I noticed my brake fluid level is going low again. Last year when it did this was becasue my calipers were leaking so I changed them, but now I'm starting to think it may be the lines or the resivour. Any other place that's common for a slow leak to spring up. The car has 120K miles.

How tough is it to change the brake lines or fluid resivour on our cars? I'm a basic mechanic - change oil, change spark plugs, change rotors, calipers, and pads, etc.

Is this something I could do in a few hours in my garage or should this be left to someone with more experience? Anything I need to watch out for or special tools?

Thanks. Mmmm...forbiden steal braided brake lines...<drool>

 

Master cylinder could be leaking. Not from the outside but from the inside. Crawl under the dash and look directly under where the rod comes though the firewall. You might have to pull back the carpet/sound material to check. If it's wet, it's bad and needs to be replaced. Dry then you are okay.

 

Jeff, if the master cylinder has leaked so much that he can feel it inside the car, then he'll probably need a booster too.

 

I was working on a Max at work today, he came in with his brake light on, and his ABS control module was leaking, so check that, it's on the pass. side of the engine, near the front.

 

jeff - thanks, I'll check that out.

xmaximax - no abs in my car, sorry, I should have mentioned that.

internetautomar - if my booster was bad, wouldn't I have to work a lot harder to stop the car...the pedal feel is fine. I thought the booster was an all or nothing device, I didn't think it went out gradually. Pardon my ignorance if I'm being dumb.

 

booster may not be bad and if the pedal feels fine it's probably not the master cylinder.
Does the pedal "sink" when you hold it down?

 

the problem won't be the booster itself.. what happens is the master cylinder leaks inside the booster and ruins it from the brake fluid. not sure exaclty how, but that's usually what happens with it when they go bad...

 

the fluid leaks from the center bore back down the rod into the booster itself. and then eats the seal and allows the vaccum to escape.

I was just saying that IF the master went bad enough to feel it inside (liquid) the booster would have gone too.

 

Why don't you try putting cardboard under the car in different spots? It's an easy way to tell where fluid is leaking from.

 

can anyone of you post a picture where exactly Master Cylinder and Booster is located and how it looks like? Past few weeks, when I apply brake, the car stops but I feel that the brake is going all the way down. I had replaced barke pads on all four wheels about 8,000 miles ago.

 

Pop your hood and look on the drivers side against the firewall. Big round thing is the booster and attached to that (infront of it) is the master cylinder.
master cylinder
Brake booster
Sopunds like your master is shot.
I sell em.