Brake Booster Inspection

[dolamike]

I'm going to be replacing the brake master cylinder soon, wondering if anyone has advice on inspecting the brake booster while I am in the area, I haven't worked on one before... anything I should be looking for?

Symptoms: Random drop in pedal pressure, pumping the pedal brings it back up.

Photos below, any advice greatly appreciated.

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71 Bay Window Bus
85 Westfalia

[busman78]

If you have a Mityvac or similar tool you can draw a vacuum against the booster just like the engine would then hold the vacuum to check for a leak down, first do it at the engine connection to check your lines then at the booster. If vacuum holds I would pull the entire assembly out then just clean the booster prior to removing that nasty master cylinder from it.

[aeromech]

That's been leaking heavily for a long time
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Lead Mechanic: San Diego Air and Space Museum
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Boeing 727,737-200-300-400,757,767
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VW Type 2 1971 (3 ea.) 1978, 1969
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Capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound

[Abscate]

That car is not being driven, right? If so, please stop.

You probably need both a new Master Cylinder and booster at this point
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.ssS!

[dolamike]

Yeah, looks like I will be replacing both. I just got this bus back on the road after 20 years earlier this summer. Still chasing down issues like this one.

Thanks for all the info.
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71 Bay Window Bus
85 Westfalia

[ToolBox]

[kangaboy]

[andrewtf]

Just last week I sent mine here :

https://brakematerialsandparts.webs.com/

I don't yet have an estimate or time frame, but I should be getting that within the next day or two. They've only had the booster three or 4 days so far.
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'75 Riviera - 'BIG EMMA' (Pan American highway trip paused for a make over)
'77 Riviera - Murphy' (being reborn.... slowly)
'63 Austin Healey

[kangaboy]

[andrewtf]

Yes. Because:

1) Good luck finding anyplace else who will do it.

2) They were recommended by other Samba members

and

3) They don't know the extent of the repair until they pull it apart. This booster has had a .... difficult adventure.
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'75 Riviera - 'BIG EMMA' (Pan American highway trip paused for a make over)
'77 Riviera - Murphy' (being reborn.... slowly)
'63 Austin Healey

[Abscate]

[kangaboy]

[andrewtf]

I thought I should follow up on my booster to keep helpful information in the thread.

A few posts above I gave the place I sent our booster to. Frankly it took a bit longer than he originally said because a family emergency cropped up, but if he had not told me of that, I would not have thought anything about it as it was a lag of a few days - not a few weeks.

He called me yesterday to get payment for the work and postage to send it back to me. When we initially talked, he could not give me any sort of real estimate as all he knew was that it didn't work and had been underwater for the better part of two days about 8 months prior. All he could tell me that is could be as high as $400 if everything inside was rusty mush. After reading the trouble others were having with aftermarket boosters, I wanted to get the original one repaired instead of trying to wrestle with another one.

Final cost ... $165.00 including shipping it back to me.

It arrived about half an hour ago. Looks practically brand new. We probably won't get it installed for a few days, but if it works half as good as it looks, we'll be stopping with ease. So far, this is a very satisfying experience (except for the removal and subsequent re-installation of the actual booster).
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'75 Riviera - 'BIG EMMA' (Pan American highway trip paused for a make over)
'77 Riviera - Murphy' (being reborn.... slowly)
'63 Austin Healey

[crownline]

My booster looked the same as that. Booster was full of brake fluid. Funny thing is I got all the fluid out and put a new master cylinder on works great 10 years later still going.
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1972 Bus 1700 cc Single Carb. But not a progressive.
Barelymuvin
Wish I still had the ones I got rid of.

"It"s got some dings and dents and neither of us is going to SEMA."(Update, I went to SEMA in 2019 but the Bus stayed home)
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