"With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username" (with-a-g) 08/30/2018 at 10:38 • Filed to: None

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Based on a true story.... Bought a ‘96 Tracker off craigslist back in June and I’m now on my second 12 oz can of brake fluid, topping off the reservoir every 4 days or so. Just small drops on my garage floor, under the front driver side caliper, so most leakage must happen under pressure while driving. Ill have to look closer at it all this weekend. It’s probably a reasonable expectation that I’ll have to get some refurbed calipers all around just to be sure.

UPDATE : Jacked it up and looked at it earlier today, and had one of my kids press the brake pedal while I looked at the caliper and line. The rubber portion of the brake line had a pinhole leak and was spraying a little jet of brake fluid out when under pressure.

I got a new brake line from a local store (called them at 9:30 am to request it, and they had a part for a 22 year old car ready in the store by 12:30. What an age we live in. ) and installed it in about a half hour. Why was I so lazy for so long with something that could have turned into a major hazard?

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username 08/30/2018 at 10:48

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I had an old datsun that was like this with motor oil. I figured if it’s burning 1qt/600 miles no need to change it since it would have 4 fresh quarts every 2400 miles. Brakes on the other hand are slightly more important to your health than a running engine.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 08/30/2018 at 10:51

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I thought that way with my 91 Civic. eventually the lifter clogged which led to the engine seizing on the freeway. That was unfun. 

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username 08/30/2018 at 10:54

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I had a constant leak like that on my Galant. I was thinking it was something catastrophic . Turned out it way just that I hadn’t tightened a joint in the line where it hit the hard line on the front driver’s side. I worried for about a month for what was a 5 minute fix.

Rainbow > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 08/30/2018 at 10:55

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My first car was the same way with oil. It sucked, though, because that’s how it died. It ran dry halfway between my house and anywhere that sold oil, and, since it was 100+ degrees out, I wasn’t going to walk to the store and back. So I drove, like an idiot. Didn’t make it very far.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Rainbow 08/30/2018 at 10:57

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I just scavenged any bottle of 10/40 I could find and always ha d one on han d to top it off when I bought gas. The car ran amazingly well considering the piston rings were a distant memory.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 08/30/2018 at 10:59

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This is when you use a fram oil filter, 90% bypass of oil contaminants . Clogging unlikely .

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 08/30/2018 at 11:06

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Self-changing oil.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username 08/30/2018 at 11:49

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This has been our tactic with our Ranger’s clutch system. Recently fallen down by the fact that it’s now not pumping fluid through the system, but it’s ‘worked’ up until this point ;)

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > Rainbow 08/30/2018 at 12:09

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My 89 Chevy 1500 enjoyed eating it’s own oil. I started using my dad’s old waste oil because buying oil for it was too expensive, changed the filter every 5k.

Many times I ran it out of oil completely, ran it until it overheated and stopped running, thinking “this is finally it”. Let it sit for an hour (or overnight), fill it back up with oil, and it’d fire right back up like nothing happened.

Many 2nd gear drops at 70+mph, pegging the tach at 8k rpms, without oil, never let fly. I tried blowing that engine up so I could put dad’s old built 400SB in it, but it never gave up.

Ended up selling it after a year or so and 20K miles of pure abuse to an old guy in Madison, with 257k on the clock . Saw him years later, still driving the truck, 380k miles and she still hadn’t given up.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 08/30/2018 at 12:10

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And they said Honda’s are reliable............ ;)

See my response to Rainbow.

Wacko > With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username 08/30/2018 at 12:12

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when i went to the gas station with my 91 civic, i would joke and say, fill er up with oil, and check the gas please.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username 08/30/2018 at 14:41

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I took this attitude with my 2001 Jimmy. Main rear line along frame was rotten so the r ears did nothing. It was more than a small leak. But I just kept topping it up because it still stopped okay. Until I got on a loose surface, locked the fronts, had the ABS kick in and unlock the front while blowing all the pressure out the rear line. Zero brakes makes you fix things in a hurry.