Brake Failure

Coming home from work Monday night my brakes quite working on my 66 stang. The pedal feels like it hits the floor but probaly is just maxing out its stroke. The stang has manual brakes, granada front disc's and stock rear drums. The first pump goes straight down with no resistence, each pump after makes the pedal firmer and firmer but the car feels like the back brakes are the only pair working. The brakes performed fine before Monday.

I limped home and looked at my master cylinder, the rear bowl was empty so i filled it up, looked for any leaks (none found) and proceeded to bleed the brakes. I found an air pocket on the front drivers side, but then I bled the bowl dry. So I started over and proceeded more carefuly and slowly the second time.I was not able to find another air pocket and the pedal still felt limp. So today I bled the front lines again. Went through a 32oz bottle and found no air pockets and still have a limp pedal.

Does this mean my master cylinder is bad? Any recommendations on the best priced dual bowl master cylinder?

-Evan

Reply to
66stang
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Bad master cylinder or leak that you haven't found. Air generally won't get in the system from a rust pin hole leak, but the fluid will escape.

Reply to
Brent P

Yes.

Reply to
.boB

If it's a 4-wheel drum setup, you could have also lost a wheel cylinder. Is there any brake fluid left in the master cylinder or has it disappeared? It could also be a broken brake line. If the master cyl is empty, fill it with some fluid, stomp on the brake, then aim for the wet spot on the floor.

Cheers,

Reply to
Ritz

It doesn't seem to lose fluid when I stomp on the pedal though. It's always had a very slow leak but nothing serious. I would have to top it off every few months but the bowl was never less than half full. Also for the last 2 years, when stopped at a light the pedal would slowly lose pressure and would require a pump to bring back the firmness. Sign of master cylinder failure?

Reply to
66stang

Master cylinder or a wheel cylinder.

Reply to
Brent P

Before you buy a new master cylinder I would visually inspect both the front disks calipers and rear drum wheel cylinders for leaks. My guess would be that you've got a caliper piston seal/boot leak. You will have to remove the calipers to verify this one way or the other as you can't tell from just looking on the outside.

My2cents

Reply to
CCTGENE

Sounds like it's the master cylinder then. However, if you're losing fluid, you still want to find out where it's going. It may have just been running down the firewall behind the master cyl or you may have a leaking line or wheel cylinder in addition to a bad master cylinder. Don't forget to periodically (every 2 years or so) bleed ALL the brake fluid out and replace it with fresh fluid.

Cheers,

Reply to
Ritz

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