still-learning

Folks,

I have what I hope is an easy brake question. PLEASE forgive me my automobile mechanics infancy.

I was driving my vette yesterday and I noticed that my brake pedal was soft. It would still stop the car pretty hard but it wouldn't lock up the wheels and the pedal would hit the stop.

I did exactly what I should and put the vette in the garage. I checked the master brake cylinder w/ the hopes of low fluid. It appeared to be fine. Oh yeah, my question. :) There appeared to be two balloons like parts to the cover gasket. One was partially collapsed and the other was totally collapsed and now flat. Should I open them up? Should I replace the gasket? What do they do?? :)

Any and all info would be appreciated.

Tim M.

norvalwilhelm

This cover gasket is fine. It is like an accordian. As the fluid level goes down the gasket follows the level down. I would fill the level back up , collapse the gasket and reinstall the cover.
There is a reason the fluid went down and it has nothing to do with the gasket.
Have it checked out before you get into trouble.

still-learning

Thanks for the response. W/ the accordion part of the gasket open the fluid should be fine. It really wasn't low at all. Should I replace the gasket? In other words should it have opened itself?

Tom454

The gasket has nothing to do with brake performance. It is a vapor barrier. As the brakes wear, the rubber bellows takes up the void as the fluid goes down. This keeps the cylinder sealed to the outside world, but lets air in (above the bellows) to avoid a vacuum situation. If you fool with it long enough, you can get the bellows to go back to its initial "fold".

Since you have full fluid, your problem is either air in the line(s), or a bad master cylinder, or both. Bad/spongy brake hoses can contribute to this problem, but not enough (by themselves) to cause the pedal to go to the floor.

still-learning

Cool info. OK, for grins and giggles I will collapse the accordions down. Fill the cylinder to the top and see what happens. Either way, I have scheduled a time to have my buddy's shop take a look at the brake system as a whole. The pads have been squeaking so I wouldn't mind resolving that issue too...

Thanks again for the information.