Had to share this one...
Took my wife's 2010 Jeep Patriot in to dealer for oil change/spark plugs/tire rotation. Their checklist reported all brakes were fine, although they reported fronts were better than rears which surprises me since none of the brakes have been done since new (~45K miles). They found driver's front control arm needed replacement, (which didn't surprise me because I had heard the creaking), so had them proceed with the replacement.
Picked up the Jeep, creaking gone, noticed the brakes pulled to the left once, but not again, returned it to my wife's workplace. She drove home and claimed she smelled something burning. I had made note of the tire serial number locations before the service, in order to confirm the tires were rotated. Upon checking the serial numbers after the service, I found that they were in exactly the same locations as before.
I drove it a couple of days later, all seemed fine but brake warning light came on, so I figured the pads actually did need replacing resulting in the low fluid warning . She is gone to work Tuesday AM, I notice brake fluid on the garage floor where the left front tire sits. I pick up the Jeep at her workplace and take back to dealer service, turns out the "banjo bolt" on the driver's front wheel is extremely loose, allowing brake fluid to leak out and probably spray out when brakes applied (probably leading to the burning smell she reported). Tech claims he didn't touch the banjo bolt and did suspend the wheel with a bunjee cord while replacing the control arm but eventually contemplates that upon removal and positioning the wheel on the bunjee cord, may have loosened the banjo bolt, and that he will check that in the future. He tightened the bold, bled and topped up the fluid, used brake cleaner on the pads and washed the inside of the rim/tire.
As for the tires not being rotated, the tech advised me that he leaves the best tread on the rears on a 4WD. I'm puzzled by that as tire rotation is recommended to balance the wear on a set of tires and my thought is the rears will be the best if not done because the fronts wear more from steering and braking. Besides, on the Patriot, it is primarily FWD so I would think the best tread should be on the front for traction, hydroplaning etc. All four tires still have decent tread ( ~45K miles ), so I asked that the tires be rotated while it was on the hoist for the brake leak resolution.
I was less than impressed after paying dealer shop rates to "get the job done right" and thankful that my wife didn't have any extended downhill trips before my discovery of the brake fluid on the garage floor...
Took my wife's 2010 Jeep Patriot in to dealer for oil change/spark plugs/tire rotation. Their checklist reported all brakes were fine, although they reported fronts were better than rears which surprises me since none of the brakes have been done since new (~45K miles). They found driver's front control arm needed replacement, (which didn't surprise me because I had heard the creaking), so had them proceed with the replacement.
Picked up the Jeep, creaking gone, noticed the brakes pulled to the left once, but not again, returned it to my wife's workplace. She drove home and claimed she smelled something burning. I had made note of the tire serial number locations before the service, in order to confirm the tires were rotated. Upon checking the serial numbers after the service, I found that they were in exactly the same locations as before.
I drove it a couple of days later, all seemed fine but brake warning light came on, so I figured the pads actually did need replacing resulting in the low fluid warning . She is gone to work Tuesday AM, I notice brake fluid on the garage floor where the left front tire sits. I pick up the Jeep at her workplace and take back to dealer service, turns out the "banjo bolt" on the driver's front wheel is extremely loose, allowing brake fluid to leak out and probably spray out when brakes applied (probably leading to the burning smell she reported). Tech claims he didn't touch the banjo bolt and did suspend the wheel with a bunjee cord while replacing the control arm but eventually contemplates that upon removal and positioning the wheel on the bunjee cord, may have loosened the banjo bolt, and that he will check that in the future. He tightened the bold, bled and topped up the fluid, used brake cleaner on the pads and washed the inside of the rim/tire.
As for the tires not being rotated, the tech advised me that he leaves the best tread on the rears on a 4WD. I'm puzzled by that as tire rotation is recommended to balance the wear on a set of tires and my thought is the rears will be the best if not done because the fronts wear more from steering and braking. Besides, on the Patriot, it is primarily FWD so I would think the best tread should be on the front for traction, hydroplaning etc. All four tires still have decent tread ( ~45K miles ), so I asked that the tires be rotated while it was on the hoist for the brake leak resolution.
I was less than impressed after paying dealer shop rates to "get the job done right" and thankful that my wife didn't have any extended downhill trips before my discovery of the brake fluid on the garage floor...
