So I hop in my car this morning to come to work and get a couple blocks from home and the brakes are horrible and getting worse at every stop- with the pedal going all the way to the floor. I pull over, pop the hood and take off the cover to the master cylinder and the first weird thing that happened was fluid poured everywhere. After I got the mess cleaned up and the cover fully off I noticed the second strange thing. The front part of the system was way overfull and the back half was almost empty. It's like the master cylinder sucked all the fluid out of the back half and put it in the front. What's going in there? I always carry a bunch of spare fluids with me so I was able to top off the back half and after a couple pumps I had a stiff enough pedal to drive again..... EDIT: The car has 4 wheel manual drums
Yep, time for some serious brake repair. Happened on the way home from work again but way worse. I couldn't get any pedal back at all and was lucky to make it home. I've got a power master cylinder and proportioning valve sitting in the shop- just need the booster. Looks like it's time to do convert her over to power brakes.
I think I'm going to get a new one instead of the rebuild kit or making the switch to power brakes. I'm used to how the manuals feel and I'd like to keep it the same. Anyone have a part number for the master cylinder I need, four wheel manual drums...the one on the car now also has bleeders on the mc.
I've had excellent luck with one of these. http://cardone.com/English/club/members/customer/ecat_brands/imageinfo.asp?PARTNUM=101489
For what it's worth I had the same thing happen to me-new brake system less than a year old. To make a long story short-the seal on the master cylinder lid got pinched(no idea how since I hadn't taken it off) and fluid was leaking out. The rear resevoir kept loosing fluid. Finally figured out the problem, reseated the seal and no more leaks.
