Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Tom and others,

Many, many thanks for the advice. I've just got done writing Fred Kanter a personal note and I'll drop it in the mail tomorrow. Thanks for supplying the link to finding the post in the forums.

I guess I need another compensator valve because the car did it again today. I took it out for a 25 mile drive on Tucson's far eastside (away from busy traffic). I'm estimating that 10% of the time when I apply the brakes during operation I get that mushy feel and the pedal travels far towards the floor. I then pump it and it comes back up but it still recedes downward. After doing that several times, I can get the car to stop. Upon stopping, it will act fine for a while. I also seem to note the same condition when I back down the drive (slight incline). As I think of it now, when the car idles, the pedal is always hard and I never get the effect I described above.

When I get the valve, I think I'll take it over to my buddy's garage and do the repairs their with his professional assistance. Then with it up in the air, we'll check all the cylinders and every connection the car has.

As I think of it now, how much fluid to you all normally replace when checking your systems? Is it normal to lose some?

I'm perplexed.

A mushy pedal can be due to air in the brake lines but should be mushy nearly all of the time. So i doubt very much that your situation is due to air in the lines.

The compensator valve can be removed without removing the entire unit from the car. It's abit difficult due to steering column but just remove the plate from top of mastercyliner. A 1" or maybe 15/16 socket will fit the hex of the compensator valve for removal. When installing the new compensator have an accomplice push the brake pedal down about an inch or alittle more, install the compensator valve WHILE the pedal is held down. Then release the pedal.

The pedal must be held down about an inch or so so that the washer on the end of the plunger will be in FRONT of the pin that hangs down into the pressure cylinder. If pedal is not depressed a little then the washer MIGHT fall behind the compensator valve pin which MIGHT do some damage to compvalve pin.

Fluid loss:

I ran the BTV in my 56 Exec for about 4 years and 7K miles when i first got the car. Fluid "loss" was consistant at about 4 oz's every 500 miles or less. The fluid was getting sucked into the POWER unit and therefore never any signs of external leakage. NOTE that fluid loss due to fluid sucking into the power unit has not been uncommon among many posters in this forum and others over the years.

My BTV always provided superb braking performance. NEVER a braking PERFORMANCE failure. Always had very positive brake pedal feel and very "touchy" (I like very touchy power brakes) . THE PROBLEM was the fluid loss and a hissing noise that often came from the power unit.

IF u are getting a new compensator valve from ANY source then probably need to get at least 2wo spare such compensator valves to have on hand. The current consensus (as i understand it) is that the BTV should be rebuilt every 3 to 5 years (time specific and not mileage specific). So most likely u'll have to replace the compensator valve every 3 to 5 years.

While the top is removed from master cylinder be sure to check the long deep hole drilled down the the back wall of tghe master cylinder. There was one report of a "known rebuilder" that filled it with silicone.

Fluid loss mite be due to some problem with the long deep hole and or lid gasket.

There was a thread here at P'info.com about 6 months ago that discussed this fluid loss/long deep drilled hole.

NOT the thread i'm looking for but take a look at this:

https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6133&forum=4&post_id=78619#forumpost78619

SPECIAL NOTE; there has been some controversy over the LID GASKET blocking off the hole that is referenced as filled with silicone in the above thread.