Yesterday morning, my 914's e-brake failed. The car rolled out of the driveway and across the street. It was stopped by the curb and a large pine tree. No one saw it happen. I wasn't home, but my wife hadn't left for work yet. She drove it back into the driveway and chocked the wheels.
The right side of the bumper was pushed in about 1.5". The right front fender was crumpled. This morning, I took a hammer and saw to the front fender to clear the tire (not as extreme as it sounds) and drove it to a local body shop I've used before. The right front side of the car is crushed a little, but he thinks he can fix it. Unfortunately, when we had it up on the lift, I found battery acid dripping in several places.
I just drove the car home. This afternoon, I am going to remove all the batteries to inspect the cases. I am hoping that the acid spilled during the impact not due to crack cases. I'll probably pull all the battery racks and inspect/clean the metal to avoid as much problems with acid-induced rust as I can. I hope I don't find too much damage.
Once I have the batteries out and assuming I don't find anything to nasty in there, I am going to tow it back to the body shop and have him inspect it where he can see better. Hopefully it will not have to be totaled.
Sorry to hear that, Randy. Knowing your steep hill, in a way you're lucky
the car didn't turn and go downhill.
Just a tip to all, I don't trust my e-brake and carry two pieces of 4x4
lumber, each about 8" long, which I use as wheel chucks whenever I park on a
grade. I store them behind the driver's seat. There are better looking
plastic wheel chucks you can buy at Harbor Freight Tools, but the redwood
fence post scraps do the job and they're free.
Jimmy
On Sat, Oct 10, 2009 at 12:01 PM, Randy Pollock <ra...@alumni.caltech.edu>wrote:
> Yesterday morning, my 914's e-brake failed. The car rolled out of
> the driveway and across the street. It was stopped by the curb and a
> large pine tree. No one saw it happen. I wasn't home, but my wife
> hadn't left for work yet. She drove it back into the driveway and
> chocked the wheels.
> The right side of the bumper was pushed in about 1.5". The right
> front fender was crumpled. This morning, I took a hammer and saw to
> the front fender to clear the tire (not as extreme as it sounds) and
> drove it to a local body shop I've used before. The right front side
> of the car is crushed a little, but he thinks he can fix it.
> Unfortunately, when we had it up on the lift, I found battery acid
> dripping in several places.
> I just drove the car home. This afternoon, I am going to remove all
> the batteries to inspect the cases. I am hoping that the acid spilled
> during the impact not due to crack cases. I'll probably pull all the
> battery racks and inspect/clean the metal to avoid as much problems
> with acid-induced rust as I can. I hope I don't find too much damage.
> Once I have the batteries out and assuming I don't find anything to
> nasty in there, I am going to tow it back to the body shop and have
> him inspect it where he can see better. Hopefully it will not have to
> be totaled.
sorry to hear that randy
i never trusted the ebrake myself, many times i would return to find the car had moved a bit although the brake was as good as it could be.
i replaced the cables, lubed the cable tubing, rebuilt the calipers etc and it is really a poor design and tension does not transfer well at all, i have been carrying a wooden wedge out of a 4x4 and i painted it black.
i use it every time there is a bit of a grade and being it black it is barely visible
lou
________________________________
From: Randy Pollock <ra...@alumni.caltech.edu>
To: 914ev@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sat, October 10, 2009 12:01:30 PM
Subject: [914ev] Yesterday was a bad day...
Hi all,
Yesterday morning, my 914's e-brake failed. The car rolled out of
the driveway and across the street. It was stopped by the curb and a
large pine tree. No one saw it happen. I wasn't home, but my wife
hadn't left for work yet. She drove it back into the driveway and
chocked the wheels.
The right side of the bumper was pushed in about 1.5". The right
front fender was crumpled. This morning, I took a hammer and saw to
the front fender to clear the tire (not as extreme as it sounds) and
drove it to a local body shop I've used before. The right front side
of the car is crushed a little, but he thinks he can fix it.
Unfortunately, when we had it up on the lift, I found battery acid
dripping in several places.
I just drove the car home. This afternoon, I am going to remove all
the batteries to inspect the cases. I am hoping that the acid spilled
during the impact not due to crack cases. I'll probably pull all the
battery racks and inspect/clean the metal to avoid as much problems
with acid-induced rust as I can. I hope I don't find too much damage.
Once I have the batteries out and assuming I don't find anything to
nasty in there, I am going to tow it back to the body shop and have
him inspect it where he can see better. Hopefully it will not have to
be totaled.
Sorry to hear about the E brake failure Randy. Just for info on my jeep wrangler I had to install a hydralic line lock call a Mico lock. It's a manual line lock meaning you have to depress the brake pedal and then you apply the line lock to hold the brake pressure to either the front or the rear brake system. You have to run a couple of new hydralic brake pipes to and from the mico lock. Heres a hyper link for Mico lock that will explain in more detail.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Randy Pollock" <ra...@alumni.caltech.edu>
To: <914ev@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2009 12:01 PM
Subject: [914ev] Yesterday was a bad day...
> Hi all,
> Yesterday morning, my 914's e-brake failed. The car rolled out of
> the driveway and across the street. It was stopped by the curb and a
> large pine tree. No one saw it happen. I wasn't home, but my wife
> hadn't left for work yet. She drove it back into the driveway and
> chocked the wheels.
> The right side of the bumper was pushed in about 1.5". The right
> front fender was crumpled. This morning, I took a hammer and saw to
> the front fender to clear the tire (not as extreme as it sounds) and
> drove it to a local body shop I've used before. The right front side
> of the car is crushed a little, but he thinks he can fix it.
> Unfortunately, when we had it up on the lift, I found battery acid
> dripping in several places.
> I just drove the car home. This afternoon, I am going to remove all
> the batteries to inspect the cases. I am hoping that the acid spilled
> during the impact not due to crack cases. I'll probably pull all the
> battery racks and inspect/clean the metal to avoid as much problems
> with acid-induced rust as I can. I hope I don't find too much damage.
> Once I have the batteries out and assuming I don't find anything to
> nasty in there, I am going to tow it back to the body shop and have
> him inspect it where he can see better. Hopefully it will not have to
> be totaled.
> ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Randy Pollock" <ra...@alumni.caltech.edu>
> To: <914ev@googlegroups.com>
> Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2009 12:01 PM
> Subject: [914ev] Yesterday was a bad day...
>> Hi all,
>> Yesterday morning, my 914's e-brake failed. The car rolled out of
>> the driveway and across the street. It was stopped by the curb and a
>> large pine tree. No one saw it happen. I wasn't home, but my wife
>> hadn't left for work yet. She drove it back into the driveway and
>> chocked the wheels.
>> The right side of the bumper was pushed in about 1.5". The right
>> front fender was crumpled. This morning, I took a hammer and saw to
>> the front fender to clear the tire (not as extreme as it sounds) and
>> drove it to a local body shop I've used before. The right front side
>> of the car is crushed a little, but he thinks he can fix it.
>> Unfortunately, when we had it up on the lift, I found battery acid
>> dripping in several places.
>> I just drove the car home. This afternoon, I am going to remove all
>> the batteries to inspect the cases. I am hoping that the acid spilled
>> during the impact not due to crack cases. I'll probably pull all the
>> battery racks and inspect/clean the metal to avoid as much problems
>> with acid-induced rust as I can. I hope I don't find too much damage.
>> Once I have the batteries out and assuming I don't find anything to
>> nasty in there, I am going to tow it back to the body shop and have
>> him inspect it where he can see better. Hopefully it will not have to
>> be totaled.
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