Ok so the past few weeks i have noticed a little bit of brake fluid on my right rear, and left front wheels on my 53 ford. It looks to be coming from inside the drum, and leaking out, onto the rim, the backs of the drum are dry. But heres the deal, i have already rebuilt the mastercylinder and placed all 4 brake cylinders and put on new pads. What would be the cause of this? the car stops fine when going down the road tho thanks Luke
Thats weird, if the wheel cylinder have been replaced all I can think of is that they were refurbished units and are seeping. Thats all I can really think of.
I guess you will be pulling the drums,let us know what you find.Coming from the inside,I would suspect the wheel cylinders may have dried up from long shelf life and you may have to re-kit them.
ohh ok, they were sealed in a baggie tho. but i guess that doesnt really matter. ill pull them off this week and let you guys know what will happen. should i just go ahead and order new shoes too since the fluid messes them up? or can they just be cleaned?
I'm going with Jeff on this one. Pull the drums, take the guts out of the cylinders. Inspect the insides of all four cylinders for damage, rust, dirt, etc. Clean the cylinders with "Brakleen" aerosol brake cleaner - use lots of it to flush away and dirt, grease, oil, etc. - and wipe them out so you know they're clean inside. Then put in fresh kits using brake fluid as an ***embly lube so the rubbers, pistons, cylinder walls, etc. are wet with it when you put 'em back together. I'd clean your old shoes with Brakleen, again using plenty of it, and see what they look like when they dry. If they look like all the brake fluid has been removed, I'd go ahead and use them. If they still look yucky, replace them. If the leaks are fairly recent the shoes will probably be okay once they've been cleaned up. If you end up replacing the shoes, be sure to have the new shoes arced to match the drums before installing them. Any competent brake shop can do this if you bring all the parts in. Then, keep them all in order until you get 'em on the car. If all of this sounds over your head, take the car to a competent brake shop and have them do the work! Remember, it's your life! Good luck, and let us know how it works out, okay?
haha alright thanks! lol ill take try to clean out the cylinders first and last bet take it to the shop. im kinda on a budget so i gotta try and do as much by myself as i can do. but thanks! ill rip them off this week.
so i relized something this week...i forgot to put the br*** washer where the line hooks up to the wheel cylinder... so it was never fully tightend down and kept leaking... so they are back in commission now, i got new pads just to be safe.