This is reidiculous. On my master cylinder, the little plug wire that goes onto the white square on the actual master cylinder. The rubber plug is completly chewed up. I think its a RAT! Not sure though but whatever it was had some teeth and it still fits but when I touched it the white square moved in a circle like it's not held still. Brakes still work fine....Is this a big problem? No lights except when I did start the car, the Cehck engine light came on. Cut it off then waited 5 minutes and the light went off. Thats it though....Is the car safe to drive. My dad had it out earlier today and was helping replacem y front spoiler, btw I have I know one side piece but I am almost postive another side piece, I believe both are new....one is FOR SURE....If someone woudl like to pay shipping, they can ahve em....Ill check ina while on em though. Supper time once I am done typing this. So is that plug thing on the master cylinder imporant??? Ill check everything else again but its kinda dark outside and I am a tiny bit upset. I HATE rats. They are nasty and have diseases...ycuk....I washed my hands 3 times after touching the rubber boot. :shaking: Soo....any advice on what it damaged? or what else to look for? It's always parked in my garage though. Doors and windows shut...no holes in the walls or anything......hosue is sprayed regulary for ALL pest....umm....?

It's a 20 year old car, rubber dies.

The part in question is the brake pressure sensor. When it detects a problem, it turns on the brake light. I don't exactly remember how it's installed on the earlier units, but I want to say it's screwed in.

As long as there isn't any leaks, it should be ok. If the light is off, it should also be ok.

The check engine light is unrelated, unless... there was a rat and the damned thing is chewing on other parts of the car. Tonite, put some rodent poison under the hood. Rat/mouse whatever will eat, leave and die. Just remember to remove it before driving again.

That rubber was fine 2 weeks ago when I last looked under the hood. It didn't die, something chewed it up. I don't think theres any leaks....Brakes feel fine. No ABS...check engine light...iiuno....took a flashlight and flashed it around...nothing that I can see...Revved the car for a few minutes and shut it off....No rats or parts....Uhh...I was mainly askinga bout that thing on the master cylinder....Kinda bothered me as it does do soemthing with the brakes....Thanks....

yea, from the persepective of brake safety, I would say you are a-ok.

I would take some good tape (I highly recommend 3M 130C rubber tape) and wrap the connector. That will keep it weather tight.

The 3M 130C (refers to it's temperature rating!) is great stuff. It's about $12.00 at Lowes/Home Depot. You take off a 2" piece, lets say, and then stretch it. It will nearly double in length. I always snip off the ends where I was holding it. Don't over stretch, it will break.

Then, wrap it tightly around the item in question. It is very resistant to heat and quite nicely resistant to most chemicals. Great stuff.

I agree with Bogus, no safety issue involved, the tape repair should work well. One thing to consider, make sure you do not store any pet food in the garage, it will attract rodents, they will then move into your car and as you have found can be very destructive.

The master cylinder piece youre talking about is what Bogus said it is, and it is (or should be) screwed in place. If it ever leaks out through there, the master cylinder is rooted and requires replacement.

The wire is as Bogus said, totally unrelated to the service engine soon light. You need to check what code is there before we can help with that.

Get your paperclip out and connect A to B on the ALDL connector under the dash, it looks like this:

Ive done that before and it was so hard...It flashes code 12 3 times then codes, then 3 12s again. Thanks for the diagram. im going to save it to my cmoputer for future references if ever need be. The lights not on though. Just when I cranked it up the first time.....weird....second.....When I hit the brake pedal, and I do it softly I can feel something tap underneath the floor board....Is taht just the pedal going down. Nothing hard but I do notice it....I notice lots of smal thigns though. All the squeaks and rattles used to make me think something drastic was wrong with it when it was a loose screw or something in the dash. ....So whats under the brake pedal/floorboard that mgiht be moving? Thanks!!!!!!!

12 means nothing serious, all is well as far as on board diagnostics are concerned.

As far as the tapping i really wouldnt like to comment on that without seeing it, but you could start by checking the connection at the brake pedal to booster input rod (this is held to the shaft by a clip), followed by the brake pedal mount, then also check that the booster to pedal bracket mounting nuts are tight (should be 15 ft/lbs), as well as the master cylinder to booster nuts (should be 13 ft/lbs). Youll need a 1/4" or 3/8th drive torque wrench for checking the booster to pedal bracket nuts, and probably a 1/4" drive torque wrench for the master cylinder nuts. (most 3/8th torque wrenches ive seen start at 15 ft/lbs.)

Is it possible....well likely....anythings possible....that that tapping on the floorboard means that my brakes might go out on me completly while driving? or somethign really bad? All the bolts should be fine. We have replaced teh brake booster like 3 times so far but its free cuz its from Autozone with a lfietime warranty....2nd brakebooster but this one is new ACdelco so I know its good....I don't like brakes acting weird.

