fluid, and need to be degreased for replacement parts (brake linings or pads) to be effective.

Going by previous postings i'd say rear drum and shoe set up.

birkee

no-oneknowsme wrote: »

Who has ? Me or someone earlier in the thread discussing drums etc?

Sorry. The posts as a whole, not you in the preceding post no-one.

marksandsparx

Right, That doesn't make sense.. Did he replace the FRONT passengerside Caliper? I ask because if the rear has a Hydraulic disk brake, the it will certainly not have a rear hydraulic drum brake also. so if he has change a rear caliper, the stated that he changed a rear brake cylinder and shoes then he is either lying or an idiot to be honest.

Wig

marksandsparx wrote: »

Right, That doesn't make sense.. Did he replace the FRONT passengerside Caliper? I ask because if the rear has a Hydraulic disk brake, the it will certainly not have a rear hydraulic drum brake also. so if he has change a rear caliper, the stated that he changed a rear brake cylinder and shoes then he is either lying or an idiot to be honest.

Finally! someone who has spotted what I spotted ages ago.

By the way, I think a lot of you are missing the main points here.

• Vehicle brought to mechanic for a pre-plating check up
• He fixed the hand brake but does not have a rolling road
• He changed a caliper (allegedly on the rear)
• OP did not have it rolling road tested before the test
• It was thoroughly inspected by the vehicle tester
• It failed ALLEGEDLY on Handbrake alone
• It had a brake failure & leaked fluid, (not spotted by both mechanic and examiner) and crucially not on the caliper which was the part that was worked on by mechanic. And a failure on the part of the brakes which passed the vehicle examination just a day or two before, both visually and operationally.
  
• Problem was fixed i.e. no longer leaking fluid and allegedly in working order, mechanic warned customer he does not have a rolling road.
• OP Again did not have it rolling road tested before the 2nd test
• Failed the test again on brakes we don't know what sort of brakes, OP has not said if it was handbrake or foot brake and what the fail was.
• You cannot have a gauranteed pass just because you have a pre-plating inspection/repairs.
• How many times do we have to say it? Just because a car passes an MOT on one day does not mean it will pass or develop no more faults on the very next day. A plating test is essentialy an MOT with a few other test items added on.

The mechanic has done nothing wrong. And definately nothing he can be held liable for..... subject to finally getting to the bottom of the caliper/cylinder problem.

stevieboy308

Wig wrote: »

Finally! someone who has spotted what I spotted ages ago.

By the way, I think a lot of you are missing the main points here.

• Vehicle brought to mechanic for a pre-plating check up
• He fixed the hand brake but does not have a rolling road
• He changed a caliper (allegedly on the rear)
• OP did not have it rolling road tested before the test
• It was thoroughly inspected by the vehicle tester
• It failed ALLEGEDLY on Handbrake alone
• It had a brake failure & leaked fluid, (not spotted by both mechanic and examiner) and crucially not on the caliper which was the part that was worked on by mechanic. And a failure on the part of the brakes which passed the vehicle examination just a day or two before, both visually and operationally.
  
• Problem was fixed i.e. no longer leaking fluid and allegedly in working order, mechanic warned customer he does not have a rolling road.
• OP Again did not have it rolling road tested before the 2nd test
• Failed the test again on brakes we don't know what sort of brakes, OP has not said if it was handbrake or foot brake and what the fail was.
• You cannot have a gauranteed pass just because you have a pre-plating inspection/repairs.
• How many times do we have to say it? Just because a car passes an MOT on one day does not mean it will pass or develop no more faults on the very next day. A plating test is essentialy an MOT with a few other test items added on.

The mechanic has done nothing wrong. And definately nothing he can be held liable for..... subject to finally getting to the bottom of the caliper/cylinder problem.

+1 what he said!

to help you get your head road the loss of brake fluid, we don't know and never will know (unless the mech said it was inspected) if the wheel cylinder had been weeping fluid or was working and looking perfect prior to the major failure of the seal. if it was not leaking when / if inspected then unless he has a crystal ball he can't tell you how long it'll last. just because a cars looked over doesn't mean it'll last x days / months / years, it doesn't work like that!

stevie

mikey72

I reckon he replaced one cylinder on one side, and the shoes were either badly worn, or so badly seized, the other side came out so far it popped the seal out.

no-oneknowsme

ANOTHER UPDATE

Ok , it seems that I may have been confusing some other people reading because I was mentioning "calipers" apologies...being a woman who admits to knowing very little about cars I thought I was giving the correct info...

It appears that I was saying calipers but actually should have been saying CYLINDERS. One cylinder was replaced on the car on 16th March and the other was replaced just last week (when the fluid pumped out )

So , as you all know , the car failed the psv twice. The original mechanic got arsy with me and told me that he wasnt willing to deal with us anymore. In other words I cant fix your car as I have no clue what is wrong with it!

Hubby yesterday took the car to another mechanic WHO HAS A ROLLING ROAD (the same mechanic who diagnosed a pressure fault on friday) and they had the car for 6 hours and telephoned Hubby to say that the car was ready...

Hubby went to pick it up and they told him it was sorted , they had checked it on the rolling road TWICE and all was hunky dory . But :eek: they then told Hubby that the problem had been the cylinders !!!! WHAT? :eek: ,how could it be the cylinders when they were replaced , one 6 wks ago and one a wk ago?

Any way , I told Hubby to get himself back round to the mechanic and get the OLD cylinders off him just incase he was being fly....

Hubby did this and when he got home and we looked at the cylinders one was shiny and new and the other was ancient which leads us to believe that eithher the first mechanic lied about replacing the one 6 weeks ago or this second mechainc is taking the p**s and didnt actually remove these two parts from our car yesterday...

As this second mechainc had tested the car on the rolloing road and said it was passing the test we went to the psv centre this morning and booked a retest THE THIRD RETEST for this afternoon. Well , Hubby has just phoned me there to say that the bloo dy thing has failed again!

I am at my wits end with this now , 1 main test and 3 retests and still we cant get our car sorted !

What can we do? We cant afford to keep paying out time after time for repairs and retest fee's . The second mechainc charged us yesterday £235 for replacing 2 cylinders and a rear wheel bearing (which went just the other day) . Thats over £500 now to try to get the car through psv and we are no closer.

Would anyone have any advice?

So ,

colino

Why did it fail this time? Were the brake fluid contaminated shoes replaced?