Brake leak help

[Montana Z]

My drivers wheel cylinder leaks when I apply the e-brake.  Does anyone have an idea why this might be happening?  It doesn't seem to leak during normal driving.  Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Cheers,

Scot

[Patcon]

33 minutes ago, Montana Z said:

My drivers wheel cylinder leaks when I apply the e-brake.  Does anyone have an idea why this might be happening?  It doesn't seem to leak during normal driving.  Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Cheers,

Scot

Unless I am mistaken the E brake is all mechanical. The main circuit is hydraulic. My first guess is the seals are deteriorated and they leak when the pressure is removed from them by the E brake. That is however just a guess...

[EuroDat]

Im with Charles. If the brakes aren't modified in any way, it should be a mechanical e-brake, parking brake.

What ever the reason. If it's leaking brake fluid, you need to replace the wheel cylinder or a wheel cylinder kit if the cylinder is not pitted inside. They will often pit in the centre section where the rubber cups don't reach or if it has been sitting a long time.

[siteunseen]

The newer wheel cylinders for a 240, the $30 ones, will require some tube bending.  The inlet is in a different position.  The ones that don't require the bending are about a $100.

The $100 goes in from the side.

The $30 threads into the top.

Not too big of a deal but be ready if you get the cheaper one.

 

[Montana Z]

Alright everyone, thank you so much for the feed back.  I'm finally back home and have some additional info... please bear with me.  

Two years ago I installed new OEM wheel cylinders (not cheap) from zcar depot.  Last year I only drove the car twice because something bad happened inside my engine.  I talked the wife into letting be buy a 2.7 stroker from Datsun spirit.  Now I have an auto trans so I rarely set the e-brake.  The first night of the engine install the car was on jack stands so I left the e-brake applied.  The next morning I discovered a puddle of brake fluid under the rear drives tire.  It appeared to be leaking from the hard/ soft line junction.  So I tightened that up and cleaned everything up.  Sadly the next night I discover it was still leaking.  I cleaned everything up and decided to check once I got home.  The strange thing is that it has not leaked since.  I have about 450 miles on the engine and the rear wheel has no fluid leaking.  I'm home this weekend so I plan to bleed it, but I'm still confused about what happened and why.  Sorry if this ran a little long.Heres a picture of the new engine because picture make threads better.

Cheers,

Scot

[w3wilkes]

Here's a short thread of mine that ends with the newer affordable style wheel cylinders installed replacing the older very spendy wheel cylinders.

 

[Diseazd]

On 6/20/2018 at 3:58 PM, siteunseen said:

The newer wheel cylinders for a 240, the $30 ones, will require some tube bending.  The inlet is in a different position.  The ones that don't require the bending are about a $100.

The $100 goes in from the side.

The $30 threads into the top.

Not too big of a deal but be ready if you get the cheaper one.

 

Actually, Zcardepot sells the rear hardliners in stainless for $49.00. The conversion allows the early cars to use the later wheel cylinders......no bending required. 

[siteunseen]

I found that swapping the hardlines from one side to the other lessened the bending for me. Never thought about looking for adaptable hardlines. Thanks Guy,  I'll remember that for any future assist. 

Edited July 1, 2018 by siteunseen

[Montana Z]

Update:  Well I have no real progress on the leak.  I bled the rear brakes and there hasn't been any further leaking so it remains a mystery.  HOWEVER, I noticed more rear brake drag then I wanted so I had the drums turned.  The shoes are relatively new because I installed them when I did the wheel cylinders about 4K miles ago so I just kept them and reinstalled the newly turned drums.  

I noticed the rear brakes drag until I pull the parking brake about 4 clicks.  Then there is no drag.  Then they engage as they should.  My question is who has experienced this, and is adjusting the parking brake the right thing to do?  Again thanks to all of you who have helped me out with this.

Cheers,

Scot

[Montana Z]

Well a coworker of mine said the issue might be that my wheel cylinders are too loss allowing the shoes to tilt and drag until some pressure is applied.  I took everything apart tonight and that was intact the issue.  Just incase anyone else has a similar problem.

Cheers,

Scot