A lot of times, a mechanic’s least favorite vehicle to work on is one that someone else already worked on. I don’t mean one that’s had work done correctly, but one that someone tried to work on and failed, whether by lack of experience or lack of tools. Sometimes it’s just a job done wrong that needs to be redone, but other times it’s a half-finished job that needs to be figured out.
A Honda HR-V was brought into the shop that somebody had attempted to replace the rear brakes on. These have electric parking brakes built into the rear caliper, which requires the right knowledge and tools to service. Fortunately they had only tried on side to start with.
It looked like they were doing things the right way to manually retract the piston, with the motor removed from the caliper, but then they just left the motor hanging from the suspension, and disconnected the caliper from the hose.
The hose was clamped off with a pair of vice grips, and a plastic bag was attempting to catch the fluid still leaking from the hose. The fact that the customer was still driving this is a little scary.
The piston had been popped out of the caliper body, so the tech that was given this car sold the customer a whole new caliper assembly. I’m all for working on your own cars, but sometimes it’s better to take your car into a good shop instead of trying to do the job yourself if you aren’t completely sure how to. It’s better than messing something up and having to spend even more money.
New blog post or video every Monday, plus pictures throughout the week on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Watch Mechanical Malarkey on YouTube!
Mechanical Malarkey T-shirts, hats, and stickers are available to order!
-Dan
Mechanical Malarkey 