Club 80-90 Forums

Hi , I have an 84 diesel van and the last couple of
days it has developed brake fluid leak .
The reservoir was just slightly below the full level
and the mat under the pedals was wet .
Just above the pedals I could feel where I think it was leaking.
It looks like an awkward job to do is it just a case of replacing
the master cylinder , thanks .

very often the brake light switch or the pipe that feeds the clutch master below, need to take the clocks off and have a good look with torch.

thanks for the reply . Had a good look there and it seems that the
clutch master cylinder is leaking , not a whole lot just weeping a bit .
Will order a replacement and give it a go , sure what’s the worse that
could happen

The clutch slave is a pretty common failure, no need to bleed the brakes as the reservoir is separated for clutch and brakes

Went at this today and all going well until
I tried to tighten the nut on the hydraulic pipe .
Just wouldn’t tighten , and on closer inspection the hole
where the pipe goes in isn’t deep enough .
It’s a jp products item , avoid like the plague in future .
Anyway another one ordered just hope it’s a better fit .

Got at this at the weekend and fitted the new cylinder no problem .
No more leaks clutch is fine but the brake pedal just goes half way down and the van doesn’t stop .
Any idea what’s wrong , thanks .

sounds like you have air in the brake system and it does needs bleeding, can happen if fluid level drops too low and you operate the brakes, maybe depressed wrong pedal while working on it all , easily done if pressing pedals with hands as it's not as instinctive a thing to do, you 'know' to press clutch with left and brake with right foot but you instinctively use your preferred hand to do things and they only 'know' about steering and gearshift and hand controls

Yes that thing about different parts of your body knowing about different stuff is quite powerful. After reading about a young lady getting killed in a fairly low key accident as her seat belt was trapped in the door when she had set off I always re-close my door as I am putting on my seat belt.
Probably the same mechanism which gives my five speed van gearbox such a hard time for the first few miles after driving my Focus for a month or so.