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strange break problem 850 1997

I have owned 4 Volvos, including my current 850 wagon and S70, and have never had a problem like I am now with the breaks on my 850 waggon. I had a break job done a year ago while living in TX. I moved to PA this summer. While driving the car from TX to PA I noticed the breaks going very soft. I had the car in to a shop to have it inspected and have them look at my breaks. They said the breaks look fine but I had air in my break lines and bled the air out. That fixed it for about 10 miles. I took the car back in had the break lines pressure checked and found air in the lines but no leaks. Then had the break lines bled again and that fixed it for about 10 miles. I took it to a Volvo mechanic and he said there were metal filings and air in the break fluid lines and replaced my master cylinder to the tune of $600+. They claim they test drove the car for 20 miles and I then drove the car for about 20 more miles. The breaks were fine but now the breaks are soft again. I suspect I have air in the lines again. At no time have I had any drops of break fluid under the car. Any one else experience any thing like this or have any idea what it may be?
Thanks,
Peter








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    strange break problem 850 1997

    Besides replacing the master cylinder, what else did the last mechanic to your car do? If there really were metal filings in the brake lines, then the entire brake system should have been purged of the contaminated fluid. A proper (and expensive) job would involve flushing the lines and disassembling or replacing the calipers. It would be a lot cheaper, and probably acceptable to flush about two-thirds of the fluid in each line (a guessing game in itself) and inspect the fluid. If there were absolutely no metal in the fluid, it might be adequate to flush the remaining fluid out and risk not removing the calipers.

    If the mechanic did all of this, even minus the calipers being replaced, then $600 seems reasonable. Of course, if this all were done properly, then there would not be air in the system again.

    Since there is air in the system again, I would start asking questions. Were there filings in the master cylinder itself? Was the entire system flushed completely? Was the fluid checked? Did the mechanic determine how the air got into the system (i.e., was it a bad master cylinder which caused both problems)?

    At the very least, you should not pay the last shop any more money until it can tell you how air is still getting into the system. If the answer involves the master cylinder or getting the remaining air out of the brake lines, they should fix it free. If a different component is broken, you have to ask them and yourself if this was the original problem--or at least did this problem exist when you had the master cylinder replaced?

    -Optimist








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    strange break problem 850 1997


    You should have got the BRAKE fluid flushed. I've read it alot on this board about doing it every year or two.

    By the Way you should use the work BREAK around a volvo... lol








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    strange break problem 850 1997

    dont just just love shops that start changing parts
    as a way to trouble shoot,

    go back to that shop and demand they fix it for free
    you alreadt spent 600 bucks

    good luck








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      It's spelled Brakes!!! 850 1997







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