Hi,

I don’t normally post on anything but on the 240 tab but what you have is a master cylinder port problem like was posted so well by James.
Others said contamination, but you have had everything changed and flushed to get rid of bad things. Stuff may have moved during the process to make it more of an adventure in mechanics. (:)

You struck a chord with me as I’m a man who hates to hear story’s about how women are treated.
It’s by more trades than just the automotive field.
Plumbers and appliance repairmen are right up there on the list or as my wife says, on the naughty steps!
I have seen some women with them too!

In fact, I try to educate first and suppress BS, wherever I can!
Sometimes I can be misunderstood or even be mistaken on technical stuff but it’s never intentionally.
Most good guys are like field grasses but there are weeds that will try anything to survive!
Sometimes weeds can look or be called flowers!
You have got to be careful!


That port in the master cylinder is only supposed to be closed of when the pedal is depressed “Oh-so” very slightly. Piston needs to move back completely to have access back to the reservoir to release residue pressure held in the system during use.

You can see an illustration here.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Master_cylinder_diagram.svg/1280px-Master_cylinder_diagram.svg.png
It will show how a paper clip might work on one but not both front and rear systems.
So don’t go there. The should be cleaned out or a rebuilt unit put in.
Brakes you don’t want to get wrong.

Brake fluid expands when heated from stopping the car.
It expands even when the ambient temperature change around the whole car.
Take sunshine hitting only on one side of the car can cause a pressure build up on that side.
If you live in a desert setting from morning until afternoon it can be more quickly noticed.
It would be like your in a sand pile or pulls away like your are in one, but on asphalt! (:-)

With that push rod from the pedal, it is to be “No More” than half millimeter or .020 thousandths, of gap between the push rod and the rear piston of the master cylinder.
The illustration shows no space but truly it’s not practical to set it up that way as any excessive length leads to problems!
The rod is adjustable for this purpose only!

If a replacement cylinder is “ever” put on, the measurement must be checked.
Instructions are in the box or should be!
You might be surprised of how many mechanics, shine this on and just throw it on there!
That’s the reason for the instructions being included, nowadays!
Again, so many men don’t read! I can think of one on TV, a lot!

It’s good that you have done all the work on the car as this is a lot of mileage on the car.
I’m pretty sure it’s never been Completely changed out before.
Volvos that are taken care of, give back so much in return for the minimal cost in parts!
When compared to the new wave of gadget cars you are best to wait out the “overturns “ of automobiles headed to electric and getting standardization together!
In the next eight years or less, it seems to me, that the infrastructure is going move onward as much as it can away from the internal combustion engine.
It’s like the Internet and the way the Smartphone became!
Everyone will have at least one in the family.

Our 240’s were built over many years with time proven high production run parts from several sources.
The design saw few dramatic changes to run production costs up.
Cars are not built that way anymore.

History can teach us “our patterns” of being the consumers, we all are, Globally!
Hide in your Volvo and watch, I am!
I own six 240s, all still running and all bought “used” too, since 1978.
All six cost less than one medium priced new car sold today!

Phil