brake failure when braking & part flew out lft frnt wheel

[explodersarefun]

a part of something flew off my car underneath when I was driving and I lost all breaks, my brake pedal went to the floor. I was not going too fast so I was able to pull over. regained breaking after I pulled over for a minute, drove it home ok at 25 miles an hr. It was clicking and clacking right and left before this happend. any one know what it could of been? I went back in my other car to look for the part that flew off, but couldn't find it.

explodersarefun

 

[Burns]

well i must say thats not good but you already know this. The only thing i can think of is that a rattle clip came off and the break pad fell out causing the piston of the caliper to come to far out causing a loss of brake fluid. I have had caliper failure before and its the exact same situation you describe.

 

[marragtop]

First, check your brake fluid level and look for signs of legage on the backing plates/calipers. Other than that, we need more info.

 

[IZwack]

Yeah look for traces of brake fluid -- follow that and it should lead you to where the damage was done.

 

[DeRocha]

How do you know something fell off your vehicle? I would remove both front wheels and examine the the brakes to ensure all components are accounted for and installed correctly.

 

[mikeinri]

Unlikely it's this, or you may have had worse damage, but you may have had a caliper pin work itself out. One time when I did my front brakes, I noticed that mine started working their way out. The rubber inside of them breaks down with age.

Mike