Little help diagnosing a brake problem, plz... ('87 5.0 LX)
Recently, maybe 2 weeks ago, I noticed that the brakes were feeling especially squishy and unresponsive. Being a bit lazy, I just let it go for a few days, thinking that I probably just need to add some fluid, since it had been a long while since I even checked it last. A few days later, sure enough, I went to check the brake fluid level, and it was seemingly empty. I also noticed, to my chagrin, that there seemed to be a decent amount of leakage on and around the master cylinder.
After filling it up, the brakes seemed to work a little better, but not as much as I had hoped. I also noticed that I was able to stop much easier (by pedal feel) when I pumped the brakes a few times before coming to a stop. It's been a few days now, and I've pretty much gotten used to adjusting my braking habits and nothing seems to be getting any worse, but since this is my braking system after, I'm thinking that I should probably get it looked at by a pro. In the mean-time, I'm wondering if this is a typical sign that my master cylinder needs to be replaced?
I think I had this part replaced only about 30k miles ago, after my original was diagnosed as 'shot' with ~140,000 miles, and I seem to recall that the repair bill was fairly high :(
I guess, in my own stupidity, letting the fluid levels get so low could have significantly damaged something prematurely?
I'll probably take it into a shop sometime soon to get it looked at, but I like to hear some feedback from others, just to get some additional info, and/or things to watch out for, etc...I'm at a bad point to spend a lot of money on car repairs right now, but if I have to, I have to.
TIA
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