Help ! - I'm an IDIOT

[Bucky71]

Should have left well enough alone.

Going deer hunting tomorrow so I took a look under the hood. Oil OK. Rad OK. Brake fluid looks bad. It's brown and there is obvious rust particles.

So, I siphon the fluid out and wipe up all the crud. Put new fluid in and NO PEDAL. It goes to the floor with no resistance.

I pull the front output line off the prop valve. The first push of the pedal shoots out some nasty looking fluid then nothing.

So I pull off the master cylinder and take it apart. It is gross with rusty brake fluid. Clean it all up, put it back in, still no pedal and nothing coming out the output ports (not hooked up yet).

Should also mention that when I refilled it after cleaning the reservoirs, I used dot 5 fluid (it's supposed to be compatible and is not hydroscopic).

I figure MC is toast. Can't get a rebuild kit. Can't get a remanufactured MC till Monday. Could have gotten a new MC today, but got lost going to the place and was late.

Any feedback on the brakes would be appreciated. Don't bother trying to console for being stupid. I've been this way for a long time and I'm kinda used to it.

[Dingfodgy]

You're gonna have to bleed the brake system- by removing all the nasty brake fluid you almost certainly introduced air into the lines. button all the lines and hoses and start bleeding the system at the wheel cylinders. Do the right rear first, then the left rear, then the right front and finally the left front.

[corn]

Dont use dot 5 in a dot 3 system, especially mixing the two. You can mix dot 4 with three but thats it.

[Cyclone44]

Originally Posted by Dingfodgy

You're gonna have to bleed the brake system- by removing all the nasty brake fluid you almost certainly introduced air into the lines. button all the lines and hoses and start bleeding the system at the wheel cylinders. Do the right rear first, then the left rear, then the right front and finally the left front.

But you still may need a new MC...George

[Longhorn Man]

dump the dot 5 junk, and fill with fresh dot 3, and bleed it till there's no air coming out, and the fluid is nice and clean.

[ante_up13]

Wouldn't you also have to bench bleed the MC if air got into it?

[steves1967]

You gotta bench bleed the MC first (this make take a while but you gotta get ALL the bubbles out of the fluid0, then bleed each wheel cylinder atarting at the passenger side rear, then drivers rear, then passenger front, and finally driver front. You should be good to go after that!!

[powerbench]

while your at it ...might as well go get some nuts off ..or wd 40 and start hitting the bleeders on the wheel cylinders now and calipers.....probably been a while since they were opened up...might be a bit of a bear to get open....