Xmas day brake failure

[NOMONEYBUTAMERC]

Having been invited to our daughters for Xmas dinner we decided to take the wifes Hyundai Matrix , so that she could drive us home and i could have a drink. (She can only drive an automatic ).Had to pick my mother up on the way. Pulled up outside of mothers , collected mother and parcels , put foot on brake pedal , put car in drive and felt the brake pedal was a bit soft. Pushed hard on the pedal , straight to the floor! Two hundred yards further we would have been going downhill and having to brake at t-junction with the High st. Scary moment , and glad it happened when I was driving it , not the wife.

 

[robertall]

Is that in the 450 sl? Xmas day = bad timing.

 

[Stocho]

Is there any UK or EU body that such potentially lethal incidents could be reported to? Does there have to be a high profile lethal accident for such issued to be noted formally?

 

[NOMONEYBUTAMERC]

No Roberttall , the wifes Hyundai. The SL is safely tucked away in the garage. The brakes on that will never fail. Luckily only 2 miles from home ,so crawled back in low , with hand hovering over parking brake! Switched to company car , and arrived in time for lunch. Judging by the fluid over osf wheel either wheel cylinder or split brake pipe appears to be the cause.

 

[Paparazi]

Well it won't be a wheel cylinder as this has disc brakes up front.....either the flexi hose burst or a very corroded metal brake pipe, maybe caliper piston seal failure but less likely.

Martin

 

[trapperjohn]

Did I miss a thread somewhere about a new to you SL. Congrats on that BTW. Cool.

 

[robertall]

No Roberttall , the wifes Hyundai. The SL is safely tucked away in the garage. The brakes on that will never fail. Luckily only 2 miles from home ,so crawled back in low , with hand hovering over parking brake! Switched to company car , and arrived in time for lunch. Judging by the fluid over osf wheel either wheel cylinder or split brake pipe appears to be the cause.

Glad it aint the merc. However, hyundai and Kia both appear solid budget cars, alrhough anything can happen at anytime with vehicles.

 

[flango]

Regular occurrence on Hyundai they either burst the brake flexis or pop the seals in the master cylinder, get them checked everytime it goes for service as they often get overlooked

 

[NOMONEYBUTAMERC]

Did I miss a thread somewhere about a new to you SL. Congrats on that BTW. Cool.

No John , have had the SL for 4 years . I have got a C240 coming in April ( its free! ) .

 

[NOMONEYBUTAMERC]

Just took the osf wheel off and had a look. unfortunately its not the flexipipe, but the one it connects to. goes through the suspension turret , then disappears behind the engine somewhere ! Ends up in a manifold on the nearside . looks to be a right pig of a job , needing removal of numerous bits to get access to all the clips etc. Not really a job to be done out on the driveway , so will probably get it picked up by a local garage and get ready for some sucking of teeth and head shaking , followed by a nice bill.

 

[NOMONEYBUTAMERC]

Having tried in vain to use a mobile mechanic ( of the 3 listed in Weston-super-Mare 1 said he could not do the job for 2 weeks , the others neither answered the phone or returned my calls ) , I rang Kwik MOTs. They arranged a truck with a spectacle lift to collect the car on sunday at 1.00 pm ( automatic , so needed a suspended tow) at a cost of £35 . Monday afternoon they called to say the car was ready , and they had replaced both copper brake lines on the front for just £92.00 plus vat , including parts . Even offered to deliver the car back to us. Great service , very reasonable cost. Mrs Nomoney glad to get her mobility back and I was pleased not to have to freeze my butt off to get the job done .

 

[robertall]

Sometimes it is better to pay somebody else than do it yourself