Hi Curly:

Yes, the car does feel like I'm pulling some kind of "invisible" load,
and it drags and seems sluggish. The Honda dealership I had this done
at shall remain nameless, but its one of the biggest in the Toronto
area. Of course, that doesn't mean they won't try to rip people off. I
*hope* this was an honest mistake on the part of the mechanic, but it
seems like a pretty serious error. Thanks for telling me about the
possibility of damage to the rotors due to high heat -- I'll keep my
fingers crossed that they are OK. - John

On Thu, 01 Jul 2004 11:58:08 -0600, "motsco_ _" <"motsco_
_"@interbaun.com> wrote:

>John wrote:
>> Wow, Curly, thanks for the information! That sounds pretty disturbing.
>> I've only put 10 miles on the car since I just had the work done
>> yesterday, so do you think it would be OK to just have the brakes
>> re-adjusted correctly, without having to replace anything new?
>---------
>They'll slip the master cylinder off and correct the adjustment.
>Hopefully you don't have any pulsation problems because of warping the
>rotors with such high heat. Was the car acting 'guttless' like I asked?
>
>In Alberta, the aftermarket shops that specialize in Asian models have
>White Pages ads that say "Honda repair by XXX and sons" to draw in the
>Honda customers. Good trick.
>----------
>> I am a bit surprised that the mechanic didn't catch these problems
>> on the test drive, not to mention that he says he's got 20+ years
>> experience AND works at a Honda dealership. I'm in a new area
>> and so this was the first time I dealt with these guys - the work
>> was about $1200 USD (I'm in Canada). I guess its time to find
>> a new dealership. Thanks again. - John
>>
>>
>> On Thu, 01 Jul 2004 10:13:16 -0600, "motsco_ _" <"motsco_
>> _"@interbaun.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>John wrote:
>>>
>>>>Hi To All:
>>>>
>>>>I just had a lot of work done on the brake system of my '92 four door
>>>>Accord, but am having two new problems that I would like to understand
>>>>before I take the car back to the dealer:
>>>>
>>>> 1) I have to press unusually hard on the brake to get the car
>>>> to stop when rolling (to a stop light, stop sign, etc.)
>>>>
>>>> 2) I smell a strong burning odor (like burning tar) from under
>>>> the car when parking it after driving on the hiway.
>>>>
>>>>Does anyone know what could be causing these issues? The work I
>>>>had done was as follows: 1) replaced rear cylinder drums 2) replaced
>>>>master cylinder 3) replaced ball joints 4) replaced front pads and
>>>>machined rotors 5) replaced rear shoes and machined drums.
>>>>Thanks for any help on what this could be. - John
>>>
>>>
>>>==========================
>>>
>>>I'll bet your car also feels like you're carrying a bunch of cargo as
>>>well, like no get-up-and-go? Fuel mileage is down the toilet too, right?
>>>
>>>It sounds like they failed to get the adjustment exact, so your power
>>>brakes are on all the time, and burning up your pads, shoes, disks, and
>>>drums like crazy. That's why you can't get your brakes to work when you
>>>need them. It's called brake 'fade' because really (smoking) hot brakes
>>>just can't stop you very well.
>>>
>>>You've probably got a big fight on your hands, so you'll need an
>>>alternate witness to prove that the shop now owes you new pads, shoes,
>>>rotors, drums, maybe piston kits, maybe caliper rebuilds. If you've only
>>>put 50 miles on it, just get the master cylinder removed and adjusted to
>>>correct the problem. If 2,000+ miles, find an expert you can take for a
>>>(possibly paid) spin, and show him how it smokes.
>>>
>>>Fight the original guy if he won't correct the (very dangerous) error.
>>>
>>>'Curly'