Ebrake left on....

jigjag

Member
Ok, not by me...
Against my better judgement, i swapped vehicles w/ the gf for the day (she has a clothing store and needed to move a bunch of boxes/stuff).
She has never driven the fx before, hell i barely let her sit in it, haha, jk.

So this am around 10:30 i had a missed call/text from her saying the ebrake light is on and she can't figure out how to turn it off (she drives a 2000 prelude and before that was a 330ci (ie. never driven a car w/ foot ebrake, but still!) So i call her after my meeting and asked if she drove w/ it on and shes like ya, i had no choice...(she was in a rush to get to a photoshoot). So she basically drove about 15 km's w/ the ebrake engaged (from burnaby to downtown vancouver).
Needless to say, i reacted and scolded her (like come on, puhleease, talk about fulfilling the stereotype, of being bad female drivers).

Anyhow, two questions...

1 - should i dump her?

2 - How much damage could this have done to the rotors/pads/shoes??

My brakes are pratically brand new btw, and she didn't drive too far either.
Maybe i'm trippin out, but god, seriously wtf. I spoke to a mechanic buddy of mine and he said it should be fine, but might've worn the pads/rotors possibly.

Thanks.
jigger.

ps. i'm kiddin bout dumping her, but her fx driving priveledges are on thin ice....
pps. man it sux driving a 'lude after driving the fx. I used to enjoy driving it but now, not really.
 
the e brake is separate from the caliper brake assy, it's a secondary set of shoes inside the rotor hat, just like a mini drum brake inside of the hub area, no matter what she did it shouldn't affect your braking, but of course it could have worn the separate ebrake setup... best to pull a rotor & see what it looks like... worse case is it could have ruined the ebrake surface which is part of the rotor & the ebrake shoes...

if the ebrake still holds well you don't have to really worry so much, but next chance you get should at least peek in there...
 
1. post pics of her and we will decide on the dumping :tongue:
2. when she was driving, was the wheel at least turning? I remember one time I was moving a manual car in Italy and I forgot about the e-brake (it's a problem I have) and when I got out, there was a path in the pebbles where the tire had just dragged back a few feet.
 
turbo, u da man. Stu, friggin hilarious. She's camera shy, but i'm gonna try to get a booty shot w/ the fx once this bloody deep freeze is over.
Ok, i just picked up the poor thing (fx), and seems ok. Obviously no "visible" damage, haven't had chance to take off rim and inspect, yet. But i did test the brake, ie. engaged the ebrake, put it in reverse and eased up on the brake and it held, although some screeching i don' recall being evident b4. Turbo, u mentioned potential damage to the the "ebrake surface which is part of the rotor & the ebrake shoes..." - now should i worry about warpage to the the rotor at all? Again, i realize a thorough inspection will clarify this, but still worried to be honest.

btw, she made homemade pho for me for dinner, so i guess i have to keep her, haha.

Cheers,
jigger.
 
guess it's not impossible to warp but not too likely. take it up to highway speeds & brake.. see if there are any vibration or anything... doubt it warped

the ebrake usually never see's any milage at all, so even if she did wear the shoes down a bit might just need to have the ebrake adjusted to make up for the wear. probably a cable adjustment from under the rear.

good idea to look in there but I wouldn't worry all that much. most likely just needs adjustment if it doesn't hold tight anymore
 
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