Strange brake issue

Maintenance advice to keep your Spider in shape.
Post Reply
User avatar
hayesbd
Posts: 171
Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:20 pm
Your car is a: 1973 Spider
Location: Newark, Ohio, USA

Strange brake issue

Post by hayesbd »

I searched for posts for this problem but came up empty. The issue is this:
Over time, one master cylinder reservoir level starts to go down while the other one goes up, even to the point of starting to spill out the cap. I'm not losing any fluid - it's just transferring from one reservoir to the other. Has anyone encountered this issue? I suspect that my new master cylinder is not up to par since there is very little brake dust from the rear brakes so that may be the main problem. Or is it that I need to re-bleed the rear lines? I've got a new compensator and re-built rear calipers and all new flex lines.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Brian
Current: 1973 124 Spider
Previous: 1961 600D, 1970 850 Racer, 1973 124 Special, 1974 124 Special TC
micbrody
Patron 2018
Patron 2018
Posts: 443
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2014 4:50 pm
Your car is a: 1981 fiat 2000
Location: Munster, IN (Northwest Indiana near Chicago)

Re: Strange brake issue

Post by micbrody »

probably master cylinder is bad. not sure how it could leak out of cap, though. The reservoir has a divider, but (on mine), they are separated only half way
User avatar
hayesbd
Posts: 171
Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:20 pm
Your car is a: 1973 Spider
Location: Newark, Ohio, USA

Re: Strange brake issue

Post by hayesbd »

On the older cars, there are two separate reservoirs with hoses going to the two ports on the master cylinder. The reason it can leak out the top when one gets too full is that they are not designed to seal completely - they have to breath somewhat to account for pad wear.

Thanks,
Brian
Current: 1973 124 Spider
Previous: 1961 600D, 1970 850 Racer, 1973 124 Special, 1974 124 Special TC
Post Reply