Advice needed regarding brake hose clamps

[Edreak]

Hi guys,
If a mechanic forgot to remove a brake hose clamp after having a quote rejected, would this eventually cause the brake to fully lock onto the rotor?

Thanks.

Scottie

[RS13]

It would definitely cause a restriction in flow both ways. Applying the brake would force fluid through the restriction into the caliper, then when the brake is let off the pressure in the line from clamp to caliper would still be holding the brake on, although it would eventually partially drop in pressure.. depends how tight the clamp is. Short answer, yes.

[Edreak]

Thanks RS13, I tried to explain this to the manager of a reasonably large mechanic workshop here in Christchurch while seeking him to pay half of the damages done to the car (left rear wheel fire). The short answer was sod off, he's claiming the calipers were jammed when I rejected his quote and picked up the car, however the report clearly state the right to be jammed and that they didn't check the left (Mechanic told me that to my face as well).

I know the left wasn't jammed as it would lock up under pressure from the brake pedal, the right fair enough but was jammed open as the car would still glide once disengaging the clutch. Going to have to get a few additional Mechanical opinions before I take him to court over the damages.

Thanks

Edreak

[holden_fan2005]

100% would. Had this issue while doing burnouts. Would be hard on the brakes and the fluid would seep through, pressurize the lines and start cooking the brakes.

[Edreak]

Thanks Holden_Fan,
I'm a little gob stopped he would say it couldn't cause the brakes to lock up, going to have to phone a few Mechanics tomorrow get their opinion in writing before taking him to small claims court.

[phoenix]

It depends on a bunch of factors. Chucking polygrips to line lock the brakes (for burnouts) can displace enough fluid to hold the brakes lightly on, causing the heat, but is less likely to allow additional fluid through.

In this case (if they even did attach something) it'd be the plastic type of grip, more likely to allow fluid to flow under pressure.

Did you find a clamp left on the vehicle? How far did you drive after going to the mechanic?

In my opinion, you had a fault with the brakes, you chose not to have it fixed, kept driving it, a fault occurred in another area of the brakes. Car caught fire. Now you want someone else to pay half the cost. If it was really their fault wouldn't you want them to be paying the whole cost?

And the fact you drove around knowing something was wrong voids any sort of insurance you could claim regarding the fire.

[Edreak]

I knew there was a problem on the right agreed, and it was booked in to be serviced for this coming Thursday to have the seized caliper resolved. Quote was rejected due to a number of factors:

1) Took three hours to get me a quote
2) The Admin staff was doing the pricing and didn't talk to mechanic and wanted me to tell her what the Mechanic had said about what was wrong
3) Eventually when I got pricing it was from the Manager who was claiming both left and right had seized in his pricing, when talking to the Mechanic the left was not mentioned, plus the way the Manager responded to my questioning the pricing procedure in the company resulted in a very abusive rant.

End result I was not happy with the pricing / Service I was getting for the hard earned cash, the problem had started a month prior and suspected it was brake shoes due to the previous Warrant (same place) showing only 3mm on the left rear brake pad, so when braking was not the same I choose to have them changed out and this is where this all begun.

Friday I picked the car up and drove about 5 KM to my current garage and told them about the problems he seemed happy the car was drivable for a while yet, Saturday no driving, Sunday no driving, Monday 14KM to work, where in an empty car park I thought I would test the breaks responsiveness out and slammed the anchors on, sure enough the rear right seemed not to engage which poised me to book the Specialist to refurbish the right rear and look over the left (unchecked seemed dodge to me on that report), but left seemed ok, it was the drive home where the fire took place, thankfully when the brakes fully died I was outside the garage it's at now so I pulled it in there and he found the clamp today while inspecting the damage.

I approached the old garage on the half cost only on the ground that we're all humans and we make stuff ups, I do in the Smart Meter career I'm in, and I share my level of the stuff up cost wise, plus I have had several years of good service from those mechanics (the management changed recently), so I thought heck one major stuff up isn't bad lets meet them half way.

Thanks

Edreak

Edit: While receiving the news about this clamp, I asked about the right hand Caliper, which he could move by hand, fair enough the brakes are dry at the time, but he's going to look closer at it again once the left rear is fixed up. I have a suspicion that it's not as it was reported, but I'll post that outcome as it develops.

[Edreak]

Oh, and the clamp... it's solid metal.. the only plastic is the twist knob.

[phoenix]

Ahh OK. More info = clearer picture (and the picture helps). My apologies, you have a strong case then.

But don't get me started on smart meters!

[Lloyd]

They can very easily cause brakes to bind on.

Screw them, go them for the whole cost and your time if you can. You gave them an easy (and cheap) out which was flatly turned away without even looking at it. Sounds like a terrible garage from what has been put forward. And lucky it was only a brake fire.

[edwagon]

I can't remember why the hell I would have done this, but do remember blocking off a brake line and going for a very slow drive around the yard a while back - as soon as I used more than light-medium brake pressure, the pressure got past the clamps and then could not return, jamming the brake on. That was with a similar style clamp to the one pictured, just a cheap version with a wingnut rather than the knurled wheel.


I had another vehicle come in for a service one day (a Morris Oxford!) with vise grips on the rear brake line (not mine!) - must've been there for months if not years