Like I said, the car just got out of storage and the brakes haven't ben touched in 7 years. I haven't stomped on the pedal yet but did inspect for leaks and such and none were found and the reservoir is still full of brake fluid just like I left it. so to get to the long and short of it what should be my first course of action to minimize any misfortune? Or should I just stomp on the brakes and hope for the best and if the master cylinder leaks or seizes deal with it then?
you can do a test drive, if breaks do not pull to either side (and car stops)
thendrive about 10 miles and check to see if rims are hot from dragging shoes
if not they should be ok.
i would still just do a rebuild on the cyl's anyway to be sure. mine sometimes would drag after
a long time sitting so i would drive to a friends house and check for heat
be sure to really hold on to the wheel for the first while because if only one brake works it will really pull
the car.
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Surrey BC
1963 Acadian Beaumont Sport Deluxe http://www.63acadian.com/
I'd stomp the brake pedal a few times and then revisit the master cyl, wheel cylinders and lines looking for leaks.
If none found then try moving it and applying the brakes - revisit looking for leaks.
Can never be too cautious with brakes.
Might not be a bad idea to flush the brake fluid, as it is hygroscopic. Sitting for 7 years, it's possible that it has absorbed some water over the years so not a bad idea to change it, to prevent future corrosion problems in your braking system.
I agree that it might be a good idea to replace seals in the master cylinder as well, especially if your car has a single chamber master cylinder (i.e. if it fails you lose all braking).
Yup, I was already planning to flush and bleed the system as a no brainer matter of course (especially since I have to replace the cracked front brake hoses, all mybrake lines are solid however). My main concern is the master cylinder. I was hoping to avoid having to do a rebuild of the master cylinder (and yes it's a single circuit unit) so I thought maybe going gentle on it (a few light pushes at first while the car is stationary) might free the master cylinder from its slumber without creating any leaks and after it gets used to being worked again then go for the drive and do a few serious stomps and inspect for leaks and such. (I'm doing this freshening up of the car on an extreme budget so wherever I can avoid doing serious part replacement the more money left over for beer, er, I mean food and diapers . But methinks brakes are rather critical so I might splurge and do a rebuild as a prophylactic.)
-- Edited by meowy84 on Monday 16th of September 2013 11:18:38 PM
-- Edited by meowy84 on Monday 16th of September 2013 11:19:43 PM