I once had a female friend who called me late in the evening. She said she had to leave in the morning on a 1200-mile trip, and her brakes weren't working. She brought her Chevy Malibu over to my house, and I quickly diagnosed the problem. She had a hole in the brake line leading to the rear brakes. She said she wondered why she kept having to add fluid all the time!
Since it was late and no stores were open, I said that I could fix it temporarily BUT she had to bring it back in the morning so I could replace the brake line. THEN she could make her trip. I dug up a brad from my pile, took the brake line loose from the master cylinder, stuck the brad in the line, effectively sealing it off, and screwed it back onto the master cylinder. I then told her, you only have HALF your brakes, so drive slowly and carefully, and bring it back in the morning so I can complete the repair.
She left on her trip first thing in the morning towing a U-Haul trailer!!!. When she got back home two weeks later, she told me that the brakes seemed a little weak but she made it OK.
That's when I swore I would never again make a temporary repair for someone.
The first thing I did when I got my truck was make sure the brake system was working well. And I didn't work on anything else until it was completely reliable. I ended up with four-wheel power disk brakes.
