Brake Fluid Question

[davery]

I was cleaning the engine bay today and noticed a plastic connector going into the master cylinder from the reservoir was broken. The reservoir has no brake fluid. As I looked a little further I noticed that the paint under the master cylinder was bubbling. Can brake fluid strip paint? I am not sure of the extent of the paint damage, but it damaged on the firewall behind the cylinder and down to almost where the engine mount is. It is a little hard to see with the master cylinder and various hoses in place. Any suggestions on what to do after I fix the leak?

[4uall]

You should handle brake fluid with extreme caution. Brake fluid, particularly DOT3 and DOT4, can eat away at your car's paint. Eventually, the paint tainted by the brake fluid will flake off from the vehicle.

[davery]

You should handle brake fluid with extreme caution. Brake fluid, particularly DOT3 and DOT4, can eat away at your car's paint. Eventually, the paint tainted by the brake fluid will flake off from the vehicle.

As I see. I guess I need to hose the engine bay off. See if I can get the fluid out of there.

[vandor]

Yes, brake fluid strips paint very well! Clean the area well and repaint it.
The plastic nipples are available from most vendors, there are a few different diameters and angles.

[davery]

Well I have a new master cylinder on order and it will not be here for a few days. It is too bad, it looks like this week might be the last week of top down driving until next spring. There has been extensive paint damage underand behind the master cylinder and I am hoping when I remove the old one it will be easier to repaint. I am still looking for a paint match, I have 876 Azzurra Blue. Any ideas? Anyway, is there anything else I should be doing at this time? I have never replaced a master cylinder, but it seems pretty straight forward. Probably the hardest part is going to be bleeding the lines afterward.

[4uall]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MylnRsioeRA for what its worth

[davery]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MylnRsioeRA for what its worth

Thanks. I will need to do a little more research on bench bleeding the cylinder. The vid seems to jump a couple of steps. Since one of the plastic nipples broke off and fluid went everwhere, I am thinking I have air in the brake line. I have never bled a brake line, will I need to bleed each line?

[stello3]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MylnRsioeRA for what its worth

thanks for the link. I saved it for future use. There are many vids on bleeding master cylinders but this one was simple and to the point.

[ga.spyder]

You will have to bleed each line.Start with the farthest from the master cyl.(passenger rear) and work your way to closest.Most major parts chains have a rental tool program.Look into one of their vacuum bleeder pumps.It will be more efficient and you wont have to hire the neighbor kid to pump and hold the pedal 200 times
http://www.harborfreight.com/mityvac-va ... 39522.html

[davery]

You will have to bleed each line.Start with the farthest from the master cyl.(passenger rear) and work your way to closest.Most major parts chains have a rental tool program.Look into one of their vacuum bleeder pumps.It will be more efficient and you wont have to hire the neighbor kid to pump and hold the pedal 200 times
http://www.harborfreight.com/mityvac-va ... 39522.html

Is there anyway to remove all the fluid in the system or should I even do that? I am worried there could be several air gaps in the lines. I did not notice the crack in the nipple right away and added fluid to the reservoir.

Also, does anyone know the size of the lines going from the reservoir to the master cylinder? Probably a good time to replace those. Anything else I should do at this time?

On another note, it is going to be above 70 all week here. What are my chance of finding some glue to temporarily fix the nipple? It will kill me to miss drving this whole week!

[maytag]

proper bleeding procedure will remove all "air gaps" (as you've called them).

[ga.spyder]

I just bled all the old fluid out.How do I know?I changed to ATE Blue hi temp fluid.I took a syringe and removed most of the old fluid.Then poured in new pretty blue fluid.I bled each brake until I saw blue!! Voila.All the old fluid out.Filled the master cylinder up again with Super blue and good to go.
You might try some sort of expoxy(JB WELD,PlasticWeld,etc..) to seal off the broken nipple temporarily.You will have to bleed the brakes though as you surely have air in there now.We have all done worse temp fixes to drive our cars!!