Brakes went on dual carriageway

Premier_2

Lum wrote: »

As already discussed, a seized calliper would get incredibly hot and over time boil the brake fluid resulting in the entire system become ineffective.

Ultimately the OP dealt with the situation well enough to not cause an accident and now has her car sorted again, no harm done

You should notice a seized on brake a long time before this, even if the car is unmaintained and you have lost all your sense of smell; a binding brake will cause significant issues in just driving a vehicle.
Performance, steering, braking, handling, etc

When brake fluid boils, it creates gas bubbles. This will only make the brake feel spongy; at worst pumping the brake pedal will restore braking.
It also shouldn't affect both of the dual circuits.
Also this isn't a sudden catastrophic failure, but a degenerating condition.
Even if, as someone suggested, the heat generated by the seized calliper blew the brake seals on that wheel, it would only affect that half of the dual circuit braking system

Premier_2

asbokid wrote: »

...The handbrake system should provide friction to both wheels even if the hydraulics have failed.

The handbrake uses brake shoes that are applied mechanically by a rod or cable. This system operates separately to the hydraulic-operated brake pads. ...

Yes it is totally mechanically operated, so that is what I am saying, it will work even with total hydraulic failure.

It is actually cable operated ... and this car has rear disc brakes
(so no shoes)
It uses the same calliper, and if it is already seized on, then the brake is on anyway!
(There is no separate pad/shoe for the handbrake)

Mankysteve

Lum wrote: »

It's very easy to sit in front of your PC and say "oh but you could do ____ in the event of ____ failure in your car". It's a lot harder to actually remember and apply that when it suddenly goes wrong on a 70mph dual carriageway.

.

Hence why people need to told again and again that this the correct course of action then when something does go wrong there more likly to remember. Its as much as a notice to other people as it to the op

Mankysteve

birkee wrote: »

Right!
But I can't remember the last time I saw copper brake pipes.
Do they still use them somewhere? I thought they had all been changed to plated steel many years back.

They dont use either its a copper alloy.

skiddlydiddly

Well when my brakes went it was a hole in the front n/s pipe losing me pressure, tried gearing down but that wasn't effective enough so on went the handbrake which did slow me but also caused the car to start to fishtail and eventually go sideways....which slowed me very quickly but gave me and the cars I was heading towards in stationary traffic to have a brown pant episode.I don't remember anyone ever telling me to use the handbrake, it was just desperation.

welshblob

I have a mondeo mk3 and have just replaced my disks and pads all round. I found my o/s rear caliper handbrake mechanism to be sticking in so much that it would just release enough pressure on the disk for the wheel to rotate without any issue. I can say that it wouldn't have taken much more for it to be binding permanently. Would I have noticed if it did, difficult to say as I have driven with the handbrake on before and only noticed about 50m down the road but that would have been both rear brakes on.
Having looked at the caliper and the talkford.com forums my guess is that the handbrake cables get sticky, not allowing the caliper to return fully and then it gets clogged up with gunk so it sticks in its own right.
Anyway it failed its MOT on this so had a refurb caliper and new handbrake cables fitted on both sides for ~£150.

Rob

cyclonebri1

Mankysteve wrote: »

They dont use either its a copper alloy.

As I said earlier, however most oe brake lines are still steel, not kunifer;)