Had my car serviced 4 days ago. Today, immediately after a 10 mile run at 70mph (the first journey over 25 mph and 2 miles) the rear drum brakes seriously overheated (tons of smoke). I thought the whole car was going to go up in flames. Luckily, I had a bottle of water to hand to cool things off with, though after 1.5 litres carefully poured over the drum, it was still hot enough to turn the water into steam. I assume the handbrake was incorrectly adjusted. Both rear wheels can barely be turned now. The garage has recovered the car and will repair it at their cost (they have actually done everything they possibly could ender the circumstances including offering to pay for taxi fares to get me home and to collect the car tomorrow).
What damage would you expect under this scenario (will it definitely need new pads / seals etc) and how can I tell that they have truly repaired all the damage caused?
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Oops, should have put this in Technical, sorry.
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HHM,
It is surprising just how hot brake drums and discs can get without harming other parts. I know of a case where the paint burnt off the road wheel but still no apparent harm to the brake seals, wheel bearings, etc.
It sounds as though the garage is being very responsible and I would expect that they will make sure everything is OK. I don't think you'll be able to tell straight away that they have replaced all suspect parts but you could ask them to assure you of a free repair to anything in the vicinity that gives trouble within, say, 3 months.
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HHM, what car are you talking about? I can't remember what car you've got, but if purely by chance it's an Astra then there is a thread lurking here somewhere regarding incorrect handbrake adjustment after a service. IIRC, it was posted sometime last May/June. The only reason for remembering the date was because it was one of the first posts I actually contributed to when I first joined this forum. If it is an Astra, I'll try and find the other thread about it.
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DD, It is a mark II astra (pretending to be a Daewoo Nexia).
I knew I should have taken the money last year when the insurance offered to write it off after someone drove into it while it was parked outside the house.
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Look at
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=i&t=67...7
I would qestion whether cooling the brakes with water was a good idea? Thermal shock, potential for longer term failure problems?
pmh (was peter)
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I've seen this 1000 times before. The rear brakes are self adjusting, but this doesn't work very well on these models. When the car was in for service the technician had the wheels and drums off to check the brakes. I expect he de-dusted and cleaned them, but when he put them back together he simply over adjusted them.
An easy mistake to make, you must leave these slightly on the slack side, or else they will bind when they get hot due to expansion, or the handbrake cable will pull when you go over bumps. I always used to slacken the handbrake cable, then adjust the rear brake self adjusting mechanism on the back plates until they just bind, and then back off slightly. Then re-adjust the handbrake and this will be just right.
I'm sure the garage will retify the problem free of charge, but at least you know they did check the brakes.
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Car delivered back to my front door 18 hours after the incident. It all seems fine. The garage asure me that there was no permanent damage. I've no reason to think otherwise.
Can't fault them on their aftersales service. When the garage rang to ask me where I wanted the car delivered to, it was they who asked if I had any receipts for taxi fares!
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