No i dont believe so. The pedal isnt mounted to the floor, the master cylinder is mounted to the booster, the booster is mounted to the bulkhead on the firewall, and the pedal bracket is on the inside of that.

Where are the AC Delco boosters made? Should say so on the top. The original factory boosters are made here in Australia, and there are still Australian built cars using the same or very simular units (alot of Australian made Fords use them, and very reliably so too).

I think austraila the US.....My serpentine belt I got was made in canada....teh failing brake booster was made in China....Nothing against them but they just do sucky work on stuff....

No wonder the bloody thing failed, the Chinese cant make anything mate...

By the way if youve got any rebuildable cores there ill take them off your hands.

Might be a master cylinder core. You said that if that thing in it didnt screw back in, is it suppose to get tight? i turned it and I don't want to mkeep messing with it until i know whats right....You said if it dont screw in, its rooted?

Rooted: Garbage, broken, toast, fooked!

Im not sure if it is and I don't want to touch it. Wouldn't the brakes be mushy and soft if it was rooted? So ahh case, how much $$$ would you be willing to shill my way if it was rooted. It's not old.

Not a cent mate, i dont pay people to offer them assistance. If that pressure switch doesnt screw in tight and just keeps turning, it is rooted. Not the master cylinder, the switch. How much money are you going to sling my way for helping you out?

I was only joking botu the ching....If it is rooted, do you want me to send you the core? sent you a pm.....no response though.....i wonder if it went thru...Do I turn it clockwise or counter clockwise......If it is rooted, how long will it take for it to go out like my brakes go mushy? Instantly or slowly or randomly?

hm... you need to invest some $$ in the Helm Service Manual...

Brakes are not hard. Infact, the system is very simple. Even with ABS, the concept is still the same.

And in this day and age (since the late 70s at least), brakes have become so damend reliable, it ain't even funny. The chances of them totally failing is rather slim.

So, which part was made in China? The booster or the master cylinder? I doubt it would be worth it to Casey to ship a booster to Australia, tho... seems rather far... and the box big.

My last master cylinder came from Advanced Auto - that was 5 years ago! Works perfectly. It was a remanned part, tho. Musta been done right, eh?

Check NAPA for parts, but be careful. They have good parts and they have cheapo parts. Make sure the ones you are getting are the good ones. IE, made anywhere but China.

I am rather shocked that all of this lead paint debate regarding Chinese made toys hasn't trickled into other areas, considering the overall crappy QC they offer. Honestly, what can you expect for a couple bucks a day?

My brake booster was from autozone remanufactured in china...its the piece of crap....the master cylinder was bought NEW from NAPA. I don't see the origin on it but its dark outside and I don't have a flashlight just the flood light by the door. I meant he could have the master cylinder for a core if its rooted. I dunno if its worth to him or not. i saw him post or atleast I think he did unless he was joking that he wanted cores....Just trying to help. Yea, I heard about some spongebob toys recalled cuz of the lead paint. Yea, well......you get what you pay for. Atleast they caugh tit. i cant believe they would even think about putting led paint in infants/toddlers toys. If they chewed on it and the paint got in there body, ugh....If that was my kid, id be so pissed off....Sad to say, our country is going to the pitts. Everything made overseas and foreign...except canada, australia and such,....is crap....china, tawain, Thailand....crap crap and crap....I shouldve bought my brake booster NEW and one made in the US or somewhere better than china. It is SOOO freaking hard to change. Trying to get under the dash to remove the bolt.....BLAH!....Not fun....Im going to wait to turn the thing on the master cylinder tomorrow. I don't want to turn it the wrong way or something and get a good look at it. I don't think its rooted....I hate to drag youg uys so mcuh thru this issue but I never heard of it being rooted....All our other cars with 120,00+ miles on them require no matenance....Anyway, advance auto parts and napa have good parts. Autozone has crap but they do offer al ifetime warranty on almost everything. When I first found out abotu there 25.00 dollar brake pads with lifetime replacemtn, I was shocked! How do they stay in business giving away free pads? They suck though. When I had them, they turned my rims black from all the dust. They squeaked to. Rotors came from NAPA and they are excellent and are still in excellent shape. Realativley cheap to. i believe around 40 dollars or so a rotor? Something like that. That was a while back.

Off topic but related to the paint. Today I bought a little bottle of Krazy glue and its made in Japan...Why would they make glue in japan then ship it here? It was 1.95 for this itty bitty tube of it. like .50 of a oz or something......Dang. Get a big bottle of Elmers glue for that price at wal mart. Jobs are running out quickly here......

wow, kiddo, we need to work on your lack of usage of the enter key. :toothy8:

Not all Asian nations make junk. A lot of the best electronic boards come from Taiwan and Thailand. Japanese firms make some of the best circuit level components around... capacitors, transistors. You name it. Great stuff.

