Had them replace Week ago had oil/lube job

ANONYMOUS

MEMBER
1984 BUICK RIVIERA
153,000 MILES

Had them replace Week ago had oil/lube job. Mechanic said rt. Ft. Axel was broken. Had replaced 2 days later (a remanufactur). 3 days later took it back to replace backup light. On my way back home realized had no breaks. Went mushy to nothing. AAA checked brake resivoir which was full before hauling car back to garage.
I feel they should have been aware of failed brakes before letting me drive it home. I had brakes before when I arrived at garage for bulb replacement. They tell me nothing they did had anything to do with the brakes. Now they are telling me it ithat the master cylinder has an internal leak and they have ordered a new one that will arrive tommorow or next, Am I being ripped off? How could there be a leak if brake fluid resivoir was full. And if internal leak, where did the oil leak to or out to?

2 Replies

DOCFIXIT

MECHANIC
18,828 POSTS

Not being riped off internal seal leak VERY common and it does not lose fluid when this happens

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Wednesday, January 30th, 2013 AT 9:37 PM

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,873 POSTS

An internal leak is very common. It means the seals on the pistons are leaking past the fluid and not pushing that fluid down to the brakes. That failure can occur any time, especially on older cars.

That failure has nothing to do with replacing any light bulbs. YOU were not aware of any braking problem on the way to the shop, so why do you expect the mechanic to be aware of a problem that hadn't developed yet. The failure could have occurred a month ago, an hour ago, or a year from now.