Hi, today I took my 2000 Bravada for an inspection and have the motor mounts checked. I was unfamiliar with the shop, as the places I'm familiar with were booked solid for the day, but I figured with something so basic there really wouldn't be much hassle. Anyway, they got to inspecting, it, everything passes and I think I'm good. The truck has been idling rough and shakes when backing up so I asked them to put it on the lift and check the motor mounts, which they did. First red flag was that they quoted me 5-7 hours labor, which by everything I can find it is supposed to be 2.6-2.8 both sides.

When he took the truck down off the lift he said oh by the way, you know your brake light is on and it's going to the floor? It was leaking fluid pretty badly from right over where the back arm of the hoist would go. He said the brake light was on when he did the inspection and the brakes were going to the floor then too, and showed me fluid on the inspection bay floor. If that's the case, why would he have passed it? At the very least, giving them the benefit of the doubt on it being their damage (or deliberate), wouldn't that be a fraudulent inspection sticker? The RMV site for my state says that if the brake warning light is on it is a safety fail, and there is a spot for it on my inspection paper work (which they passed).

Now, my thoughts as to how it happened if it wasn't deliberate is that he didn't put it on the hoist straight. It went up crooked, and the only thing I can think of is that when the frame twisted it may have cracked. It's original line, but all in all when I drove it on their property I had brake pressure and no warning lights, and when I drove it off I had a warning light on full time and next to no pressure. I unfortunately didn't get pictures at the shop but I did take some when I got home (though mostly for my own protection, I'm sure everyone knows what a bad brake line looks like).

Everyone I've spoken too says it definitely sounds sketchy. At the very least, in attempting to cover themselves, they sort of admitted fraud in giving me the sticker. Just looking to get some other opinions.

 

Did you look at the brake line in question and where it broke, or was squished ect? Sounds super sketchy to me.

 

It is one of the metal lines over the frame. I can see that it has some rust but I can't see where fluid is coming from. He said that there is no way the hoist could have pinched it, which I can sort of see, so all I can think of is that it cracked from being torqued over from not going up evenly.

 

eh, its possible. ive been working on cars for a while. ive had them break down on me while test driving them for unrelated issues. have rolled down windows that fell off track. etc.

you can tell them to save the old line so you can look at it. we do that work anyways to show customers bad parts.

while those motor mounts are a ***** to do i dont see them being 7 hours. ive spent up to like 4 hours on them before. really hard to get in there with anything to get those stupid things off

 

Is the line that's leaking in the front of the truck or the rear? If it's in the front, I could see someone not being careful banging the line (or possibly pinching the line if they're really sloppy) with a pry bar as they were checking the left side motor mount. I've had a similar experience when I took my truck in for inspection. Not with brakes, but if you're really bored you can read about it here: https://blazerforum.com/forum/lounge...ty-work-75440/

 

Well im looking at it like this....if the light was not on and no
leaks going into the shop....then leaks after someone started
poking around...then I would insist on them picking up most of the bill
On the repair...perhaps not all but atleast a 40% or more
On costs....and also do the "report to the BBB" not that
That has a lot of pull anymore, sometimes a little scare tactic to
show you mean business helps....keep in mind tho
This is comming from a way above 40 y.o. that has been
Taken more than once. Just my thought....
Oh and any of that didn't work then once and a while
You have to take it like a man, and chalk it up to a learning
Experience. ..

 

That's how I'm looking at it. The line is rusted, I can clearly see that, but I had pressure and no warning light prior to driving it onto their property, and no pressure as soon as they took it off the lift. The fact that the primary reason for visiting was a state inspection and it passed, and then a fundamental safety feature fails before even leaving the shop just seems to suspect to me. The fact that they were hanging up on us when we were trying to get the name or speak to the owner of the shop says to me that they aren't going to be nice about it. I haven't attempted to contact them since the day of but we'll see what happens when all of my paper work is in order.

It was a rear line right above where the rear arm of the hoist was on the frame. I think he did check the trans mount and body mounts with the bar too, though I'm not fully sure on that. I wasn't in the bay while he was checking it.

 

its possible. ive seen lines so rotted that still held up that i didnt even want to look at cause i figured they would break. if they lifted it and touched them with the rack could be that technically they broke them but they were on their way out. ive had them blow on vehicles ive had with no warning.

you can look at the bright side and if they were really rusted good thing they broke them then one of them blowing out while you were stopping behind a nice car in traffic