arcticcatmatt

My car was on my lift for 2 months. After 2 months I noticed something was leaking down the backside of the driverside tire. It appeared to be power steering fluid (light red oil). I didn't think much of it and drove it 3-4 times, brakes worked fine. Today I just drove it to work in 30 degrees to get one last ride of the season in and almost no brakes! It goes to the floor. I tried to skid to test it and it pulled hard to the right. The rear tires did skid. I touched the driverside rotor and there is some sort of oil all over it. I pump the brakes and nothing leaks out, system is not low on fluid. Anyone had this happen? I am 35 mins from home and have to drive the car to an appointment today, little worried.

bgall2

HI, First thing you need to do is check fluid and put some in before your master cylinder runs dry...then you have a bigger job.

noonie

The red fluid is probably steering fluid as you thought. It can spray quite a ways under the right conditions.
The low pedal is probably you master leaking internally if you have no fluid/level loss as you say.
First really cold weather commonly brings out the worst in marginal brake seals.

arcticcatmatt

I just checked the brake fluid. It is very dirty looking but not low. So it appears that my power steering fluid leaked on my rotor, I hit the brakes to get it to stop, being cold made the master cylinder seal go and leak internally thus not working.. so now I need to fix the powersteering fluid leak and install a new master cylinder.. blah! At least its the end of the season. I'll take the front wheel off in the next few days and diagnose.. at least I still have brakes and can drive it today.

Ganey

If you have a PS high pressure leak it will squirt out under pressure, so start up & turn st. wh. while looking.

In case it needs mentioning, you can downshift through gears & use parking brake if needed.

myk7

Fix the power steering leak first, then clean up the rotor and pads on the left side. You may need to replace the pads, not sure how well power steering fluid cleans up on pads. Then replace/repair the master cylinder if needed, the master cylinder might be fine.

Mike Ward

Don't even think of driving the car anywhere if your brakes are marginal.

7T1vette

You've used the brakes with that P/S fluid on them so that, now, the brake pads are glazed-up and they don't have the same friction characteristics (no 'grab' in them). You need to fix the P/S leak problem; then pull the brake pads from the driver's side. You can use brake cleaner (spray can...wear goggles!) to clean off both sides of the rotor and to wash off the surface of the brake pads. That will remove any old burned P/S fluid. But, then you need to use a fairly rough sand paper to scuff the brake pads up again....150-200 grit paper should do it. Place the sandpaper on a flat surface and lay the brake pad on it, then do 'figure 8's' on the sandpaper while keeping the pad surface flat with the paper. You only have to pull the retaining pin to remove the brake pads...you don't have to disassemble the calipers.

If that doesn't fix your problem, it would be best that you then install new brake pads on both front rotor sets.