Biggest coincidence, or did I get fucked?

[east or bust]

Called an alignment shop yesterday and was quoted $100-120 over the phone, potentially could be a bit more if stubborn bolts delay the process, cool.

Drop off vehicle this morning and receive a call around noon informing me of multiple other things wrong (almost to be expected). In short, a worn pitman arm up front and a brake leak. They would not do an alignment without installing the new part which i was told would bump the price by about 5 (i know i can buy and install a pitman arm for a lot less than that).

so... I said i respected there position but was not looking to spend that much money on an old car at this point in time, however i would pay whatever the labor cost it took to look at it and make those determinations.

Go pick up the car around 1pm, and initially the brakes felt a bit funky to me. Not in the same condition as when i had dropped the vehicle off 4 hours ago. Two miles down the road and something is definitely up. Get back to the office (3-4 miles) and I can push the pedal to the floor. Get it parked, pump pedal a couple times, yep i got nothing. Get out, huge puddle leaking from somewhere up high in the rear that i can’t see without getting in the puddle.

Is this the biggest coincidence in the world or did i just get fucked with??? I find it extremely hard to believe the vehicle could develop such a catastrophic brake leak in the 100ft they drove it in their lot to the lift and back.

Fuck

[Todd Zander]

sounds like the rear rubber line from the frame to the axle let go on the lift. not necessarily their fault

[KyleLanTheman]

Picture of whats leaking will answer your question. It may be obvious if something broke from wear/tear or impact/negligence Year/make/model?

[Obstruction]

Inclined to go with coincidence. Leak like that can go from sorta bad to totally f'ed in no time. But you'll know better after you get a look at it.

[The Tortoise]

Have you been to this shop before? Do you trust them?

[SumJongGuy]

More often than not, whenever I go start working on something pretty old to fix something seemingly simple it all decays in to a bunch of other parts getting impacted either directly or simply from the rattling around of other stuff downstream of what I was actually working on. Like replacing a faucet with some banging around can result on a pipe and joint fitting 10 feet away starting to leak and also needing replacement. Had I not started messing with things, it might have held on another few months or a year. Did I cause the problem? No, but my meddling accelerated the failure which was already imminent.

[Beaver]

They put it on the hoist and one dude said, "Hey look at this," because he saw a little wetness on a brake line. Buddy came over and looked and gave it a wiggle. Fucked. It might have lasted a while but once he wiggled it you're fucked.

[Obstruction]

They put it on the hoist and one dude said, "Hey look at this," because he saw a little wetness on a brake line. Buddy came over and looked and gave it a wiggle. Fucked. It might have lasted a while but once he wiggled it you're fucked.

Bingo!

[Micol]

Buddy came over and gave it a wack with a hammer

fify

[AK47bp]

This is why I don't take myself to the doctor.

[fatnslow]

I think Flowing is the resident expert on shitty brake line repair so just PM him for step by step tutorial with pictures of his skinned hands and missing tip of his left pinky. Highly unlikely the shop "caused" your problem other than as someone suggested a little tug where the line was weeping and now it turned into a full shower.

[ill-advised strategy]

Fwiw... just as an anecdotal data point: last year I brought my ford to a mechanic friend to have something welded....an old rusty brake line gave it up as he was moving it into the shop...just a coincidence...I was there opening the garage door. It just happened to be right at that moment when he was driving it. So, you know, it really could be a coincidence.

[XXX-er]

In short, a worn pitman arm up front and a brake leak.

so what I hear you saying is that the shop told you the brakes were leaking

so I don't think its a coincedence that when you picked the vehicle up

the brakes were leaking

[iceman]

Well yeah but now the brakes are leaking.

[highangle]

They put it on the hoist and one dude said, "Hey look at this," because he saw a little wetness on a brake line. Buddy came over and looked and gave it a wiggle. Fucked. It might have lasted a while but once he wiggled it you're fucked.

My first thought was someone left a bleed valve cracked open, or broke it off. But need to know the source of the leak first, because it sounds like brake fluid leaked out and/or air in the brake lines.

[highangle]

Fwiw... just as an anecdotal data point: last year I brought my ford mechanic friend to have something welded....an old rusty brake line gave it up as he was moving it into the shop...just a coincidence...I was there opening the garage door. It just happened to be right at that moment when he was driving it. So, you know, it really could be a coincidence.

Fords are good about that.
I got out of a high speed run when the truck started getting a little loose. First place I could pull off the road was a little 1-bay tire shop. 5 minutes until 5 on Friday. BF, Minnesota.
Got out to look. Yep. Tire hissing. I laughed - best possible spot.
Dude acted like he was expecting me. Acted so glad to get some business, I ended up buying a whole set of new tires for not a whole lot.

[RShea]

My first thought was someone left a bleed valve cracked open, or broke it off. But need to know the source of the leak first, because it sounds like brake fluid leaked out and/or air in the brake lines.

The puddle he mentioned is not caused by air in the brake line (other than now it has leaked out most of the fluid from the system there is room for much more air in the brake lines because of the leak and puddle...)

[stuckathuntermtn]

My ABS light came on after getting something done with my tires. They even let me take it to a shop down the road as a courtesy. Whatever. The ABS sensor just died when they rotated the tires or whatever they did. Years ago. Can't remember. Probably a similar situation to what people are describing here: fiddle with it and what was gonna break soon anyway will. I like how the brakes feel without the ABS actually.

This is why I don't take myself to the doctor.

Lol. Went to do some work at a Urology clinic (not on the patients!) and there was this huDge speed bump in the parking lot.
Hm....

[Rideski]

Get out, huge puddle leaking from somewhere up high in the rear that i can’t see without getting in the puddle.

Leaking from up high? Rear? Did they close the cap on the fluid reservoir? That would typically be the front but there's usually no lines up high in the rear?

[east or bust]

I’ve been a bit high strung lately, stressed with a move coming up, potentially missing a ski trip I’ve had planned for 5 months due to said move, legal shit, the list goes on. Thinking about this with a level head has me more closely aligned with the idea that something popped loose on the lift or a bit of unintentional tinkering is the culprit. Who knows, maybe attempting to have an alignment done today saved my life on the drive home.

I’ll try to get some pics tomorrow. The main line from the master looks like it runs on top of the frame in the rear, then spilts to each wheel 2’ or so on the driver side of the diff.

[MakersTeleMark]

You are a fucking idiot, coincidence?

Your brakes are/were fucked. People that look at cars all day told you this.

Idiot much?

[highangle]

The puddle he mentioned is not caused by air in the brake line (other than now it has leaked out most of the fluid from the system there is room for much more air in the brake lines because of the leak and puddle...)

Well yeah, but he still can't seem to answer where it's coming from. Must be too much trouble to look, which it could legitimately be, in a very constrained set of circumstances.

[KyleLanTheman]

You are a fucking idiot, coincidence?

Your brakes are/were fucked. People that look at cars all day told you this.

Idiot much?

Damn. Tell us how you really feel, need a hug man?

[east or bust]

You are a fucking idiot, coincidence?

Your brakes are/were fucked. People that look at cars all day told you this.

Idiot much?

My brakes are/were fucked when i drove it to the shop in perfect working condition?

TGR tool post of the day, keep up the good work.

[Todd Zander]

in his defense you did bring it in to get an alignment with worn steering components.