Well, after getting the front brakes done a few weeks ago, I noticed the brake light on at the beginning of this week (which didn't even come on when I was riding the front rotors metal to metal). I didn't think much of it initially because they were still operating fine, and I could still hear the accumulator charging (I was afraid initially that it had gone out). I went to check the fluid anyways. I shut the car off, and started pumping the pedal to depressurize it. After about 20 pumps, smoke started bellowing out of the hood vents on my side. I was like WTF??? I popped the hood, and noticed the brake fluid was coming out the cap, and dripping onto the downpipe. I got freaked out because I had never seen anything like that during depressurizing. So, I left it alone.
Well, the brake pressure just kept getting worse and worse until I could barely bring the thing to a stop with my foot planted to the floor. I called up the guy who did the brakes, and he said
"you have no pressure AND it's spilling when you depressurize it?"
"yup"
"ooooh, that's not good!"
"why?!?!"
"your mastercylinder is most likely shot"
"$(*&# (*#(&#$&^@^!"
He told me to bring it in to double check. I went ahead and depressurized it with all the fluid spilling over, popped the cap, and found the side closer to the front was empty. I refilled it and had total pressure again, so I took it over to him. He got it up in the air and checked out the wheels, and said "yep. It's the mastercylinder. You're not leaking anywhere else."
Say it ain't so, guys. Say it ain't so! This would not be a good time to need to shell out another $800 or whatever Prior is charging now. I still have the crossover pipe issue on both cars, and complete over haul of plugs, wires, coils, ICM, crank sensor, struts and mounts all the way around, all vacuum lines/hoses, etc. I'm about ready to sell off all the cars and just go get a new Infinity G35, or something. I know cars like these are a labor of love, but they're wearing my love very thin lol.
I'm assuming this was on the Turbo STE???
No matter what car it was on, that REALLY sucks. Maybe you can find one in a salvage yard??? Maybe you can sell the car on ebay to some unsuspecting person and buy another one???
That definately sucks...if it were me I'd sell the car...but you probably don't wanna do that.
Shawn
I don't know your exact situation... but when you pump the brake pedal (35-40 times for me) you depressurize your system and push all the fluid into the master cylinder. That is when you should fill it. So if your mechanic DIDN't do this, and just filled the cylinder without depressurizing the system, you would definately get overflow/leakage which would cause smoking when it falls on to the turbo / tranny when you tried to depressurize it. I would suggest before you sell the car or invest into a prior reman (which is well worth it)
1. depressurize the system
2. fill the master cylinder to proper level
3. wash off master cylinder
4. drive it around and check for problems
---
The brake light could also come on when dirt is on the wheel sensors... maybe try washing the inside of the wheel wells... These are all FREE checks... just to make sure you're not spending money you don't have on things you don't have to... Hope it helps
-jheiv
Excuse me if I sound rude, but my head really hurts right now.
That diagnosis sucks, of course you were leaking fluid. YOu already established that. Now you need to decide why its over filling.
I would:
1) Do what was suggested, refill properly and check it. YOu may need to bleed it if you were running that low.
Its unusual for fluid to leak out of the front reservoir into the rear one. Mostly because the front half of the powermaster is really just like a regular master cylinder.
When you were saying the pressure got worse and worse, was the pedal hard and high, or did it go to the floor without doing anything?
If it really is leaking into the rear, the only thing I could think of causing it would be a bad solenoid. Not that i've ever seen that.
Chris
Well guys, like I said, it's filled up proper for now. We'll see how long it lasts.
Chris: I was standing on the pedal (which went to the floor) with no results to stop the last 2-3 mph. That's when I decided I'm checking the level for sure, spillage or not. The first time it overflowed and I freaked out, I was also thinking "well, it can't be the fluid if there's enough to spill out." But sure enough, the one side was empty like I said.
So there's nothing else that could cause it to leak to the rear? I should have written down his explaination so that I could better relay what he said. Something to the effect that since I was loosing pressure/fluid AND still overfilled, some ring or something was jammed/stuck/blown out inside the mastercylinder, not opening/shutting when it should (don't quote me on this, I have no idea what I'm talking about when it comes to these old monster ABS units). *However*, he was suprised that there was fluid only in the rear portion of the reservoir. When I said it was spilling over, he thought the entire thing would have been over filled.
Damn it, Chris. I completely blanked out and forgot to place my final bid on your ABS unit a week or so ago. And I was sitting here right in front of the computer, too when it ended. I was cursing at myself for days after that. And now a week later, there's a possibility that mine is out. The irony of it all.
If the master cylinder is out I say screw the PMIII system and yank it out and go find a normal system out of an LE in the junkyard somewhere.
buy that STE on ebay with the vacum brakes!
Kicker; Shug: Trust me, if I wanted to go through the route of altering the system, I would have done it a long time ago. But silly as it may sound, I'm a big advocate of keeping as much original as possible on rare cars. Although, a newer, better ABS system would be cool.....
Chris; Jheiv: I topped off the fluid Friday night (which shut the "BRAKE" light off), and it lasted me till Tuesday before the light came back on, and pressure got worse and worse. I went to fill it again. The back portion was again full, while the front was bone dry. However, it didn't overflow this time. I'm stumped. I've never heard of a mastercylinder going out in this fashion before. Apparently, neither has anyone else. :(
Check and see if one of the front calipers is leeking. My friend had the same thing happening in his truck and his drivers side front caliper was leaking slowly through the bleeder. It wasn't enough to make a spot on the ground though but it was still leaking out.