We had a rather scary close call last Sunday. We drove out to the coast in the TSX, with an old friend who was visiting. That’s a 55 mile drive on Hwy 126, a rather windy two-lane highway known for frequent accidents. On the way back, traffic was thick, as everyone was going home after a long weekend. Not a good time to be out on the road with bad brakes.
As I came around a bend, I saw brake lights, and that traffic ahead was going along at about 30 mph or so. I braked moderately to slow down, as there was still a bit of distance ahead to the next car. I heard a screeching sound behind me, and looked in the rear view mirror, but it wasn’t there. I realized that it was now next to me, and I looked out my side window, to see a red Dodge Dynasty “passing” me, with its rear wheel locked up and smoking. By its slow rate of braking, it was my clear impression that the front brakes were not working at all. The scruffy driver didn’t look all that surprised either, as one might expect from a sudden brake failure. As I was still doing thirty, I soon pulled ahead of him, and he pulled back behind me, and then he and the car behind him both pulled off on the shoulder. Sudden brake failure, or was he driving with only his emergency brake?
It all happened in a flash, and at first I thought maybe he had a sudden brake failure. But in thinking about this on the way home, I decided he most likely was trying to drive this old Dodge back to Eugene without any brakes, as a modern dual-circuit brake system would still have worked reasonably well. I didn’t brake very hard at all, and unless he was going really fast, and not paying attention, it’s hard to imagine why he would have shot by me like that, with so little braking force.
And the fact that he then pulled over on the shoulder, with the car behind him, tends to add to that theory…follow me, and if anything goes wrong…we’ll pull over. Actually, if that’s what they were doing, the chase car should have been ahead of the Dynasty, to act as a buffer in case of a fast stop, which normally is not needed on this stretch of road. Unless….
The really lucky thing of course was the fact that it was a straight stretch of road after that bend, and there was no opposing traffic coming, so that he could move over in the other lane instead of plowing into the back of us.
You’re probably happier NOT knowing what was going on with the Dynasty…and if you really take a close look at the mechanical condition of cars around you, you’d probably never leave the house.
I watched an old POS drive past me at dusk on I-70, with the left front brake rotor glowing red, visible through the alloy wheel. I have to imagine it felt really weird, driving like that, and probably smelled terrible too. I have to assume the caliper had seized, but this dude was still chugging along.
That idiot was probably more interested in talking to Buffy on the phone trying to talk her into letting him into her pants than even coming close to realizing he was even driving.
I am always hesitant when I see old beaters coasting down the mountain on I64 here in VA. I allow a lot of space. Especially if I’m behind and see the brakes being applied every two seconds. Lots of brake fires out there with really nowhere to pull over.
I should talk though. My IAC valve went, so while the part is being ordered from the Ford dealer (because two aftermarkets haven’t worked) I have to stop in stages to allow the engine RPMs to die down without doing it so abruptly the car stalls.
What is it with Fords and IAC valves? My 88 Mustang LX 5.0, has a surging idle problem, what a pain in the arse…
Especially, when trying to warm it up, and it keeps stalling when going into reverse. 🙁
Yep, mine went out a year ago almost to the day. The part and labor are under warranty so it’s no big deal except I have to lose the car for a few days. The mechanic says the OEM part will likely solve the issue. If not, it may be the ECU. Terrific.
Best of luck with your Mustang. I learned my lesson. Ford parts from now on.
I once had the right front brake drum BREAK on my ’68 Cougar as I drove through downtown L.A. It snapped right where the drum slides onto the hub. I stepped on the brake, heard a loud bang, the car jerked to the left with the left front tire smoking. The right wheel didn’t stop at all.
I drove gingerly all the way home and replaced the drum the next day.
Dude should have bought this Dynasty instead. Looks to be a cream puff:
http://cosprings.craigslist.org/cto/5118138470.html
“Collector Condition” BAHAHA
That’s kinda funny, if it wasn’t so frightening. I’ve had a few cars recently where the brakes failed while I was out for a drive. First, my ’93 Olds Cutlass cruiser popped a a brake line at an intersection. What an odd feeling. Luckily I could just drive very cautiously until I got home. Since I don’t use my e-brake much, I had to re familiarize myself with it, in case I had to make an emergency stop. Then last year my Olds Aurora had the master cylinder go on my way home from work. Once again, had to prepare myself for an emergency stop by locating the e-brake.
