master cylinder problem?

[bosted86]

i was working on the car today fixing my third brake light. when i pressed the pedal(car off) i heard a squirting noise, when i looked under the hood there was brake fuid all around the pm. i watched while i pressed it again and it was comming from under neath the cover. i opened it and say the fluid was very foamy. i turned the car on and the motor came on for a few seconds. left the car on and pressed the pedal and when i released it i saw fluid coming back into the resivour. is there a problem with the master cylinder?

 

[zeus87gn]

Sounds like you have your bowl over filled and you ended up depressurizing the unit somehow.

The foamy fluid 'can be' normal depending on the overall condition of the PM. Do not allow the motor to run with the foamy fluid in there. Wait until it clears up...and it should given time. If it doesn't, the fluid is old and needs replaced. The foamyness is coming from the depressuriziation process when the fluid is stirred up within the cylinder and the accumulator. There is a small ammount of air in there and it is trying to come out.

The fluid that returned into the bowl...when did it do it? When you were pressing the pedal, holding it down, or releasing it? It is normal for fluid to return to the bowl upon pedal release, but not at any other time. Especially when the motor is running.

When you turn on the key, the motor shouldn't run very long depending on if the system is fully depressurized or not. At most maybe 15 seconds or so. When it stops, the bowl should be slightly less than half full. This is the normal ammount of fluid that should be in there so that you don't have an overflow.

HTH