The mc was replaced in June; have just replaced front pads and rotors and bled the whole system.(Brake fluid had leaked onto right front wheel.) The car still has no brakes. Could the mc be bad/damaged? What to try next?

I agree with DeWayne, probably a leaking caliper that should be replaced.

Also check the ground in the general area below the MC for leaking brake fluid, if you find some that might mean a bad brake line junction box. This is located well below the MC on my "90", I assume it is the same on your "84".

My junction box went after I bleed the system following a rear brake overhaul - new calipers, rotors and pads. Think I damaged the seals when doing a manual brake bleed, similar problem to what DeWayne described with his MC.

Check it out and report back.


Jim 90 244DL 241K

I see lots of potential areas of concern here. The first step is to figure out where the leak came from and fix that. If you had a leak, replacing the pads and rotors isn't going to fix the leak. Most likely the caliper seals are shot and the caliper needs to be replaced. Also check the rubber brake hoses to make sure they are not leaking as well. Second issue is the bleed sequence. You must bleed the system in the correct order to get the air out. I built a home made pressure bleeder that helped a bunch with the bleed process. Even though you replaced the MC in June, the internal seal could have been damaged during the bleed process. To check the MC, you need to "dead head" the MC by removing the brake lines and installing blank plugs in the MC. If you have a high hard pedal, then the MC is good. If the pedal goes to the floor, the the MC is doing an internal bypass where the fluid gets past the internal seal and you get little to no pressure. I went through brake hell on my '85 a few years ago, but I finally got it fixed and it's working fine to this day. You just have to work your way through the brake system to diagnose where the problem area is and go from there.

Good Luck!

DeWayne

In a car of this vintage, one or more of the wheel cylinders may be so bad it is leaking fluid. Did you identify where the fluid on your wheel came from? It is also time for repalcing all the rubber brake lines as well as inspecting the metal ones for signs of significant rust.

Don't take chances with your brake system. A good system is equal to good health and/or life insurance.
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'96 965 with 16' wheels at 118K. Had '85 745 Turbo Diesel for 200K.

Lucky for us there are no rusty metal brake lines on Volvos. Since about 1975, the hard lines are a copper-nickel alloy (cupro nickel I think). So nothing to worry about on that score.

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Bruce Young
'93 940-NA (current) — 240s (one V8) — 140s — 122s — since '63.

Do you know if this material is availabe "aftermarket"? Is it difficult to work with? I would love to get some to put in my restored Corvair.
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'96 965 with 16' wheels at 118K. Had '85 745 Turbo Diesel for 200K.

Aftermarket? Yes. Scan-tech sold by FCP Groton. Easy to bend. But of course, direct fit Volvo replacements complete with the ISO flare and fitting. Maybe the long $12 one might be useful. Are the lines the same diameter?
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Art Benstein near Baltimore

The sizes are unlikely to be equal. The Volvo lines I'm assuming are metric while my designed in America Corvair is fractionl inch in size.
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'96 965 with 16' wheels at 118K. Had '85 745 Turbo Diesel for 200K.

I would have assumed the same, not knowing a lot about brake lines, but I found it curious once an auto parts counter guy explained to me about the four kinds of brake lines, two were foreign and two domestic, but only so in their fittings. Wasn't paying much attention, until later discussing with Bruce Young using 3/16" compression couplings on the volvo lines.

It may not be relevant, but much of the Volvo before the 240 was measured in fractional inches, fasteners and all.

Once I strolled into a St. Petersburg, FL shopping mall, to find its open area nearly filled with Corvairs. That was about as close as I ever got to the car famed for being "unsafe at any speed". I thought they looked like fun.

Yep, prime example of a none technical lawyer, Ralph Nader, making a name for himself by taking a defective study conducted by Ford and uing it to further his "cause". The car was later declared safe by the DOT but that never made the papers. Turns out the Ford test engineers were purposely causing the test car to flip by running under inflated tires and jerking the wheel while at the limit in turns.

In reality, the first series from '60 to '64 weren't the most stable cars but better than many. I love the second series, '65 to the end in '69 which with Corvett style rear suspension handled better than Porsches of that age. Mine is a '66 with the 140 HP engine. In '72 & '73 I managed to claim several autocross trophies against BMW 2002s, Datsun 510s etc. in local events with a mildly worked over car. The one I have now is a California car my son found and gave to me.
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'96 965 with 16' wheels at 118K. Had '85 745 Turbo Diesel for 200K.