Over the last few weeks, I could feel the brake pedal getting a little spongy. I took it out last night and the pedal went to the floor and pumping the pedal builds up enough pressure to stop the car (never went over 35mph).  Both reservoirs have maintained their fluid levels so there's no leak there. When the pedal goes soft and before pumping it, there's almost zero braking action. I think that tells me it isn't a bad caliper since the front and rear are independant of each other according to my Haynes manual.

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Forgot to mention the information center displays "Brake P I" when the pedal goes to the floor, and then turns off after pumping up some pressure

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Once a year, I flush the entire brake system.

dave,

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the dynamic duo

c3vr life member #97

If you're not loosing fluid externally then--- yes IMO it sounds like a master cylinder---i'm also assuming you've done no other repairs to the brake system to allow air to get in the system---if not once again sounds like the MC. 96LT12010-08-12 04:58:06

Thanks for all the input guys !

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instead of going through ordering it from the ones you stated, did you try your local parts store. i picked mine up from advance auto and it comes with a lifetime guarantee. most times if they dont have it in stock it will be there the next day.

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the dynamic duo

c3vr life member #97

Yeap, NAPA, Auto World, and Auto Zone  (the 1st two also made phone calls to confirm there was no availablilty and ask for alternatives)

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the first one was 2 years ago and just had it replaced in june. first time they had it in stock second time i had it the next day.

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the dynamic duo

c3vr life member #97

Oh Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo................ just got this email from JC Whitney

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I don't know who your napa guy is but I looked at NAPAONLINE and they have new mastercylinders, rebuit ones, kits, even master cylinder and booster combos.

I don't know how technical you are but, I always rebuilt them. Masters and wheels. It's simple and easy. With rebuilt you don't know what quality of soft bits you're getting, or the age of the core. Usually in rebuilt they use the  cheapest stuff. And its done by some kid wearing a diaper sitting in the dirt holding it with his bare feet in some fourth world country.

If the booster is plastic replace it. The are really cheaply made and usually fail due to the housing cracking. There are some after market ones made of steel. Try and find one of those. There are also "Universal fit" ones with a couple of extra vacuum fittings that look pretty awful.

The hardest part of removing the Master Cylinder is unhooking it from the brade pedal. Try to find a smalll skinny friend to help with that part.

Also if you have a Male 'vette (stick shift) you might as well rebuild the clutch Master Cylinder as well. With the brake M/C and booster off its right there calling to you. "Don't forget me, I'm old too".

dave,

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the dynamic duo

c3vr life member #97

Thanks everyone for the input.... NAPA and AutoZone have both explained the 89-91 M/C's are on national back order... including OEM, rebuilt and kits. My local NAPA guy checked again yesterday and found there was 1 rebuild kit in Chicago and I grabbed it. Should be here Monday. His best guess is the rebuild kit he found was a return/restock and that's why there was only one.

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it runs in spurts dave. you can go and order things and usually get them UNTIL YOU NEED THEM. there have been a couple things i have run across. it took 3 months to get the molding on my front bumper. finally got one out of a junkyard. egr solenoid was the same except they finally had to come out with an aftermarket replacement. on my 75 the proportioning valve went and it took me 7 weeks to get one..

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the dynamic duo

c3vr life member #97

Installed the kit last night and I'm back up and running! All of the parts in the kit fit perfect and the cylinder wall had no signs of wear or scoring. Visually, all of the old components looked fine but I have no way of knowing if the combination piston is okay or not. I was surprised how bad the brake fluid was when I drained it from each of the bleeders. The fluid that came out of each of the calipers was a little milky looking when I initially opened the bleeders, so there was definitely moisture in the system. On top of that, 2 of them squirted out a little junk when I started refilling the system. After bleeding all 4 brakes, I removed all of the bleeders, cleaned them, and bled again. While bleeding the 2nd time around, a little more junk passed through.  I'm now back up and running after 3 weeks of down time. Car stops well and is better than it's ever been during the 6 years I've owned it, but it still isn't as good as I think it should be. I'll bet a beer or 2 there's more junk in the calipers and I see more wear on the rotors/pads with the wheels off than I previously thought. I see a complete brake job in my future.  

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great to hear that you are up and running.

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the dynamic duo

c3vr life member #97