No Brakes!

[Steve S]

On the way home from the airport, had a bit of excitement.  The brakes 
totally failed, without warning.  The pedal would go smoothly to the 
floor with no braking action at all.  Lots of fun.  Fortunately this 
happened at slow speeds and I was able to go the last few blocks to a 
friends house using the parking brake, and driving slowly.

At my friend's, with the aid of a flashlite, the problem was fairly easy 
to diagnose and kludge a temporary fix.  The pin that ties the brake 
booster to the brake pedal arm had come out, leaving no connection 
between the pedal and the brake booster/master cyl.  A bolt washer and 
nut from my friend got me home.

The next day, I found the pin that is supposed to tie the brake booster 
to the pedal arm, but no sign of the clip that should have held this pin 
in place?  The dealer has another.  But I thought I would run this story 
by the list to see if anyone else has seen this, or if there are any 
known conditions that might cause the clip/pin to remove themselves from 
their position.

TIA