Hi all
About two months ago I was getting ready to out for a drive, and as
usual I checked all the fluids. The rear brake reservoir was empty,
so I filled it up cringing at the thought of bleeding the brake
system. I found no evidence of fluid on the floor, or anywhere in
or on the car. I went on my drive, and sure enough I had squishy
brakes. After driving about 80 miles I put it back in the garage
with the plan of bleeding the brakes after I got the 140 off the
lift. Yesterday, I finally made room for the E to go up on the
lift. I checked the reservoir, and it was still full after my 80
mile drive. Well, here’s the kicker. The brakes are no longer
squishy, and function just as well as they did before the loss of
fluid. Did the air in the line gravitate back up to the reservoir,
or is my car equipped with the optional self bleeding brake system?
Now I’m really confused. Where did the missing fluid go, and why
hasn’t any more leaked out, and was the air in the line just past
the master, so it flowed back? Something just doesn’t seem to
compute here. TIA.
Joel–
ex jag, '66 E-type S1 4.2, '56 XK140dhc, '97 XJ-6
Denison, TX, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
In reply to a message from ex jag sent Tue 24 Jul 2007:
There have been a number of posts on this subject - the
cause is likely to be failing seals within the master
cylinder, resulting in fluid collecting in the booster
canister. I have a Series II, and before I took it apart for
resto, my brakes worked fine, but taking apart the canister
was like cracking a coconut, I must have had upwards of a
pint of brake fluid inside.–
Kevin Kemper
Auburn, CA, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
In reply to a message from ex jag sent Tue 24 Jul 2007:
I had that problem for a long time. I’d been slowly
loosing brake fluid but couldn’t find any leaks. I even
resorted to the aircraft mechanics trick of wrapping toilet
paper (or white paper towelling) around each fitting and
putting pressure on the pedal overnight. Nothing. One day
while deacellerating I saw a HUGE trail of whitish smoke
behind me. I couldn’t figure it out. Not long after I
took the vacumn bottle off to clean around that area and
almost dropped it. Why did an ‘empty’ tank weigh so much
and slosh. It was almost full of fluid! Studying the
manual it was clear that a leak in the slave cylinder and
diaphram allows fluid to be slowly pulled through into the
tank where it will accumulate untill it’s sucked into the
manifold and burned under high vacumn conditions (like
deacellerating).–
Bent Bob
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–