Hey guys,
Recently I noticed I had a slooooow leak somewhere in the system. It was only the rear reservoir that was losing fluid. I kept putting off tracking the leak down and fixing it. Recently, It started to get a lot worse, to the point where I'd really like to fix it soon. Before I start tearing into things too much, I was hoping to get some of the experts' advice on where to look first.
Here's the info:
As mentioned above, I'm only losing fluid in the rear-most reservoir of the master cylinder. Since the leak started getting a lot worse (as in, draining half the reservoir in a light days driving) I have noticed the pedal feeling odd. Even with a full reservoir, the pedal is nice and firm at first, but if i maintain brake pressure (like slowing to a stop gradually) the pedal gets softer and softer, feels like its sinking in mud, without increasing the amount of braking. If I let off the brakes briefly (like half a second), then press on them again, its back to being nice and firm again. This only seems to happen for the first half of the brake-pedal travel, once I hit the bottom half of pedal travel, it firms back up and feels normal.
The few times I've looked under the car, I haven;t been able to spot any obvious leaks, but I haven't really done a thorough exam yet.
I was mainly wondering if it is likely a brake line or coupling somewhere that is leaking, or if it is the master cylinder itself that is leaking?
Oh, and since it probably matters, my car is an '85, and has the hydraulically assisted power brakes (hydra-boost, i think?) Not the powermaster that the later cars came with.
thanks in advance for the help guys!
Recently I noticed I had a slooooow leak somewhere in the system. It was only the rear reservoir that was losing fluid. I kept putting off tracking the leak down and fixing it. Recently, It started to get a lot worse, to the point where I'd really like to fix it soon. Before I start tearing into things too much, I was hoping to get some of the experts' advice on where to look first.
Here's the info:
As mentioned above, I'm only losing fluid in the rear-most reservoir of the master cylinder. Since the leak started getting a lot worse (as in, draining half the reservoir in a light days driving) I have noticed the pedal feeling odd. Even with a full reservoir, the pedal is nice and firm at first, but if i maintain brake pressure (like slowing to a stop gradually) the pedal gets softer and softer, feels like its sinking in mud, without increasing the amount of braking. If I let off the brakes briefly (like half a second), then press on them again, its back to being nice and firm again. This only seems to happen for the first half of the brake-pedal travel, once I hit the bottom half of pedal travel, it firms back up and feels normal.
The few times I've looked under the car, I haven;t been able to spot any obvious leaks, but I haven't really done a thorough exam yet.
I was mainly wondering if it is likely a brake line or coupling somewhere that is leaking, or if it is the master cylinder itself that is leaking?
Oh, and since it probably matters, my car is an '85, and has the hydraulically assisted power brakes (hydra-boost, i think?) Not the powermaster that the later cars came with.
thanks in advance for the help guys!
