1993 Saturn SL2 low idle and partially locked brakes after

WALLBANGICUS

MEMBER
1993 SATURN SL2
4 CYL
FWD
MANUAL
124,000 MILES

A friend tried to do a favor for me and drive my car home for me the day after we went to the bar, and now it has a low idle (usually around 1500, now 500 rpms), the clutch slips more, and when driving the back tires do not spin as well as before(they slide in the snow when taking off), and the parking brake doesn't work any more (it has no resistance and doesn't do all the 'clicks'. It is a 1993 Saturn SL2 5 spd. I presume he drove all the 20+ (maybe more? I'm not sure he is telling me the truth) miles with without putting down the ebrake. If I had to guess, I would say the extra stress from the brakes wore the already weak clutch (120,000 miles on it) and put extra stress on the engine, maybe wrecking something. Does this sound about right? What has probably happened and needs to be fixed?

1 Reply

SATURNTECH9

MECHANIC
30,869 POSTS

Yeah it sounds like he drove a long way with the ebrake on.U would have to ethier turn or replace the rear drums depending on how bad they are warped there not too expensive atleast also replace ur rear brake shoes make sure u use good brake shoes the cheap ones crack and are noisey I recomend wangner those are the brand I use on my car and familys saturns. Also u might have to replace the rear wheel cyclinders the cups inside of them move too far one way or other when u leave the ebrake on and drive. Look for brake fluid when u take the drums off also take a screwdriver and pull back the dust boots on the wheel cyclinders if there is fluid behind the dust boots or all over the brake shoes or the outside of the wheel cyclinder then replace both wheel cyclinders. As far as the clutch goes yes it could have been damaged by driving with the ebrake on but fix ur rear brake then see how ur clutch works. If ur idle was at 1500 before all this happened that was too high but 500 is too low again fix ur brakes first and then u can worry about idle and clutchs. Let me know how it goes and what u find.