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Brake pedal goes straight to the floor
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vee dub dan
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Joined: June 23, 2004
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Location: Pennsylvannia
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 7:02 pm    Post subject: Brake pedal goes straight to the floor Reply with quote

Hey all,

My 56 was sitting for awhile and the front left wheel was locked up, so I was moving it around to try and line up the adjuster stars and the brakes were working just fine. All of a sudden, right before getting to the first adjuster star, the brake pedal just went straight to the floor with no pressure at all.

I do not see any leaks and I still have fluid in the reservoir. Wheel cylinders are approximately 3-4 years old. Master cylinder is probably about 5 years old. Rubber brake lines are unknown.

I tried pumping up to build pressure and have nothing. Is this a bad master cylinder or is there something else to test / check?

Also, if I am getting a new master cylinder what does everyone recommend? I was seeing TRW or Varga being recommended.

Thanks in advance.
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j-dub
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 8:06 pm    Post subject: Re: Brake pedal goes straight to the floor Reply with quote

I have had good luck with the Varga brand master cylinders, have not tried a TRW.

I had another brand in my car a couple of years ago, all that the auto parts place had in stock at the time, I believe it was centric. It would shoot an air bubble up the feed tube towards the reservoir when bleeding, I know this is not entirely uncommon however this one seemed worse than normal. I had a hard time getting a good pedal. Swapped it for a Varga and quickly had a nice tall pedal.

You say the pedal went to the floor. Do you see a leak anywhere? Look at all of the wheel cylinders and below the master cylinder both inside and out side of the passenger compartment. The master in my car, the one before the centric, began leaking into the passenger compartment where the push rod from the pedal assembly goes.

Good luck.
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vwjetboat
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 18, 2017 8:21 pm    Post subject: Re: Brake pedal goes straight to the floor Reply with quote

main brake line going from master cyl to the rear of car.. it is under the carpet on drivers side
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3foldfolly
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 19, 2017 5:05 am    Post subject: Re: Brake pedal goes straight to the floor Reply with quote

vwjetboat wrote:
main brake line going from master cyl to the rear of car.. it is under the carpet on drivers side

Most common area for front to rear tube to corrode and leak is front drivers side pedal area. You'll need to lift or remove floor covering to inspect.
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Eric&Barb
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 8:33 am    Post subject: Re: Brake pedal goes straight to the floor Reply with quote

Problem is that standard brake fluid sucks in moisture right out of the air. Most likely you will find that the MC is all rusted up inside and now the seals in it have been torn up on the rust. To prevent that one should either move out to a very dry desert area or take the brake system apart for cleaning out and inspection every one to two years or sooner if you put on another 30,000 miles.

Silicon brake fluid DOT 5 does not have that problem. Have changed over our buses to this and getting about eight to ten years before having to take apart and replace at least rubber seals.
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