Master Cylinder

[Neuner]

I hate working on brakes.

I don't know enough about the master cylinder and proportioning valve. I have manual brakes. With the master cylinder cover off, I pushed down on the brake pedal and brake fluid sprayed up from the MC's small reservoir (rear/drum brakes?). Nothing happened with the larger reservoir (front?). Seems wrong. Do I need a new MC or what is going on?

 

[mriplaybass]

You are correct. Smaller reservoir is for the rear drum brakes. Just because fluid sprays up from the smaller reservoir but not from the larger one does not necessarily indicate a problem. You will probably notice some turbulence in the large one if you have someone slowly pump the brakes while you watch the reservoir. Manually bleed the calipers. You should have good pressure at the bleeders once all the air is purged. Since the proportioning valve is down stream from the MC, there should be no effect on what is going on inside the reservoirs unless the proportioning valve or lines are obstructed. You will be able to tell this if little or nothing comes out when you bleed the calipers. If there is an obstruction, it's probably time to rebuild or replace just about everything. Not worth having your brakes fail just to save a few dollars.

 

[Neuner]

Thanks for the response, I appreciate it!

I did bleed the brakes last night with a self-bleeder kit which worked very well.

 

[Torxhead]

As I recall, with a proportioning valve, the rear brakes come in first. This causing the mess in your engine compartment.