What makes being stupid a bit more barable?

[zaxrex]

OK, some of you may have heard about my brake problems. Problems as in I decided to flush the brake fluid when Nothing was really wrong with them. Problem in that I thought I had not let the fluid level go below the min line. Problem in that I got air in the brake lines and bled all 4 brake bleaders again and again in the right sequence (2L of fluid was used when only 500ml is necessary to do a complete brake flsuh). Problem in that there are 6 bleeder valves, not 4.

OK so now I feel really stupid for not knowing how many bleeders there were. What makes me feel better is that three shops and a week later, the people that charge >$78/hr didn't figure it out and wanted me to pay ~$400 to replace a perfectly good master cylinder.

My car now stops in a straight line without having to pump the pedal.

CN: Stoptech BBK front calipers have two bleeders per caliper and I was a dumbass (like 3 mechanics and a Subaru Master Tech), and only bled the outer ones on each caliper.

[drwrx]

I can't for the life of me figure out why you have had such terrible misfortune with your WRX. As a good Calvinist I don't really believe in "luck". And I'm not totally on board with the concept of karma. It has it's merits, but I see some big holes. Perhaps the Buddists have it right when they say all adversity is actually a gift, in that it helps you grow.

In any case, I'm glad to hear everything is back in short-stopping order.

[Mr Kleen]

at least the WRX stopped every time it needed too... glad you're back on the road!

[sirwilliam]

YEAH FOR WORKING BRAKES!!!

[zaxrex]

I just have to chalk this one up to a learning experience. I don't think being dumb has anything to do with luck.

[complacent]

wow Z. i can't believe they couldn't figure that out. obvious slip ups like that happen to all of us (ask me how many times i've reinstalled a strut with the dust boot sitting on the ground next to me) but shouldn't happen for an actual mechanic... jeez.

[Sabre]

I'm just glad they are working. Sometimes it's the obvious stuff that we miss . It's human nature to always try to make thing seem more complicated when we don't understand them!

[zaxrex]

OK kiddies, time for an update.
I dropped the car off at Sheehe again to have them bleed the brakes again since they would not give me a refund for the brake job they didn't do before.

I get a call today from the girl at the service desk telling me my car is ready to be picked up. I said I might not be able to come in before they close and just to lock the keys in the car under the pass floor mat. She then asks me if I would like to pay over the phone.
Me "pay for what?"
She "pay for the work done on your car"
Me "I already did"
She "Did what?"
Me "Pay for you to bleed the brakes"
She "But that was for the last time, this is new"
Me "Why would I bring you my car to bleed the brakes again if you would have done it right the first time?"
She "Sir, we told you that your master brake cylinder needs to be replaced to fix the problem. You asked us to bleed your brakes again without doing that work."
Me "Can you have the service manager please call me?"
She "I can ask him to, what is your number?"
Me "What do you mean?"
She "How can he contact you?"
Me "By phone would be fine."
She "OK, but I need the phone number that you can be reached at so that he could call you back."

Code: Select all

Now take a moment to realize that she called me on my phone.  That is how this conversation got innitiated; she called me on my phone.  I presume she was using a phone on her end, but I could have been wrong.

Me "Have him dial the same numbers that you dialed to call me just now"
She "That is the number where you can be reached?"

Me "YES!"

So 10 minutes or so later, can you guess what happened? that's right, my phone rings! It is Dave the service manager at Sheehe.
He "Mr. Nileds(pronounced line the river in Egypt but with putting a "d" in there)?"
Me "Yes, this is Mr. Nields (it is like fields, how many times in your life have you read that word?)"
He "We seem to have had a communication problem with regards to servicing your car."
[interrior monologue voice]You mean like you can't pronounce my name? It's English you know, you should try it sometime, it might get you places[/interior monologue voice]
Me "Yeah, the lady said that I had to pay again for you to do the same thing on my brakes that I already paid for but that you didn't do, I'm sort of confused here."
He "Well, we did flush the brake lines with the approved kind of brake fluid, and the peddal feel came back nice & firm. I don't know what kind of fluid you were using before, but it really messed with the master cylinder. Once we got that other stuff out, it was working fine. We can't tell how much damage your other fluid caused the master cylinder, or how long it is going to stay working. We would still reccomend that you replace the cylinder."
Me "So you are saying that flushing the fluid and re-bleeding the brake system got the brake master cylinder to work again for the time being?"
He "Yes."
Me "Well, that is unfortunate. Tell me if you would please, you bled all the valves on all the calipers after you flushed the system?"
He "Yes."
Me "And haw many valves was that?"
He "We bled all four (4) of them"

I let a real long silence hang here for max effect
Me "Well, I'm sorry to hear that. The fact is when I came and picked up my car I drove it home and found 6 brake bleeder valves. Four bleeder valves had wrench marks and scrapes all over them, and the other two had never been touched. I installed my speed bleeders on those to valve points and bled out a lot of air. I put the wheels back on and went for a drive, and immagine that, the brakes were just fine. The next day I drove my car back to your show with brakes working fine. I dropped it off and told Erin at my write up that the inner halves of the brakes needed to be bled, as they had never been touched. These are just like the Brembo 4 piston brakes so that bleeding sequence should be used.

Now I hear from you that swapping fluid was the silver bullit that fixed my brakes. Since the brakes were working fine when I left it with you this time, I find it hard to believe that you "fixed it". I had already paid you to do the job and you didn't want to refund my money. Since you didn't do the job, I brought it back to you to do it right.

The fact that you still think that you fixed the brakes and the problem was not air in the lines but "impropper fluid" damaging the master cylinder is almost too much to believe. Add to that, you want me to pay you again for something that you still didn't do right, and I'm left to wonder how much ability is housed in your shop.

I'm picking my car up tonight without paying anything extra and you will have flushed the entire brake system including all 4 channels of the ABS controller and lines and all 6, not four, but 6 bleeder valves bled of old fluid. While you are at it, go ahead and replace the ABS controller to help address the rough surface brake shudder problem.

Do we still hve a communications problem?"


crickets (well, actually air tools) in the background
He "Mr. Nields (pronounced correctly this time), we can't upgrade your ABS ECU without charge, but we can make sure that everything else is addressed about the brakes on your car and you can pick it up tonight after business hours."
Me "Good"[/u]

[sirwilliam]

Potatowned!!!!! Just goes to show that, even though it is a subaru dealership and they are supposedly mechanics or master mechanics, they tend to F@#$ up your stuff. I had one dealership F@#$ up a simple fix to do under warranty. They replaced a torn seal but while installing a new seal they damaged it the same way. I had to get Dan to fix it right. He came out and showed me exactly what was wrong and told me exactly how the idiots messed it up. I have only used Dan ever since to fix my major stuff that I can't do myself or w/ help.

[Sabre]

Zak, nice 0wnage there!