I own a quick lube and performed an oil change on the above vehicle last Spring. Within a couple of hours, the customer called back saying he had a problem - his Jeep would not move. We sent a lube tech to check it out. He found that his brakes had locked up on one wheel. We told the customer the problem was not related to our oil change service and he called a tow truck and took it to a repair shop, which said his brake fluid was contaminated with some petroleum as the master cylinder seal was swollen and deformed. He also said this same repair shop had redone his brakes a year earlier because of a similiar problem.
He believes we added oil or power steering fluid to the brake fluid reservoir. We responded that we never ever add anything to brake fluid reservoirs. We only check the fluid level by looking through the translucent side of the reservoir. We never take the lid off unless the reservoir is NOT translucent, which is rare. Also, we informed the customer that we have NO brake fluid in our facility, so we can't even add any if it is low. We also informed the customer that IF we had accidentally added something to his reservoir, there would not have been enough time since he left our shop for the fluid to have badly deformed his reservoir seal and caused a brake to lock up. He doesn't believe us and is sueing us in small claims court for the $1,100 he paid to have his brake system replaced AGAIN.
Do you concur that even if we had added a petroluem product to his reservoir by accident, that the damage he says was caused could not have happened in less than a day? If so, why OR If not, why do you feel the way you do? Also, what causes a brake to lock up and how long does it take to happen? Any thoughts as to what caused his problem?
Thursday, May 20th, 2021 AT 10:15 AM
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