Empty master cylinder

[Obiejuankinobie]

My master cylinder has two resivoirs the one facing the radiator was empty. I was wondering if anyone knows which of the brakes that controls. I had new calipers put in 8mo ago. I am wondering if they installed the calipers then bleed the brakes and did not re-fill the resivoir. So I am assuming the front resivoir feeds the front brakes is this true???????

[nailfoot]

No, the system is seperated like an "X", not front and back. The driver's side front and passenger's side rear are on one system. This way, if one side loses something, you still have fairly even braking.

Anyway, I don't know what system is supplied by the front reservior. Fill it up, and look for leaks while a friend pumps the brakes with the engine running.

[Obiejuankinobie]

Thanks Nailfoot, I just had the mechanic down the street come and pick up my TC here at work. I told my wife in the old days the older cars had a master cylinder with only one line. She told me what do you mean older cars YOURS IS "THE OLDER CAR".

[joedogg]

The large reservoir is the front brakes, the small one is the rears. If I recall correctly the rears are at the front of the master cylinder. Just check to see if its the big or the little one, then you'll know.

The best way to test is simply to crawl under there and have someone pump the brakes, do it with the engine on. You'll see fluid pouring out. (refill the reservoir first)

Fixing brake leaks isn't so hard really. It's probably a caliper or a drum or a hose. Either way, not too hard of a fix. Unless its a drum, then god knows how to do anything with a drum. (I'm sure someone here knows, but as far as I can tell its held on by "magic")

[MichiganTeddyBear]

drums are not hard, just can be a pita... the shoes wear the drum surface some, and of course they dont retract all the way (too keep the brakes in adjustment), and by the time you need to replace the shoes, there is a significant lip on the surface of the drum. thats when you get the tools out and back off the adjuster screw (good luck here, its usually a biatch) so the shoes are retracted all the way,, then the drum drops off.

-or-

you can cuss and swear, break parts, beat on the drum till it breaks (been there, done that), and hope that you can beat the drum over the shoes.

After the drum is off, they are really pretty easy to do. just need to keep the springs organized so that you can replace them in the right order.