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by smackeyacky 1293 days ago
I wouldn't be sure about that brake booster. They can fail spectacularly, feeding a pile of brake fluid into your intake and leaving you with a huge cloud of smoke / clogged exhaust valves and ports and no brakes.

Get it fixed ASAP.
2 comments
coconut_crab 1293 days ago
I'm not sure how can it spill brake fluid in my vacuum line since they aren't really connected together (the booster has a push rod that connects to the master cylinder). But yes, I will get it replaced soon for my safety.
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smackeyacky 1293 days ago
The safety of others as well.
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geocrasher 1292 days ago
Can you give an example of this mode of failure? I've never heard of this. Ever. The worst I saw on a YT channel recently (JustRolledIn) was a booster that exploded from a backfire. But never have I heard of one failing in such a way that it sucked the fluid right out of the (sealed) master cylinder.

Now, could a master cylinder and a brake booster fail this way? I suppose if the brake booster was already failed and leaked vacuum at the booster/cylinder interface, and then the master cylinder seal at the main plunger also failed, that this could happen. But I don't see one causing the other.

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smackeyacky 1292 days ago
1975 RHD alfa spider veloce failed on me this way. True the booster setup was stupid, placed after the master cylinder and exposed to the fluid internally.

Since then, any sign of a leak == park it and take the bus.

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geocrasher 1292 days ago
Ah, so it was a specific failure along with a specifically bad design. THAT I get. I'm thinking of the Toyota's, Fords, Chevy's, Nissans, Mitsubishi, Internationals, Chryslers that I've owned. You know, mostly non-terrible cars :D
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smackeyacky 1292 days ago
Oh, the spider was not a terrible car. Some interesting engineering choices for the RHD Alfas to cope with the dual carbs getting in the way of the brake booster should go meant they either had the crazy remote dual boosters, or a hideous metal bracket that ran the width of the firewall (Alfetta, 75 etc).

Other than that, the first spider I had was a wonderful thing. Plenty of performance, dynamic handling, looked gorgeous. The 2nd one was a complete sh*tbox because it was allowed to rust and never fixed properly or drove properly.

Chryslers have a bad reputation in Australia. Poor quality control, bad reliability (compared to Toyota), hard to get parts, interiors that eat themselves etc. I should know having owned a few (and rebuilding a 300C at the moment). Once they bought AMC all the terrible Chrysler problems seemed to be like a virus on Jeeps.

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