Brake fluid reservoir replacement | Ford Explorer Forums

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Brake fluid reservoir replacement

Juanhmi

Elite Explorer
Joined
June 16, 2020
Messages
58
Reaction score
44
City, State
Louisville
Year, Model & Trim Level
'99 XLS V6 OHV
Old brake reservoir on my '99 OHV is super nasty looking and I've got a new one. Just another little thing in a long list of stuff I've been doing to rejuvenate the engine bay a bit. Aside from the connector, am I wrong in assuming you just kinda yank it off? I don't see any fasteners whatsoever holding it on, just the two rubber gaskets.
 



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Yea it pulls straight up
 






Sounds like I just got old crusty gaskets holding on too tight. Thanks! Didn't want to yank on it too hard and mess up my master cylinder.
 






@Juanhmi,

If your 23 year old brake master cylinder reservoir is, as you wrote "super nasty looking", that is due to the brake fluid maintenance & replacement schedule not being followed.

Bottom Line: "Super Nasty Looking" brake fluid reservoirs = just a matter of time before your 23 year old brake master cylinder piston seals fail, probably soon after you change the reservoir body and put fresh brake fluid in it.

My vote: replace the entire brake master cylinder assembly, because, it's not that expensive - around $50 - $60 at Rock Auto - and more important, it's your brakes...

Your mileage may vary and good luck!
 






and while youre at it flush the fluid!!!! make sure you get all the "super nasty looking" fluid out!!! and i went with a wagner master cyl iirc and it does great!!
 






Remember these are your brakes
 






Sounds like I just got old crusty gaskets holding on too tight. Thanks! Didn't want to yank on it too hard and mess up my master cylinder.
Not holding on too tight at all. It's the only thing keeping it on during all kinds of vibrations on an off-road capable vehicle. As far as whether you should replace the MC or not, there was not enough detail given for me to make that call.

I agree with others that "it's breaks" , so kind of important, but at the same time, I would wait and see about the master cylinder since you don't yet report any braking problems, but it is kind of curious to me that you seem to suggest that replacing the reservoir is about vanity in how it looks. I mean that unless it is a show truck, nobody else cares how it looks on a vehicle now worth about $1500, covid inflated vehicle prices aside.

If there is excessive sludge, it may be a sign that you need to replace not just the master cylinder but also the hard lines, and soft lines, and calipers if there is a risk of braking problems... at this age. Otherwise, IMO, you have to assess for yourself, whatever else may or may not need replaced at this point. For example I've never had the master cylinder fail before the lines or calipers, so I would only replace what needs it for a vehicle at this age, bank rest of the money to have ready when the rest needs replaced. Granted this is coming from someone living in the rust belt and my brake lines needed replaced before anything else that wasn't a wear item like pads or rotors... YMMV.
 






imo though if OP is going thru the processes of taking the resovoir off and bleeding (hopefully flushing) brakes, its not a horrible amount of extra work to do the MC imo...
 






Awhile back, I was running some errands in our '95. One of my stops was at a motorcycle shop to buy some parts for my bike. I got there via a street with 3 lanes each direction. Traffic runs up to 50 mph. The shop actually sets on a frontage road next to this street. Come time to go home, I idled out of the parking lot, came up to the stop sign for the frontage road, and the brake pedal went to the floor. Thankfully, there was little traffic on this frontage road and I made it to another parking lot with no issues! I figured it was a hose, but it turned out, one of the steel lines (no coating) had rusted out. Could have be bad had I been, for example, in the middle lane on that street, and unable to run it onto the shoulder/ditch!
The brake lines on our '01 Sport have some kind of coating on them. No idea when they started using coated brake lines.

The moral of the story - spend some time examining your brake lines on these old vehicles, or maybe if you have uncoated lines, just replace them.
I changed out everything but the ABS HCU and vacuum booster. By the way, I used the new automotive copper brake line. So nice to work with.
 






Awhile back, I was running some errands in our '95. One of my stops was at a motorcycle shop to buy some parts for my bike. I got there via a street with 3 lanes each direction. Traffic runs up to 50 mph. The shop actually sets on a frontage road next to this street. Come time to go home, I idled out of the parking lot, came up to the stop sign for the frontage road, and the brake pedal went to the floor. Thankfully, there was little traffic on this frontage road and I made it to another parking lot with no issues! I figured it was a hose, but it turned out, one of the steel lines (no coating) had rusted out. Could have be bad had I been, for example, in the middle lane on that street, and unable to run it onto the shoulder/ditch!
The brake lines on our '01 Sport have some kind of coating on them. No idea when they started using coated brake lines.

The moral of the story - spend some time examining your brake lines on these old vehicles, or maybe if you have uncoated lines, just replace them.
I changed out everything but the ABS HCU and vacuum booster. By the way, I used the new automotive copper brake line. So nice to work with.
The braking system is one of the most neglected ones on a vehicle, IMO. Which is crazy considering how critical it is for safety reasons.
 






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