1965 No Brakes, no leaks | Ford Thunderbird club group 1955-2005 T-Bird models

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1965 No Brakes, no leaks

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red65

red65

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Thunderbird Year
1965
Brakes not working. OK one day, nothing next day. No leaks, liquid or vacuum. Anyone experience this.

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Have no idea as to when replacement might have been done. would like to switch to a dual master upgrade. but, all mention of upgrades involve guessing as to what really works for this disc/drum system and weight of car. some have tried 67-70 Mustang, 72 F-100, etc. mounting, with some notching of cross brace involved. no idea if bore size and push rod length correct.
 
red65 said:
Brakes not working. OK one day, nothing next day. No leaks, liquid or vacuum. Anyone experience this.
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How is the brake pedal behaving? For example, does it depress half way down then stop, or go all the way to the floor? Also, is the fluid in the master cylinder reservoir?
 
OK, and with no leaks at the brake cylinders or brake lines, then as 74Harley noted an MC failure seems the most likely. The reason I asked about the fluid reservoir level is that one MC failure mode is the rear seal fails and brake fluid leaks into the booster. If this were the case, then the level in the MC reservoir would be dropping.
 
Thanks for info about possibly MC leaking into Booster. Have looked at having my booster rebuilt locally. Takes at least two weeks. Or, buying from T-Bird supply store to get sooner. . Prices not that different, except have to pay shipping to me and shipping old booster to them for core deposit refund. Also, have seen mentioned that the booster for cars with Cruise Control / Automatic Speed Control which my car has, is different from standard boosters. Mine is a Bendix booster.
 
UPDATE: Turned out that rear seal on Master Cylinder failed. Fluid leaked into Booster and it failed. Purchased replacement MC from NAPA Auto Parts. Because thought that this might be a semi-quick repair to do. Otherwise might have searched for other recommended sources. But, for the Booster decided to have it rebuilt by Power Brake Sales, Sacramento, CA. Did this because had read online that booster for Birds with Factory Speed Control (cruise control) is different than those without. True or not, not sure. Price for off the shelf standard booster close to same as mine rebuilt. But, because local business for rebuild was busy took close to three weeks to get it done. Oh well. Fairly straight forward repair. Bench bled MC. Very tight getting to booster mount bolts. Decided to replace parts for steering column too for correcting problem with sometimes hard starting in Park as long as doing stuff next to steering column. Column parts: Shift Detent, Lower Shift Tube Bushing, Steering Shaft Upper Bearing,Shaft Bearing Collar-Upper. Had already replaced shift lever and rubber bushing, which did not solve problem.
 
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Good progress on the MC and the booster. As far as the "hard starting in Park" issue, have you looked at the Neutral Safety Switch? It should allow the car to start when the shifter is in Park or Neutral.
 
As for starting problem, while in Park used to have to kind of "wiggle" shifter to find "happy" spot to start. Searched You Tube videos, and some pointed at problem being the shifter. Reuse original and weld up groove caused by different metal in shifter and detent. No welder, so bought new one. Was difficult to put shifter in with rubber boot on. Something still not right. Since had long wait for booster rebuild just ordered replacement parts for steering column. Detent in car was different from replacement, even had a couple washers under it.. Had found a video showing the difference of '64 to '65 units. Guessing that was problem. Starts like a "normal" car now.
 
Sort of. Sounds like the shift mechanism was so loose that the neutral safety switch was not consistently in the "closed" position when the shifter was in Park. All good now
 
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