Hi everyone
I haven't been here for awhile because everything has been ok with my car, a 1970 Dodge Challenger RT/SE 440-6 that I had a full restoration done a few yrs ago. The car has 44890 original miles and I only drive the car a few times during the yr. Car is stored in a climate controlled air bubble and I have driven about 200 miles since the restoration. Engine is pretty much stock, but I thought I would change the oil and oil filter just to be safe. I drove the car for about 20 minutes to get the oil good and hot, car ran great, everything is as it always was.
I jacked the car up on the driver side lifting point as illustrated in the Dodge Service Manual so that the left front wheel was about 4-5 inches off the ground, where I could slide under the car and remove the drain plug. Oil and oil filter change were non eventful, I lowered the car, started the car up and checked for leaks. I then put the car into reverse so I could reposition the car to put back into the garage and felt the brake pedal was extremely stiff, something not right, and, I had no braking power! The guy who restored the car had used silicone brake fluid so that if there were any leaks, the fluid would not corrode the painted parts under the car. The downside is that you get a slightly softer brake pedal, but the brake pedal after the oil change was much stiffer. Even when I pumped the stiff brake pedal there wasn't any braking!
It's a mystery to me what could have happened. The brake master cylinder is on the driver side and the only thing I can think of is that the car was jacked high enough to shift the fluid in the master brake cylinder enough to maybe let air into the cylinder? I did not remove the master brake cylinder cap to check the fluid level because it is a Gold OE restoration and I was concerned I would scratch the cover so I cannot tell you what the level in the master brake cylinder is but there were no leaks around the cylinder, everything is still pristine.
Has anyone experienced this before? I would appreciate any feedback from you folks. Thanks
P.S. Yes, power brakes, front disks, rear drums, sorry about leaving out those details, also, I had the parking brake engaged when the car was jacked
KZ
I haven't been here for awhile because everything has been ok with my car, a 1970 Dodge Challenger RT/SE 440-6 that I had a full restoration done a few yrs ago. The car has 44890 original miles and I only drive the car a few times during the yr. Car is stored in a climate controlled air bubble and I have driven about 200 miles since the restoration. Engine is pretty much stock, but I thought I would change the oil and oil filter just to be safe. I drove the car for about 20 minutes to get the oil good and hot, car ran great, everything is as it always was.
I jacked the car up on the driver side lifting point as illustrated in the Dodge Service Manual so that the left front wheel was about 4-5 inches off the ground, where I could slide under the car and remove the drain plug. Oil and oil filter change were non eventful, I lowered the car, started the car up and checked for leaks. I then put the car into reverse so I could reposition the car to put back into the garage and felt the brake pedal was extremely stiff, something not right, and, I had no braking power! The guy who restored the car had used silicone brake fluid so that if there were any leaks, the fluid would not corrode the painted parts under the car. The downside is that you get a slightly softer brake pedal, but the brake pedal after the oil change was much stiffer. Even when I pumped the stiff brake pedal there wasn't any braking!
It's a mystery to me what could have happened. The brake master cylinder is on the driver side and the only thing I can think of is that the car was jacked high enough to shift the fluid in the master brake cylinder enough to maybe let air into the cylinder? I did not remove the master brake cylinder cap to check the fluid level because it is a Gold OE restoration and I was concerned I would scratch the cover so I cannot tell you what the level in the master brake cylinder is but there were no leaks around the cylinder, everything is still pristine.
Has anyone experienced this before? I would appreciate any feedback from you folks. Thanks
P.S. Yes, power brakes, front disks, rear drums, sorry about leaving out those details, also, I had the parking brake engaged when the car was jacked
KZ