The problem with China is that American firms are trying to cut costs; be damned quality. And people are buying it.

Autozone is not bad on some items... the brake pads? junk-o-rama, but the warrantee is a onw shot deal. You don't get new pads for life. Just once.

I have NAPA rotors on my car. Just be sure to get the ones made in USA or Canada... Chinese smelting plants SUCK. Japanese stuff is marginally better, German, and much of Easter Europe for that matter, are quite good.

Whats the enter key comment for?

I was pick'n on ya a bit... you had that entire paragraph without a break... that's all...

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Sorry mate i havent got to it yet, it was 4am when i went to bed!! I dont have the facilities here to rebuild a master cylinder, but brake boosters i certainly do, that was the core i was talking about!!

If the master cylinder is a remanufactured unit or AC Delco replacement, all bets are off and i wouldnt even like to comment on it, unless it was rebuilt here in Australia (and i know it wont be, and it sure as hell wont be to the same standard as it was originally)
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You know why they are so reliable Bogus? Cause they are MADE IN AUSTRALIA!!! (with the exception of the ABS pump being made in Germany.)

The booster wont cost more than $45 USD to ship to me, and believe me, if it is a rebuildable core, its certainly worth that. A 2nd hand, never rebuilt booster from a Corvette over here goes for $275 AUD, and that is not nearly as good as one i have rebuilt with new parts. I got one from Indiana not long ago, cost $41 USD shipping, took 6 days to get here (which is bloody fast), i rebuilt it and its now in my car.

I wouldnt sugest anyone send a booster to me to have it rebuilt though unless youre footing the whole bill (ill do it though if anyone really wants), which will still come out less than a new AC Delco unit though. Will take at least 3 weeks turn around.
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Cause when you make a long post you need to break it up abit!!
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Its hard to read it like that sometimes....

Gotcha. Id truts you more rebuilding the booster than the chinse doing it.....It's not rooted I turned it and it stopped turning so I just left it....I mushed the plug on top so it semi fits but not like it should and probably isnt working like it should....iiuno....If the booster goes out, Ill be sure to send it your way. I thought about ordering the metal one from midamerica when it first went out.....It looked really cool.

I only use genuine PBR parts when i rebuild a booster and only Castrol red grease, where as the other remanufacturers probably use some cheap generic grease and chinese rubber parts. (if the booster is shipped to China for a rebuild i can garrentee you it doesnt have genuine soft parts in it.)

So if I gave you a rebuilt chinse autozone booster now, could you rebuild it EVEN THOUGH it's alreadby been rebuilt cheaply and make it better and give it back to me? How much altogether?

To be honest, I would be stunned if it was a chinese reman. more than likely, a chinese knock off.

Remanufacturing would imply the OEM part was sent all the way to China for rebuilding... that does not make a lot of sense to me, from a scale of economies. All that shipping can't beat the cost of doing it here.

When they rebuild them, AFAIK, the big part to replace is the diaphram. Now, I would not be surprised of the rebuild kits are coming from China...

I thought they were made in china?.....I'm going to look into that. Im getting all confused on autozone parts for some reason. Havent been in a while. I know for a FACT the brake booster has a lifetime warranty on it because we have already gone thru that. How do you think they afford to do that? They wanted my original one when I bought teh first replacement to. Said they took off the core charge. Then when it went out they took theres back and gave me another one....Hmm...

check the fine print... the lifetime warrantee can only be claimed ONCE.

That's it. Once and done.

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I certainly can, and just at a quick guess, youre looking at $300-$350 USD.
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I wouldnt be suprized if the parts inside are knockoffs from china, and the work could even be done there too considering how cheap their labour is.

When the boosters are rebuilt here (cause alot of Australian made cars use that same booster) they are fully fitted with all new soft parts. If the remanufactures over there are only fitting a new main diaphramn (this is the biggest failure item in there yes), they are ripping you off, cause they are only doing half a job. There is alot more to it than replacing that one piece!!

If I paid you 300 hundred dollars to fix it, it better be a damn good brake booster for that price! :tongue:

No question about it mate, it would be rebuilt to PBR specs and at that price, still cheaper than a new AC Delco booster as far as i know. My name and reputation go along with my work and i wont taint that with a half arse job.

I drive a hard bargain, but you get a hard value too

that leads me to an interesting question...

Is this reman to PBR standards? Or GM standards?

PBR supplies parts to GM, but those are made to a set standard. Is PBRs standard better?