I have had trouble with my brakes for sometime now. I have been loosing a lot of fluid from my resivour and now my brake pedal applies nearly no pressure to stop the car. I checked the brakes and I am not losing any fluid there, is the master cylinder bad? Should I just bleed them?

 

can you see brake fluid under the master cylinder because thats where it starts to leak from when it goes bad

 

I can't really see any, how much does one run?

 

look here http://www.mazdatrix.com/j-3brake.htm

 

it says $122

 

Seems to me that you'd want to check all of the lines & fittings, from the calipers all the way back to the master cylinder....

 

no luck everything seems to look okay.

Any ideas? Is the master just bad?

 

Could my pads just be at the end of their life?

 

Hmmm, well as your pads wear, your fluid level in the master cylinder will drop. The way you worded your original post, I though you were saying that you had a leak. But reading this thread again, I'd suggest checking your pads too.

 

You also might look under your dash. I had a master cylinder go bad that was leaking from the back side where the brake pedal pushed against it. I didn't know where the fluid was going until I pulled back the carpet and saw all the stripped paint.
Good luck

 

Thanks guys, with my strange hours I haven't been able to check during daylight. I've been restricted to cruising the 83 VW Westfalia, what a beaut!