Help.......

I recently took my 95 1.1. Fiat Punto into a garage in birmingham for exhaust replacement, i was led to beleieve i needed a new down pipe as i had a hole in it before and my mate covered it in gum glue (putty) anyway i ended up paying £118.52 for a whole exhaust, (Down pipe, middle and rear) sections and labour costs.....

anyway thats not the problem i was driving home thought the breaks were 'spongy' thought it maybe cus they were cold anyway carried on driving, got to a roundabout pressed the breaks, peddle went all the way down and nothing! Was very lucky because even though the road was icy there was no other cars approaching,

Now im at home with a car with NO breaks and the garage is shut for 2nite, what do i do? they are open at 8.00 but do i report them tonight or wait till 2morro?

any idea how can replacing an exhaust lead to no breaks?
Also my handbrake light stays on all the time if its on or released.. I'm so pissed of beleve me

Any advice is REALLY appreciated please..............

sounds like you have no or low brake fluid. the handbrake light is also a fluid level warning.
could have damaged a brake line underneath.you realise you cant drive to the garage?
in daylight get underneath and check for damaged lines.
check the brake fluid resevoir on the engine bulkhead to check the fluid level.
try topping up the fluid and getting a mate to press the pedal to check for leaks.

if you find a damaged line then i would be phoning the exhaust place about what THEY are going to do about it

Thanks for the quick reply mate i'm really pissed at the moment i dont want to touch the car at the moment but i am going to check the car first thing in the morning i need to cool off

you will need daylight anyway.1st thing is the fluid level but it sounds like low fluid.
the fact that it was after the zorst work could be a coincidence,but fresh damage should be fairly easy to see

another thing is as i was approaching the garage he had his head under the bonnet, did he need to pop the bonnet or just checking something exhaust related?

well if they did the downpipe they could have been checking something

mate you've been a massive help thanx

any news?

Sorry mate, rang them up on the saturday and explained it the boss and one of assisitants came to my house and picked it up........

They checked it out and i saw where the break pipe had split, right next to the exhaust back end, they said the pipes were corroded and they must have slightly knocked it when they done the exhaust...

To cut a long story short they replaced the break pipe and of course never charged 4 it.

Now i was in 2 minds as of whether to take it furtther or ask for my exhaust money backm but to be honest i'm glad its just sorted, i'll never go back there again!!!

well at least they sorted it,and i can see how it could happen with a corroded pipe. BUT you could have totalled your car!
your choice i suppose

Taking it further would be damn cheeky! If you hadn't been getting the exhaust changed the pipe would have still failed and it would have been up to you to get it fixed. Kudos to the garage for fixing it for free.

If you were to take it further I would recommend buying a box of chocky's for all the free work you have had done!

Should of already had it's brake pipes renewed as per recall.