Generally I feel cars are safer, and drivers are much less likely to drive unsafe vehicles than say 30 years ago. Back in the day, my dad and others excelled at keeping their beaters on the road, out of necessity. I remember some of that stuff, and can improvise if necessary.
It’s an odd feeling indeed. Years ago, the master cylinder on my ’65 Mustang failed, and I had to drive it home down a fairly steep incline. Fortunately, traffic was not an issue. More recently, I discovered that someone at the factory had not connected the brake line correctly on my then-new GMC Safari when I pulled up to my son’s business and the brake pedal went to the floor and a puddle materialized under the van. I felt extremely fortunate, because I had just gotten off the freeway. The loss of brakes five minutes earlier would have made for an interesting exit down that freeway ramp.
During my old working-in-warehouses days, an 18-wheeler departed our facility with a locked rear wheel on the trailer. Several of us were yelling and waving our arms as the tire laid rubber and smoked down the road, but the driver never looked in his mirrors. We watched the rig disappear, and wondered how long it would be before the driver noticed or someone brought it to his attention.
Probably drove until they blew. This happened at work when a co-worker drove from the barge where we send our trailers to go to the island. One of the bridge axles on the b-train seized. It was an empty train. Needless to say he was “shook” when he discovered it after the bang and then bang — or booof boof more likely the sound. He also probably got around 8 points or so to after writing the report. At my company 20 points loses your privilege to drive company vehicles and then you are relegated to either quitting or working on the dock for life. He now says he checks that the wheels are turning anytime he pulls trailers now. Veteran driver too who would know better, so *stuff* can happen to anyone anytime I suppose.
Probably has a leaky rear wheel cylinder and the brake fluid has coated the linings. Makes them really grabby. This happened on my old ’63 VW Squareback, the LR brake cylinder failed suddenly as I hit the brakes and pulling into the emergency lane with the wheel locked up saved the day. These were single circuit but I slowed down and made it to work where I had the cylinder replaced. Also possible his Die Nasty has a diagonal dual master cylinder that handles one rear and one front brake if a circuit fails. My Jetta has this design and when the m/cylinder fails the opposite front brake is still working, and a quick stop will lock up the one working rear brake. That also happened to me but the car stopped without having to take evasive action. If it has the normal design, both rear (or front) brakes should lock if only one circuit is working. Could well be a combination of weak brakes, bad tires, driving too fast and not paying attention.
I have owned a “house” at the beach for almost twenty years, and have learned to leave at 4 a.m. Monday with the stockbrokers when going home. I get into the middle of ten of them and they fly. Leaving anytime from noon Sunday on is a suckers bet. Good fortune to not be involved in an accident.
Subject: bad choices in driving a disabled car. Something more likely to involve 16 year old new drivers/owners – as it did to me and my friend/fellow TR-3 driver way back when.
We both owned TR-3s as first cars. They were cheap and fun and so much cooler than yet another ’55 Chevy or the like. My ’58 overheated and needed radiator work. The brakes worked fine though. His ’57 had no brakes but the car ran fine. The sports car repair shop was six or seven miles away and we drove our cars there – in tandem. His car was in the lead. Then came a rope or chain. Then came my car. He was the power; I was the brakes. We went through maybe twenty stop sign or stop light intersections but made it all the way to the shop without accident or cops. I believe we were more careful than the Dodge driver.
ah she just needs to make one more trip…….. well that wasn’t so bad i’ll be she can make one more …….. see, doesn’t have to be fixed right away, i’ll bet i can get a half dozen more trips out of this one …….. wham!!! …….. worthless piece of crap – never worked right anyway.
I have had a few scary brake situations occur over my 32 years of driving. The first was in a 1989 Olds Cutlass Ciera that I bought from my 80 year old neighbor in 2007, yes the typical “little old lady” car. It was in great shape, only 62k miles and like new – except the brakes were horrific. I was heading toward my house on a busy four lane road on a rainy Saturday afternoon when a young kid in an old Ford F-150 slammed his brakes on in front of me. When I slammed the brake pedal in the Ciera, the car instantly had a mind of its own. The left rear wheel locked up and I ended up in a spin that could have killed me and another driver if there was an oncoming car. Needless to say, I had the brakes completely gone through. The rear drums were leaking so bad it was crazy! Shame on me – I should have had them checked right after I bought the car, but for $500 bucks you really don’t feel like spending any additional money – which I know is stupid as your safety is #1!
