master cylinder goosed?

[Russ B]

Hi guys.... hope you're all keeping well?
I had to get my 5 out of the garage to do some work in there & I usually just push her out, but as I wanted to turn her round I thought I'd fire the old girl up. I had to sort a stuck floats valve first as their wasn't any fuel getting into the bowl, but once that was done she fired up straight away as usual. (its been a couple of years since she last ran)
Anyway I crept along the driveway & the went to stop to turn round & no brakes.... the pedal went straight to the floor...eek...handbrake stopped me of though.lol.
The pedal goes to the floor regardless of the engine running, so am I right to assume the master cylinder is more than likely goosed? I've never had to change one & the access doesn't look great..... what does with our 5's.lol. Any thoughts guys?

Cheers

[Ian S]

Was it just lack of servo assistance, or no brakes at all no matter how hard you pushed the pedal?

If not short of fluid, then maybe that says the seals in the master cylinder are not sealing. But why would both go at the same time?

[Matt Cole]

Ms are cheap enough, bit of a pig to change!

As Ian has said, the seals in the ms have probably died, most likely perished from being stood so long.

[Russ B]

Thanks for the replies guys

The pdal went straight to the floor with what felt like no resistance at all Ian..... & no brakes at all either. I seem to recall I did here the servo hissing when the engine was running & the engine note went lumpy as well as I was frantically pumping pedal before pulling the handbrake.lol.

She's not been on officially on the road since 2010 Matt & only ever been run up with a short blast around (on a private road of coarse ) every couple of months up until a couple of years ago. So I'm surprised that the MS has total failed, but it is old & these things happen I guess. If it was something else then I would have though the pedal would have had some resistance?

[Trevhib]

Pedal to the floor with no resistance was the master cylinder when this happened to me in a Fiesta many moons ago. Frightening, and my immediate reaction was the same, to yank the hand-brake!

[Alex]

I would be checking the servo and related pipe work for any leaks or cracks. The underside of the servo in particular can rust.