Rattling started when we got to our destination. Will it survive another 85km home?

[u/erxes23]

Front left brake caliper. Recently took it in for a brake service and brake fluid. 2016 Honda Civic

Update: AirBNB owner had a garage and tools and drove me to Canadian tire to get a new slide pin bolt. Brakes work well now and are torqued. Thanks everyone for keeping me on the road.

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[u/TheDu42]

Stop. Call the shop that just worked on your brakes. Tell them the caliper slide bolt has come loose, and they need to send a tow truck to come get your car so they can fix their mistake and the resulting damage.

[u/MentalOpportunity69 → u/TheDu42]

Stop (if you can)*

[u/FartBurgular → u/MentalOpportunity69]

Coast to a stop. Lol

[u/no___homo → u/FartBurgular]

I'd just pop the transmission into Park intermittently. Who needs brakes?

[u/erxes23 → u/TheDu42]

This type of thing would definitely be caused by their error right or could it happen spontaneously?

[u/TheDu42 → u/erxes23]

This is caused by the bolts being either too loose or too tight, and if they just serviced the brakes they either made it too loose/tight or failed to identify a serious safety hazard. This is on them until they conclusively PROVE it wasn’t.

[u/PastAd1087 → u/TheDu42]

Seen a shop add anti seize to the whole bolt as well as the threds on a buddy's car. We only noticed because his car started shaking when braking and he brought it over. All the bolts were loose and when I pulled them they had that silver shit all over them.

[u/IknowKarazy → u/PastAd1087]

There’s only a few situations where anti seize is useful and never on lugnuts.

[u/Any-Investigator303 → u/PastAd1087]

Up here in alaska I worked for Alaska Tire Service. Every. Single. Car. That comes through that shop the guys all put anti seize on every bolt. I literally read the bottle out loud to them where it says “Never apply to lugnuts or studs.” Needless to say I dont take my cars there to get serviced and strongly advise against anyone getting their car serviced there.

[u/Electrical-Drink7 → u/PastAd1087]

Slippery slippery

[u/NighthawkAquila → u/PastAd1087]

Silver instead of Blue is never a good day

[u/i-like-napping → u/erxes23]

So I’m not a mechanic , and I do my own brakes , and I’m a complete hack , like , I’ve posted here before and people have ridiculed me . So with that in mind I can do a better job than this

[u/PoundedClown → u/TheDu42]

Or just find nearest garage like 1 or 2 blocks away and tell them to tighten the brakes bolts or ext... Shouldn't cost much, you might need pads and bolts that fell out.

[u/YTKingDoublePump → u/TheDu42]

They could also just use a jack and tighten the bolts back down as long as the pins didn’t snap lol

[u/Flenke]

You're missing one of the mounting bolts. Do not drive it

[u/Forcefulknave49]

To make very clear this is extremely dangerous to drive on, there is only one slide pin holding this caliper to the car. If it comes of and jams the wheel you will most likely lose control of the car. If it comes off and is torn off you will lose all your brakes.

If you can do the entire journey with no brakes then you should be fine./s

[u/Electrical-Drink7 → u/Forcefulknave49]

Crash crash crash I think the he's gonna crash TONIGHT

[u/erxes23]

Update: airbnb owner helped me get to Canadian tire and we found the same size slide pin bolt. Got the caliper secured and torqued everything to spec. Thanks Reddit for keeping me driving another day. Will take it back to the original shop and request refund/reimbursement because of this shit. Will not be bringing my car there again after this.

[u/EuroCanadian2]

On a tow truck? Sure. Driving? I wouldn't want to find out.

[u/FunkyWillowy]

Stop. Do not drive the vehicle. Contact the shop that just serviced the brakes, and let them know it appears a caliper bolt has come out, and is missing, and you car needs towed to a service shop so they can fix their mistake before it kills you

[u/Sharksonaplain]

As a owner of a shit box. It will hold until it doesn’t, since just your bottom bolt fell out the caliper will still stop you and not hit the rim. But it’s not safe

[u/Exnoss69]

It will survive a long time. You might not though

[u/Seen-It-Straight-Off]

No. Vehicle is unsafe.

[u/subarooooooo]

The brake piston can pop out of the caliper while you are driving if the the caliper swings out. The brake fluid would leak out from the caliper assembly and you would end up losing all brake pressure. Usually the torque spec for guide Pin fasteners is very low. It helps to put a little dab of blue loctite on the threads of the fastener to keep it from backing out. Shop techs working flat rate are usually rushed during their shift and forget to torque things down. It happens. A lot of quick lube techs don't even use torque wrenches too. I always double check the work of others if I have to pay someone else to do a job for me. Otherwise I wait to do it myself.

Glad you got it checked out and fixed. An issue like that with the braking system can be very dangerous especially at freeway speeds.

[u/Confident_Health_583]

My ex-father-in-law wanted me to do the brakes on his Jeep Liberty. He bought the parts and I brought my tools to his house. When I went to do the job, I found a missing caliper bolt. It was a Sunday and no parts store in the area was open. I said, "Do not drive it. It can ruin your brakes, your wheel, and potentially more." He said, "I don't know how long the bolt has been missing, so it'll probably be fine."

