Car: '89, 240DL, auto
A few weeks ago the pressure on the brakes randomly dropped and I was forced to use the hand brake just to get home (good thing I was close when it happened). Had it towed to the local garage I always deal with and they said the break fluid was old and had water in it. They replaced the fluid and found no other issues. Over the past two weeks it's happened twice although not as bad. Just pressure issues, not loosing the brakes all together. I stopped by the garage today and told them and they said they'd have to replace the master head (or something like that, I'm no mechanic). Anyways, they want to charge me another small fortune for parts and labor.

I'm just wondering if this has happened to anyone else and what the problem was? I trust my mechanic for the most part and need to pay seeing as it is a brake issue but I'd like to know if maybe it could be a hole in a line somewhere? I'd hate to pay all this money (on top of what I've already paid) only to find out it is something like a hole in a brake fluid line?

Thoughts?
-Thanks

 

You needed a Brake Master Cylinder all along... now they diagnosed it correctly. I don't know what they charged you for the brake fluid change but now the system has to be bled again. I'd remind them of that fact when they charge you for the MC installation and bleeding.

 

Excellent! Thank you very much! I'll take a close look at the receipt when they replace the master cylinder.