Hardly any brakes

[steven_esworthy]

Hey all just bought my 71 240 a few weeks ago and was driving around today when all of a sudden the brake pedal had no resistance until you got near the floor and it has hardley any power to them. Got home and there is a nice puddle on the drivers side of my car about mid section, beleive its brake fluid. Anyone know if that is where the proportioning valve is or have any idea what the prob could be, thanks for any help.

[Fun_in_my_z]

The preportioning valve is under the hood below the master cylinder.

[Ed]

Originally posted by steven_esworthy

Got home and there is a nice puddle on the drivers side of my car about mid section, beleive its brake fluid.

Are you talking inside your car? If so then your master cylinder is shot. The seals on the piston are leaking and everytime you pump your brakes you will squirt a bit of brake fluid inside your car. This is bad for two reasons. First the obvious, no brakes. Second brake fluid is corrosive and the longer it sits inside your car the more paint it will desolve. Pull your floor mats wash everything with plenty of water.

Replace that bad MC, bleed the brakes and you should be as good as new.

[steven_esworthy]

No, there was a puddle outside the vehicle, like I said, about the midsection, I will get the car lifted up this weekend and try to find the leak

[billcapp]

There is another valve near the rear on the passenger side up in the hump area in front of the split shaft. I believe THIS is the proportioning valve. The piece up front under the MC is just a splitter for the front and back lines.

[kmack]

Billcapp is correct. The piece that is mounted on the inner fender underneath the Master Cylinder is called the manifold. It is where the lines split to go left or right for both the front and rear brake systems. (The front and rear systems are already separate coming out of the MC. That's why the two reserviours) There is another small piece (kind of t-shaped) that will be mounted underneath the car on the passenger side just infront of the rear wheel. This is the proportioning valve. It helps to keep the back brakes from locking up before the fronts do.

Can you be a bit more descriptive with regards to exactly where do you consider the mid-section of the car to be? If you're talking about being underneath the seat area, then you may have a broken brake line. Could have rusted through.

Check the master cylinder in the engine bay (don't have to have the car lifted). Look/feel for any leaks. If you see a drip or spot on the floor, try to see what is directly above that spot and follow it from there. This will tell you what to fix first.

[steven_esworthy]

I could not find the leak, there was just fresh fluid under the car. I added more brake fluid and pumped the brakes but no fluid is leaking out now and the brakes seem to be acting normal, just needs to be bled. Im just waiting for the leak to happen again so I can find it.