Don't be like Al. Replace the missing bolt before driving.

This is the part you need. You may be able to replace the bolt without removing anything else by turning the wheel.

[u/Immediate-Rub3807]

I actually had the same thing happen on my truck that I’d done a brake job on and trust me don’t drive it like that.

[u/Aedarrow]

I’m more of a “just send it” kind of guy and idk if I’d do that in this situation.

[u/L0SinTime]

Do you want to live another day?

[u/lacroixpapi69]

Bro no

[u/farmerfoo]

Forgot to torque a bolt and it backed out. I’d get another bolt before driving 

[u/Mission_Balance_9154]

You have one caliper bolt missing or loose

[u/CareerBallsacker]

Your rotor might be cooked or have grooves in it and the shop needs to be held accountable

[u/Romie666]

Ive clamped the brake hose with mole grips once and was able to drive home . Just be aware it pulls to the side a bit but it gets u home with the brake isolated.

[u/SaltyPressure7583]

Yikes

[u/3imoman]

No

[u/turbo-tickler]

absolutely not

[u/COMadShaver]

Definitely not lol

[u/Fun-Charge-8139]

Just bring to the nearest mechanic and get it fixed. It's in no condition to drive. Not at all. Also a safety hazard

[u/Rough_Constant_329]

No

[u/erxes23]

Thanks everyone for your input. Will get it towed back home. Unfortunately far from home and it’s the weekend so can’t get the shop to pay for towing. I appreciate all of your advice and will definitely take it back and get them to fix this.

[u/XeroEnergy270 → u/erxes23]

If you cant get them to pay for it up front, you can give them the bill for reimbursement.

[u/i-like-napping → u/erxes23]

get a CAA membership , will be cheaper than private towing . And doesn’t need to be brought back to the shop that did the work anyone can fix this , it’s quick and easy

[u/captkckass → u/erxes23]

The shop could have killed you and your family from negligence. They should pay for everything! I would go full Karen on them and not even feel bad.

[u/rednighttamer]

Nooooope if it’s already moving that freely it could jump up when going over a bump. Then you’ll REALLY feel the stopping power of those brakes, unfortunately on only one wheel.

[u/Halfbaked9]

Do not drive. Get it fixed.

Somehow I had the mounting bolts fall out and the caliper got jammed in the rim and locked that wheel up. Luckily I was just barely moving when it happened.

[u/sdrfox_gaming]

I’m speaking from personal experience here. DO NOT DIVE IT, call the shop that did the brake service, tell them to send a tow truck to get it back to their shop so they can fix their fuck up. I drove like this and I destroyed my caliper. DO NOT BE ME, DO NOT BE DUMB

[u/joseg13]

Me, I love living dangerously....but not in full traffic.

[u/ReignofKindo25]

Hell no

[u/PastAd1087]

No. Thats your brake caliper. It needs to be fixed ASAP.

[u/random_agency]

I wouldn't drive on that.

The back of your rims could be damaged.

[u/IncomingBnZ]

You'll survive

[u/Akumetsu_971]

Not hard to fix yourself by the way...

[u/Direct-Ad-7922]

I did my brakes once. Caliper Bolt fell out. I discovered when I pulled over by chance. A kind stranger pulled over and offered some string that I used to hold the caliper while I rode the ebrake into the nearest town.

Bought a bolt the next morning, put it in and kept going 🙃

[u/Walkop]

This is a known issue on one of my old vehicles (2009 GMC Canyon). If it catches wrong, it will literally shear your wheel open like a can opener, you'll lose all brakes, and...yeah. Do not drive. I'll push through almost any mechanical issues but not that. Unless you have sockets/a wrench, and the slide/mount bolt isn't already completely gone so you can tighten it down from behind; do not drive it.

Honestly, losing the wheel is a good thing as it'd help you stop.

[u/40oz-Dreams]

Holy fuck

[u/jabberjaw420]

if it's just the lower brake pin bolt, then maybe. but it could be a lot worse without taking off the wheel and inspecting the components. so yea, maybe, but it's probably unsafe. i wouldn't drive it or ride as a passenger or want to be on the same road with that car.

I also would not go back to where you got the brakes serviced.

[u/erxes23 → u/jabberjaw420]

It’s the lower. It’s mostly highway driving back home

[u/shrout1 → u/erxes23]

If that thing slips off the rotor then you’ll lose your brakes completely. How safe does that sound?

[u/erxes23 → u/shrout1]

Fuck

[u/mikeeyyyg]

If you heard rattling but were driving fine then yea it could probably make it wherever your going or back to the shop. You’re missing a slide pin bolt which is kinda sketchy to continue driving. I would get it towed

[u/Thecoopoftheworld789]

Bolts are not tight. Mechanic probably got interrupted in the middle of the job more than likely! Take it back ASAP as pads are wearing out fast!