That sinking feeling ...

You know what I'm talking about. For example when you drive past a cop a little too fast. He pulls out behind you and follows you for a bit. Happened to be coincidence as he turns off without pulling you over. You know you just did something stupid. You knew better. You knew if you got caught it would cost you but, you had some excuse that made it okay. Until things appear to go wrong. That's when you suddenly get a nervous stone in your gut.

Perhaps you look for help from above? Oh, please Lord if I don't get caught I promise I won't ever be that stupid again.

So, this afternoon I was changing the front brake pads on our Subaru Forester. The squealers had been tattling on me for not changing them for a few weeks. We were running late because of the Apple Butter incident. We had an annoying incident at Rocky Roccoco's wherein we waited for 10 minutes and were never helped. As you can imagine I was in a great mood!

I pull the tire off the driver's side. Zip out the caliper bolts and pull off the pads. Not too bad, the conservative squealers were letting me know there was 5/16" of pad left. I get that side buttoned back up and move over to the passenger side.

Off got the lugnuts and tire. I go to yank on the air hose and it pulls tight. There was just enough hose to reach the gun in and zip out the caliper bolts. I noted that the high pressure rubber brake-line rubbed a little when I pulled out the top bolt. Should be fine. I get the old pads out then put the squealers on the new pads and installed them. All that's left is to put in the caliper bolts and put the tire on no problem.

Then I ran into a problem. The mount for the caliper bolt on top was spinning freely on the caliper side. I started it by hand and try to tighted it up with the air gun. The back side just spun freely keeping up with the gun. All the while the socket is rubbing on the brake line. Finally, using a wrench to hold the back side in place I was able to tighten the top bolt. As the bolt went into the caliper it applied more pressure on the brake line. The bolt tightened up and the whine of the air gun faded away and I heard a distinct gurgle. Like a pressurized liquid in a hose with a tiny leak.

Here's where that sinking feeling comes in. I knew I was rubbing on the hose. I could see it. I can think of any number of reasons now why that was a bad idea. Had I gotten up to move the air compressor 6" closer I have enough room to avoid the rub all together. And the list of possible solutions goes on and on.

I ducked my head in to see if I can find the leak. I pulled the air gun out of the way to get a good look at the brake line. I couldn't see any brake fluid. The gurgling noise had also quieted down. Trying to recreate the rubbing to locate the leak I put the air gun back into position. When I put a little pressure ong the line with the socket the gurgling noise returned. Pull the gun out, the noise went away.

As it turns out the cop turns off and he in fact was not following me. Rather I hadn't rubbed through the brake line. It was just some moisture in the air line and a guilty conscience.