The second scare was in my 2002 CR-V. The little truck had about 140k miles on it and really was a totally trouble-free vehicle right up until this occurred. Driving about 20 miles away from my house, the truck started to slow up. All of a sudden, all four wheels locked and it wouldn’t move. And I mean not at all! The master cylinder went, and all four wheels were totally locked. I called my mechanic, and he told me what to do to free up the brake lines so the wheels would roll freely. I had to use the emergency brake to stop, but I was able to get it to my mechanic to be fixed. It was strange to have a braking system fail like that without any notice.
One of the circuits in the master cylinder failed as I was going down a steep and curved interstate offramp in my ’68 el Camino. All of a sudden I had 1/3 the braking power. I applied the e-brake quickly, one foot hard on the brake pedal and still stopped past the stop sign line. Lucky thing a trooper didn’t see me, there was no oncoming traffic, and it’s my habit to downshift when braking. I got it fixed that day. I still remember the panic I felt.
More shocking is the fact theres an actual running Dodge Dynasty out there still plying the roads.. and one that isn’t leaving everybody behind it in a fog of blue smoke.
My father was kind enough to let me borrow his car (my brother’s old Topaz) when I went to Massachusetts about 12 years ago. The stopping power was meh, but, I figured, old car.
What a treat when he pulled the brakes off the day I left. No pads at all. For someone as anal retentive about auto maintenance as I am, I was livid.
He changed the thermostat too and I caught him dumping the very old and dirty coolant back into the car.
Since then I always get a nice rental car.
A couple of months ago, soon after getting my CDL I passed a tractor trailer with HEAVY smoke coming out of the underside of the truck. I concluded this guy was too oblivious to notice the smoke “disappeared” everytime he stopped for a red light….or he was stupid enough to think he could get “home” before his problem became terminal.
Had the brakes “go out” on my 54 Plymouth one morning on the way to school. Luckily I had the presence of mind to pull the e-brake on but it didn’t help that it was raining that morning.
Also had the e-brakes “freeze on” my 74 Audi after driving through high water. NOTHING we tried would unlock them.
Having lived in Ohio, Michigan, and New Mexico – having driven through every state between Ohio and New Mexico on both Interstate 40 and Interstate 70 – having ridden the route down Interstate 75 from Ohio to Florida many times in my childhood, by far the worst cars I have seen still on the road were in Michigan.
The worst drivers however were in Missouri.
I wonder if an annual safety inspection would have caught that Dynasty’s problems? Glad you two were not hurt and there are a few Dynasties Bombing around Portland, but not many.
I once saw a 1st gen Chrysler Minivan being pushed down the shoulder of I-95 in Maine by an F-series. They would push the Minivan up to speed, slow down while it coasted, and then push it again.
I always thought those Dynastys were nice looking cars with the upright rear roof design. An ex-Girlfriend of mine owned one back in the early 2000’s . It was a gold color and had 130,000 miles on it at the time on the 3.3 six and it ran well. I did a few oil changes and replaced the windshield wiper blades for her….Only other things that she had done to it were brake pads and struts replaced…..Car used very little oil between 3000 mile oil changes.
Some of the rigs that clattered into my shop over the decades , would make your hair turn white .
Safety knows no season .
-Nate
Driver failure.
Juuuuuuuust glad you’re ok.
I was walking my dogs early one weekday morning, when we heard a screeching noise from down the street, that got louder and louder as it approached us…I observed a fairly new Prius (I guess they’re all fairly new) go right by us, the driver’s side front wheel pointed straight ahead as you’d expect, and the passenger’s side wheel canted inward at about a 30-degree angle, with the tire being scrubbed down the street like an eraser…the middle-aged driver, looking very much the Prius/NPR demographic, apparently none the wiser. She must have hit a curb or pothole really hard and broken a CV joint or axle. I am convinced that a good proportion of Prius drivers know very little about cars, not even enough to know when something’s wrong and to STOP right away. About 15 minutes later I got in my own car to go to work, and saw that she had finally been forced to pull over a few blocks away, looking very nonplussed.
LA Potholes 1, Prii 0. 😀