Brake / soft pedal trouble shooting, Brake pedal gone soft and fluid reservoir empty Options

[Fart/4]

Had the car for about 15 years
Never touched the brakes as in original ( to me )
Rotors , pads etc

Over the last about 100 miles brake pedal has gotten progressively
Softer and now go's down to the floor pretty much

Checked the reservoir and it's bone dry

Car still stops reasonable we'll , but pedal is very soft and is about 80% travel when brakes bite or engage

Should i immediately just take it to my aircooled guy/ mechanic

Or refill the fluid and see what happens approach
?


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[fiacra]

You're lucky that you haven't had full brake failure yet. Whenever there is a change in how your brake pedal feels that should trigger a full inspection. Playing the odds, the MC is leaking into the car. Pull the pedal board and you'll likely find all of your missing brake fluid at the base of the pedal cluster. Depending upon how much exposure to brake fluid it has had, you may need to rebuild your pedal cluster. At a minimum you need to thoroughly clean that up as brake fluid is damaging to paint as well as to the bushings on your pedal cluster. Soap and water will do.

Should you top off the reservoir and drive it to your mechanic? I would say no, but that's up to you. If you have AAA, have them tow it there. If the reservoir has gone fully dry, then you have air in the system, and you won't have a strong pedal. Even if you don't, why risk catastrophic brake failure by driving with a failed master cylinder? If not for you own sake (and the sake of your car), but also think about how you are putting other people at risk. Just have it towed in.... To me that is a "no brainer"