Lovefordgalaxie Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 Today is a holiday here in my corner of the woods. Catholic holiday to be more specific. I was planning to sleep all day long, and then to work a little on my '53 Ford project that is quite stalled. My mother had other plans tough. She woke me up at the 10 AM (Was the sun up yet?) with a phone call saying there was something wrong with Baby. Baby is her 2001 Ford Focus... The brake warning light was coming on and shutting off as she used the brakes. Asked if the brakes were fine, and she said they were. I had a pretty good idea of whas the culprit. My mother uses to take the Focus to the dealer once a year to be checked out. I never trusted dealers, but my mom can be real stubborn. Asked her to bring the car, that I would take a look. As soon as she arrived, I popped the hood, and voilá, the brake fluid was low. Since this car has no leaks (I use it once in a while) I decided to pull a wheel off. Bingo. The brake pads were almost non existent. The car came from the dealer 2 (two) months ago. Didn't they see this?? Are they blind?? I suppose they wanted the pads to wear out completely, so my mom would have to replace the discs and pads. What the dealers do is borderline criminal if you ask me. The discs on the Focus were good, but I always resurface a set of discs when installing new pads. So, I called my friend who has a parts store, and he opened the shop on a non business day to get me a set of pads and replacement discs. That's great to have friends. Will have the used discs resurfaced, and will use them as spares, as they are genuine FoMoCo parts. Here is how I spent my morning, and early afternoon: Pop the hubcaps off: Really need to wash those wheels... MK-I Focus brake job. by CCCP Digital Studio, on Flickr Factory stock discks still in pretty nice shape after 80.000 kms. They were resurfaced when the car had 85.000 kms, and a new set of pads were installed by the dealer. Yes, those are still the factory discs. MK-I Focus brake job. by CCCP Digital Studio, on Flickr No more pads... Thanks Globovel Ford Dealer!!! MK-I Focus brake job. by CCCP Digital Studio, on Flickr The driver side: MK-I Focus brake job. by CCCP Digital Studio, on Flickr Returning the caliper pistons to accept new pads: MK-I Focus brake job. by CCCP Digital Studio, on Flickr Didn't they see this two months ago? Come on!! MK-I Focus brake job. by CCCP Digital Studio, on Flickr New discs and new pads installed: MK-I Focus brake job. by CCCP Digital Studio, on Flickr MK-I Focus brake job. by CCCP Digital Studio, on Flickr Once the job was done, the fluid level returned to the "MAX" point in the reservoir. No more light coming on and off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbowser Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 You are probably right, they want you to wear the pads down to the rivets so you score the rotors, more $$ for them. You do good work BTW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovefordgalaxie Posted May 31, 2018 Author Share Posted May 31, 2018 26 minutes ago, bbowser said: You are probably right, they want you to wear the pads down to the rivets so you score the rotors, more $$ for them. You do good work BTW! Thanks!! I found the service order for the last check up on the Focus. On brakes, they posted a OK. By other hand, they replaced the timing belt about 15.000 kms ahead of time. If they were real smart, they would had filled up the brake fluid reservoir, so the warning light wouldn't come on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 1 hour ago, Lovefordgalaxie said: I found the service order for the last check up on the Focus. On brakes, they posted a OK. They probably never looked! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Further confirmation of my oft-repeated opinion that most people who work on cars are morons or crooks, or both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 I don't know if it is any different where you're at, but in most of the dealerships I have been too the lowest paid service person is the one changing your oil and supposedly inspecting your car. So One they are usually lesser skilled than the average person let alone a so called mechanic. Second the are given the minimum of time to even inspect the car and they just "Wing it" and check the little boxes on the form and move on to the next car. Fortunately you have the skills to take care of your mother's car. You might want to have her leave you with her car a couple of times a year with the idea your going to "clean" the car and then you will be able to keep an eye on it for her. The dealer isn't going to look out for her so maybe you can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizard Racing Posted June 2, 2018 Share Posted June 2, 2018 This is why I used to do all my own car working on. At least if it's screwed up, you know what's screwed up and how it got screwed up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovefordgalaxie Posted June 2, 2018 Author Share Posted June 2, 2018 On 6/1/2018 at 10:31 AM, espo said: I don't know if it is any different where you're at, but in most of the dealerships I have been too the lowest paid service person is the one changing your oil and supposedly inspecting your car. So One they are usually lesser skilled than the average person let alone a so called mechanic. Second the are given the minimum of time to even inspect the car and they just "Wing it" and check the little boxes on the form and move on to the next car. Fortunately you have the skills to take care of your mother's car. You might want to have her leave you with her car a couple of times a year with the idea your going to "clean" the car and then you will be able to keep an eye on it for her. The dealer isn't going to look out for her so maybe you can. Here, the pay grade is not different if you are a dealer mechanic. Usually the dealer is great for a paint repair, or for a nicely done alignment. And that is all I use them for. The paint guys are factory trained, and do awesome work. In theory, all mechanics that work at dealers had a factory training, and were tested to be proficient in their jobs. Even tough, the better factory training in the world can't correct laziness, and or plain dishonesty. Since the work is paid by the hour, and they really make money on out of the warranty work (what my mother's 17 year old Ford sure is) they try to make sure the person will bring the car back. In the past, they used to do it by offering a superior level service, but those days are gone. Now all they know and care is making more cash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovefordgalaxie Posted June 2, 2018 Author Share Posted June 2, 2018 13 hours ago, Lizard Racing said: This is why I used to do all my own car working on. At least if it's screwed up, you know what's screwed up and how it got screwed up. That's for sure the best politics. On my cars I do all work, including a engine rebuild on my '74 Galaxie back in 2011. I just had to use outside work for the machining of the heads and block. Did the work at my friend Maycon's shop, and used his engine hoist, to pull the Y-Block from the car, and to reinstall it. The only problem I have is that I don't care about newer cars, with fuel injection, and computers galore, and I don't have the correct diagnosis tools to use on them, like a good OBD tool, for example. Will end having to buy one, and maybe some technical manuals on the system Ford used on the Focus. The car never had any trouble in the electronics, but age is a factor for those things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizard Racing Posted June 4, 2018 Share Posted June 4, 2018 My teenage daughter came home one day and said: "the brakes are making a funny noise." A quick look showed the pads down to the backing plates! I didn't want to even drive it to the car club, so I replaced the brakes right in the apartment parking lot. All girls say is: "so fix it." I even had a special plastic container just for brake jobs. That really helped. Such adventures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordairgtar Posted June 6, 2018 Share Posted June 6, 2018 You are a good son to help your mother take care of her car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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