Questions and Answers
Engine Cleaning And Brakes
Q. Hi Vincent (If I may call you by your first name), Thanks so much for your help! You're the greatest! I have another question relating to the clean up under the hood and another on a totally different subject.
I did find Gunk at local Pep Boys but I wasn't sure if it is good for cleaning other parts under the hood besides the engine. Should I just use wet cloth to clean other parts? And I'm afraid of damaging the electrical system while spraying the engine after Gunk application. Do I need to cover up anything else other than the air intake? Like fuse box, battery maybe?
The other question is I recently got work done on my brakes. Rear brakes are drums and didn't need too much effort, but the front brake pads needed to be replaced as only 20% of them were remaining. First of all, as I was driving home after the job, both sides (left and right) started smoking and smelled like something was burning.
I called up the tech and he told me that was normal as oil or any grease from working on the pads are burnt initially. I had no problem with that but one thing is though, I could feel the car braking without me actually applying the brakes. I noticed it because as the smoke arose from the pads (I assume they were from the pads), the car would not shift to the next gear and when I let go of the gas, the car would stop quite quickly as if I had applied the brakes. I drove it home with smoke and all and since I could not go back to the shop that day as it was closing time and went back the next morning.
Well, as luck would have it, there were no smoke and no false braking that time and obviously, as far as the tech can see it, there were no problems and told me that I was imagining things (How dare he!). I couldn't back up my claims and so, I drove away, driving around for another hour or so making sure the problem did not come back.
I went on a weekend trip that day and came back safely after 600 or so miles. I guess I was imagining things after all unless you know otherwise. The only thing is that now when I brake, I feel something grinding or maybe it's a "pulsating" sensation. It started at the end of the trip and hasn't gone away. I had a similar incident the last time I had a job done on my brakes. The grinding went away after a while but I am worried maybe that is why my brakes wore off so fast. I mean the last time I had a brake job was only less than two years ago. Or am I supposed to change my pads every two years? Or am I braking more aggressively than usual?
Sorry for the long email and please let me know if this kind of frequent and long email is not tolerated :)
Thank you again, Jiho
A. Well Jiho, you can call me Vincent or you can call me Vince or you can call me Vinnie, just don't call me late for dinner. Long and frequent e-mails are not a problem with me. I answer them in the order they come in so I can be fair to all who write. Due to the volume of mail I get and depending on the amount of research some answers require, it could be a few days before I do answer. I answer all the questions sent to me and I don't pick and choose the "easy" ones. With that said, lets get on with your questions.
Covering the air intake to prevent water getting inside the engine is the most important thing. The Gunk and water will not hurt the electrical stuff, unless there is already an existing problem. Gunk is good to clean other parts but it's a little expensive. I would go to the hardware store and get a gallon of mineral spirits for general parts cleaning. You can pick up a cheap pan or pot and a parts cleaning brush to use as a parts cleaner. Gasoline or lacquer thinner are excellent part cleaning fluids but are very flammable and should be used with extreme care. The mineral spirits is the safest thing to use.
As for the brakes, it sounds like the caliper got hung up for a while then released itself. There should be no oil or grease on the brake pads when they are replaced. A good technician will clean all that off after the job is done. Also this should have been evident when the car was road tested after the brake job, if it was road tested as it should have been.
For him to tell you you were imagining the problems, in my opinion, unforgivable. It sounds to me like he was trying to blow you off. When a customer comes into my shop and has questions of my work or something he suspects is wrong, I tell him to bring it back to me and I will double check the job and make sure it's right. After all, I'm human and I can and do make mistakes. I also don't believe that customers "imagine" things about their cars. Any complaint deserves to be checked especially when it comes to brakes.
It's difficult to put a life expectancy on a set of brake pads. In general they should last about 30,000 miles of normal driving. If you do a lot of city driving and braking frequently, they will wear out sooner. If most of the driving is highway, they will last longer because you go father between stops. If it seems you have to replace them fairly often, relatively speaking, then you may have calipers that are old and are hanging up. You didn't mention how many miles are on your car, but it sounds like that they should be replaced especially since this is the second time it's happened..
Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA
