Leaking brake fluid- no brakes!!!!

[HeavenlyOne]

My husband has a 1992 Ford Explorer XL. A few weeks after buying it in May, we noticed the "emergency brake" light and "rear anti lock brake" lights stayed on constantly. Finally, he looked in the brake fluid holder and noticed it was almost bone dry! After filling it back up, the lights went off.

After about a week or so, the lights came back on. Sure enough, the brake fluid was low again. We realized there must be a leak. Being short of money, we couldn't afford to put it in the shop to be fixed, so he just kept a new bottle of brake fluid in the truck.

Well, 2 weeks ago, he got in the truck and the brakes went pretty much all the way to the floor. He went and changed the pads, but the brakes were still not there. He then bled the brakes. They then worked fine. For a week they worked.

Then on Christmas day, he went out to find the brakes gone again. We went out and bled them again. Unfortunately, that didn't fix them. So now we are stuck. We are trying to figure out what to do. We really can't afford to put it in the shop. When he took off the right front tire when he was changing the brake pads, he said, "That's where it must be leaking" and you could see what looked like a dark oil around where the tire was.



Any ideas???



Thanks a bunch,


^i^

 

[mdrut]

find the leak

Fill it back up with fluid. If you think you know where its coming from, one of you pump the pedal slowly and the other one watch for leaks.. If its leaking as bad as it sounds it sould be no trouble to spot the leak.. Make sure you check all the lines, the oil on the front could be anything.. If it's a steel line leaking, you can fix it with a compression fitting. if its flexable, you'll have to buy a new line. Also, check behind and below the mastercylinder for traces of fluid, remove booster line and check for fluid. It has to be going someplace..Good luck.

 

[t-boyd]

From your post your husband is not sure of what he is doing, for your safety and the safety of other driver's get your brakes checked by a professional mechanic. A fluid leak in the brake system is very easy to spot when you know what you are looking for. Changing front pads will NOT repair a fluid leak. If you can’t afford to bring your vehicle to the shop than please park it until it can be repair properly.

 

[gijoecam]

Many brake shops will give you a free estimate, so it's worth it to let them check it out at least.... they should be able to tell you exactly what's wrong. There's definately a leak somewhere. Find it and fix it PLEASE! For your sake and the sake of those in front of you!
-Joe-