Working on the rear brakes and the passenger side went well but the driver side is covered in oil/fluid. Ordered new cylinders and will replace both when they arrive. Just wondering if if the gurus out there agree this is brake fluid and not some driveshaft issue. The brown goo on the cylinder was a nice surprise. Thanks in advance
Hard to tell from the picture, but if there is nothing around the splined shaft, it is brake fluid mixed with a lot of water my guess. I have never seen brake fluid look like that. As for cylinders, you can get new ones for a Subaru Justy and they fit and work perfectly. Cheap on Rock Auto. They are 1/8" larger bore diameter, but no issues with that.
If you do replace the cylinder with the one from the Justy, I do suggest doing both sides at the same time so you do not run into any uneven braking.
Thanks for the replies. I’ll give it a good cleaning and replace cylinders then check on it in a month or two. I have added brake fluid once so my thinking is the cylinder. Sort of a new mechanic here so takes awhile to rattle around the brain and make sense. Thanks again.
Old, old brake fluid and it has a lot of water in it which made all the rust. Blow out your lines with brake cleaner and air as well. You probably need to do a full fluid replacement of the entire brake system to get it back to spec.
Ok what happens when you take good advice and do bad things with it. No brake fluid to rear brakes. Good news I’ve replace the front rotors and pads and all went well and looking good. Went to replace the rear cylinders and drained the reservoir to run brake cleaner through it and now I’m unable to get any fluid to go to the rear brakes. I have refilled the res and getting fluid to the front brakes but have even put a vacuum pump on the rear lines and nothing is flowing. I know the lines split behind the steering wheel, front and rear, and there is a union behind the bumper on the rear line so I’m hoping loosening that will get me flowing. Any thoughts?.
Lines are all good. Pulled the bumper off to get access to the main rear line and no fluid. This is pretty much where the lines exit the cab so something within the 2 feet between the reservoir and where it exits the cab. Can feel something like a piston moving behind the steer column but can’t quite see what is there. Probably have to pull the dash to get to it.
That is the master cylinder and the vacuum booster. It is above/behind the steering column. You need to remove at least the steering column, and probably the entire dash to get any good access to it.
I don't know specifics about these trucks brake line routing but I do know how a lot of JDM cars handle brake fluid flow to the rear drum brakes from back in the 80s/90s. There may be proportioning valve hanging off the master or near it that controls the pressure to the rear brakes. I have seen these get stuck to only allow pressure to the front brakes when the system has been emptied as in this case. The way I have fixed this on my 1980 RX-7, is I have to pump the brakes really hard a couple of times to bounce that proportioning valve to allow fluid to flow to the rear brakes. On my Susuzki van I can see one of these valves in the parts fiche picture so I suspect you probably have one too.
Looks simple in the photos. The line towards the booster is the front and the other the rear. Can’t seem to get any fluid to run through the rear brake even though it is six inches. Took the reservoir hose off the rear side and there is fluid, hooked up a line to go back to the reservoir and primed it with fluid like a master cylinder bleed but still nothing when I press the brakes. down the rabbit hole this deep so I guess removing the mc is the next step. Thanks for the replies.
