Alright so I bought my first diesel this last month,2002 f350 7.3 superduty crew cab long box srw rwd, it passed safety exactly 30 days ago less than 700 kms on the truck since the safety, the truck passed safety, I was hesitant towards the condition if the brakes though, (but it passed the safety check so it must be safe). Well tonight i was driving around 10-15km/h and hear a clunk from my driver side rear tire noticing instant loss of brake power and almost hitting another vehicle before stopping, I stopped looked under the truck, no parts or metal or fluids, I then proceeded home 2kms up the road when I got home I looked under the truck again and theres brake fluid everywhere and absolutely no brake pressure even after I refilled the master cylinder. I havent taken the wheels off yet as its dark out, any ideas to what it could be? is the shop that safetied the vehicle in any way somewhat responsible? what if I hit that car because of brake failure? theres obviously something that was rusting out or was missed during the safety for the brakes to fail within 700 km of safety..

 

It could be anything hydraulic in the back.... Such as caliper, hose, or a line. One thing is for sure, don't drive it the way it is. You will need to pull off the wheel and start there. I'm glad you didn't bang out or hurt your new to you truck BTW.

Most inspection places pull off one wheel for front and one for the back, mostly to check to see how much lining is left on the pad or shoe itself. By law we are also supposed to measure thickness of rotors and/or inner diameter of drum to see if they are too worn down also. But in today's rush and move it along philosophy, it's quite rare that anything beyond that gets looked at such as lines. The other reason is that ppl are broke and when mechanics get too detailed oriented (regardless if it's for safety or not) the customers complain and move to a shop that overlooks things in order to pass. I get those customers ALL the time. Many state "I'm only keeping the car/truck a little longer and I only need it to pass for a month or two. I need the money to buy the newer vehicle...yada yada yada...." Yet I see them next year with the same story.

Well point is had you crashed, you could have had a good case in court, since you didn't, IMO, no need to waste your time that route. Instead focus on the bigger issue at hand and fix the failure.

Any questions regarding repair, feel free to ask. Good luck!

 

Check the calipers I had one go out once ,didn't hear a clunk, but like you described I lost all stopping power completely

 

ah.... I forgot about the clunk!....that could be a brake pad that fell apart or out and let caliper piston come out too far and busted that seal etc...


I've seen that happen before. Thanks Diehardstroker for reminding me about that symptom Getsonk mentioned

 

Aside from the clunk check the steel brake line running between the fuel tank and the frame for rusting out.

 

well I just came inside from taking the wheel and caliper off and looking, well im missing a pad, might be because I found it in my caliper piston The tire seems like it was not off the truck recently, brake line has cracked and expanded.. im off to the parts store! I will post a beauty of a picture tonight!

 

Wow!! I was right on the money!!!


Well at least the repair isn't too much of a PITA......(NOT)
It's stinks having to replace the metal lines (personally one of my least favorite jobs)

Can't wait to see the pics!!!

 

i have seen that many many times. driving along everything fine, then hit the brakes and spit out a brake pad.
safety inspection means they hit the brakes and they worked. not that they took it apart and they were good.

a lot of inspection stations here in the states have a rolling resistance platform. they roll onto the "skids" and mash on the brakes. the computer tells the inspector how much brake equalization is being applied by each wheel.

 

Waiting for pictures also.

 

that's the jersey way.... I remember when only State cops would do them. Never liked their way. I live in PA next door to you and inspection is a little more thorough as I stated above. Good in some ways, it gives us mechanics some jobs out of them and also keep things like having pads fall out down to a minimum....

 

Wish we had inspections here in TN. I just put pads , rotors , calipers , lines on a Topkick ( GM product ) I took the pass side rear rotor off in 2 pieces ! The drivers only complaint ... " had to add fluid for the last week " ! Did I mention it was a PROPANE TANK TRUCK !!! Not a pickup, A BIG TRUCK ! With a huge friggin tank !!! Full of PROPANE ! Makes me wonder sometimes . The brought it in to " ck the brakes for a leak " We refused to let them drive it away after the price quote . Told them they had to have it towed or we would call DOT . They let us fix it after they called around !

 

lol.... Whoa!!.....very similar to a job I did recently on a dumptruck which was also pulling a 40' trailer which its electric brakes weren't even wired up....SMH .. I have pics of that job in one of my albums. Total cost was just under 6K but still well under what shops would have charged.

Although it's not as bad as a runaway propane truck!! Glad you were so persistent. Think I would've done the same...

 

and it also opens up the door for thieves to rip off people to get a sticker.

about 10 years ago took a car to a garage for inspection in New York. the "mechanic" tried telling me i needed brakes on my car and they could not let me leave the station without replacing them........... for close to $500.

i told them to hang on, walked outside, and called the new your state police to report them. the trooper showed up and the guy went into his spiel of BS for the trooper. i them told the trooper i just put all 4 wheels new brakes on the day before, and challenged him to look at the car.

the troopers were not happy. i got the sticker for free, and left the guy to deal with the troopers.

 

I did say good in SOME ways...lol Good for you! I'm glad you did what you had to there, especially since you knew what had been done. LOVE the fact that you got your stickers for free and the jerk getting reamed by the troopers...lol probably ended up getting fined too....

 

knowing the NY troopers, he most likely lost his certificate, or as i called it his cash cow.
a few years ago here in Jersey they had the bright idea of doing away with safety inspections and only doing emissions check.
the claim was that people took care of their cars and it was not worth the extra expense to do safety inspections.
the cars coming into the stations these days are mostly safe, but there are some that come in with absolutely no working lights at all, and at least one out of 100 do not have functional brakes.

and the inspectors have to let the idiots drive away with a good sticker if it passes emissions.
by talking to a few of the inspectors at the station i go to though, if they get one of those death traps in, they call the local police as the car leaves the station to get it impounded as unsafe.