Subrosa said:
Do you drive an automatic? If you drive a manual another good way to slow down in that situation is to sort of pump-downshift. Like keep jumping down into lower gears... your car will sort of lurch, but it will also slow down and you can eventually get it to stop. It will, of course, fuck your transmission to hell. Or so I'm told.
This is called "engine braking". Racers perform it going into corners, or average joe Jeep drivers 'cause they can.
Subrosa said:
Do you drive an automatic? If you drive a manual another good way to slow down in that situation is to sort of pump-downshift. Like keep jumping down into lower gears... your car will sort of lurch, but it will also slow down and you can eventually get it to stop. It will, of course, fuck your transmission to hell. Or so I'm told.
This is called "engine braking". Racers perform it going into corners, or average joe Jeep drivers 'cause they can.
Awesome. I knew there was a term for it but I didn't remember it.
As noted above, brake fluid dosen't just disappear or evaporate. If you run low enough to empty the master cylinder, it will suck air in - which is compressible - thus your brakes fail. Normal wear of brake pads, shoes, rotors and drums will cause fluid levels to gradually drop so if you run low on fluid you definitely have a problem that needs attention. Either your pads/rotors are worn too thin or you have a leak somewhere in the hydraulic system. Get it thoroughly checked by a professional and tell him/her exactly what happened so he knows what to look for.
You can use your parking brake/e-brake to slow down in such a situation, but be very careful as they are seldomly perfectly adjusted from side to side, so it is easy to overapply them, which will result in a locked wheel and/or a snap spin. Under dash step-on pedal parking brakes ( as opposed to pull-up handle style between the seats) are really bad for this as they are hard to apply gently, sometimes lack a manual release, and often must be fully engaged before they will disengage. Use at your own risk.
Everyone should know the basics about their cars, meaning:
Where to put the oil, brake fluid, power steering fluid, transmission fluid and coolant
How much of each of these it takes and what type (there are at least six different types of coolants, three brake fluids, five different weights of motor oil, four types of transmission fluids, and two types of power steering fluids)
Know what your tire pressure is supposed to be, and checking it occasionally
Making sure your spare is good, not flat, and that your jack and lug wrench actually work
How to change a flat tire using that equipment...or get equipment that can do it. Note that garages often use impact guns that get the lugs so tight you can't get them off with the wrench provided with the car, so you'd need a piece of pipe for better leverage or a better wrench.
Been there, done that.
Check with your local community college or university continuing ed dept. to see if they offer a basic car maintenance course. Such courses cover all the above and then some, are usually cheap (under $100 - less than the cost of a tow) and convenient - my courses were typically five Wednesday nights, three hours a night. I have taught several such courses for a major university in Philly, and all of my students were happy with the things they learned.
The time to learn your spare is flat, your jack broken and your lugs don't fit the wrench you have is a sunny afternoon in your driveway (before you have a flat)... not at two AM Sunday morning by the side of a rural road seventy miles from nowhere.
Edited to add: as far as engine braking goes... you can do it with a manual trans. Manually downshifting an automatic agressively at speed will likely blow the trans before you slow signifigantly, and any automatic in overdrive has no signifigant engine braking. Also, if you're driving a diesel, they have no engine braking whatsoever by design, manual or automatic... unless you're driving a tractor trailer, which has an added exhaust brake device.
Stiles said:
As noted above, brake fluid dosen't just disappear or evaporate. If you run low enough to empty the master cylinder, it will suck air in - which is compressible - thus your brakes fail. Normal wear of brake pads, shoes, rotors and drums will cause fluid levels to gradually drop so if you run low on fluid you definitely have a problem that needs attention. Either your pads/rotors are worn too thin or you have a leak somewhere in the hydraulic system. Get it thoroughly checked by a professional and tell him/her exactly what happened so he knows what to look for.
That's scary. Will definitely have it thoroughly checked out first thing Monday. I just hope it'll be okay till then, because we really don't have any other choice -- no one to give us six round trip rides to work at 11pm and 7am respectively, no money for cabs, no horses to ride 20 miles, and no public transportation. Fuck. Just have to stay off the highway.
And the sad part is I actually DID take a vo-tech class like that one summer between semesters in high school. I just don't remember jack shit of it except how to change the oil, oil filter, air filter, and tires. :-/
Keith said:
And the sad part is I actually DID take a vo-tech class like that one summer between semesters in high school. I just don't remember jack shit of it except how to change the oil, oil filter, air filter, and tires. :-/
rchyb
United Kingdom
April 2006
APR 15, 2006 01:32 PM