Re: No brakes

Posted by HH56 On 2015/5/3 17:10:11

You didn't say if manual or power but since you mentioned pulling back the carpet assume it is manual. Did the car only have a short sit before it lost the brakes or has it been out of service a considerable time. If it has been a long time then an empty and filthy dirty master is not unexpected.

If just a short sit, am assuming the brakes were serviced & master was full in a not too distant past so it probably leaked out of a line or hose. You should find a puddle or damp spot on the floor somewhere under where the car was sitting. If a wheel cylinder, again a puddle but also a wet spot on the inside of one of the tires where it ran out of the brake drum.

At any rate, if it has been a long time since the last brake service or rebuild it sounds as if it would be a good idea to go ahead and do that now. Rubber and fluid both deteriorate from long periods of sitting. Rubber doesn't like being dry and since you said the master was empty, I would check its condition carefully. Verify the wheel cylinders are all in good condition and a piston is not frozen from corrosion. After that, since the master was empty and pedal pumped while it was dry it will take bleeding the system to eliminate any possibility of air in the lines.

If by chance it is power and you don't find any fluid leak then another possibility for an empty reservoir is a bad seal and the fluid was sucked into the vacuum side. In that case it is definitely time for a quality rebuild or exchange on the Easamatic.