MG4EVR@aol.com wrote: "I just put a new master cylinder in my 73 midget, and
am not getting any
fluid to the rear brakes. I bled them for an hour and still can't get any
fluid to the rears. The fronts beld out perfectly, any helpful hints out
there?"
Ya know, the same thing happened to me. I had a new master cylinder put on
my 1977 Midget a few months ago. I always felt that there was still air in
the line because the pedal felt a little low and sometimes mushy. Then
suddenly a couple of weeks ago my brake pedal got really hard to press and
started working up higher than it had been before. I went to a friend's
house and we proceeded to bleed the brakes. Fronts responded normally. When
we got to the rears, nothing would come out. When the bleed nipple was
opened all the way the pedal would not go to the floor.
I took my Midget to the local British repair shop for diagnosis. The
repairman found that the rear brake lines were completely plugged with some
sort of black tar-like substance. I ended up replacing the flexible portion
of the line and the rear wheel cylinders as a safety precaution. The shoes
were also shot and they were replaced too. The repairman couldn't offer any
explanation of the blockage.
Now the brakes work fine. I'd like to know what caused this blockage so I
can't try to avoid it in the future. By the way, I'm using silicon brake
fluid. Does anyone think that that could have played a part in this
situation?
Perplexed as usual,
Gary Watson
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