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Brake fluid puddle

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mylillooker

mylillooker

Senior Member
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Well, not so much a puddle. My brakemaster cylinder went leaky on me. Drained onto the driver's side floormat and onto the floor. I've gotten most of it up. But as it says it's a "corrosive" on the bottle, do I need to tear up the carpet? Should I shampoo w/something? Maybe dawn... it breaks up grease? I just don't know. I'm inclined to think as long as I got the most of it up it will be o.k. ...true or false?

Oh yeah, and how hard is it to rebuild one? I've got the kit already.

Thanks,
Mario
 
Mario, I don't think the fluid is truly "corrosive", or we wouldn't be using it in our brake systems. As you know, it will eat the paint up pretty quickly. It probably wouldn't hurt to scrub the carpet , or to pull it out and clean underneath.
As far as re-building the cylinder, I've found it to be a major PITA. There's a snap ring deep inside the bore that is tough to deal with. Anymore, I just buy a rebuilt and be done with it. My local NAPA lists a rebuilt cylinder, and that's where I've gotten my last two or three. (For different vehicles, by the way. I'm not replacing the cylinder on the same car.)
Jeff
 
Brake fluid is an alcohol. As mentioned, it removes paint nicely. If you look under the carpet, you're likley to see the paint on the floor is bubbly. Brake fluid doesn't evaporate very well,so if you don't wash the carpet, every bit of dust and dirt will accumilate and you'll, eventually, have a nasty dark spot where the fluid and carpet meet. Additionaly, the fluid may dissolve some of the components of the carpet (carpet depending).

If you own a set of inside snap ring pliers, the rebuild job is a snap! Just don't use any petroleum based solvents to clean the parts. The petroleum solvents (gasolene, kerosene, mineral spirits, etc.) will all destroy the rubber components you are replacing. The residue from cleaning with them is enough to shorten the life of the new parts significantly (years to meer months).

The local NAPA store will carry "safe" brake cleaning chemicals and snap ring pliers.
 
pliers with Looonnnng tips, Jeff is not kidding when he said it is wwaaayyy down in there.


mark
 
Thom and Mark:
I've got the loooooooooong snap ring pliers, and still think it's a pain. I think I paid 45 bucks for my last rebuilt cylinder, and it even came with a "dyno sheet", showing all the post rebuild bench test results. I'll rebuild one if I have to, but for me it makes more sense to just buy one. Or maybe I'll just send the next one to you, Thom! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Jeff
 
I rebuilt mine, and it was a pain (even with the loooooooooong pliers). If I ever have to do it again I'll probably buy a rebuilt one.
 
Bugeye58;

As long as it doesn't come with an immediate return date, consider it done!

While I have your attention, just exactly is that bugeye doing in your avatar? Are you rolling it??

Cheers
Thom
 
I managed to get the snap ring out, but then couldn't remove the roll pin to fully disassemble the thing, and since moss listed it for $230, I modified the car for a VW cylinder (works great, and it probably has 150,000 miles on it at least). That wasn't real easy, so I'd recommend a rebuilt unit instead. I was already on my first rebuilt one, so that's why I went the alternate route. It only lasted about 2-3 years, and of those years, only 1000 miles tops, so I was basically fed up with the standard item.
 
Water helps "kill" spilled brake fluid real quick. Wash everything well.

Bruce
 
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