360 Unknown brake fluid loss

A new and rather obscure problem has infected our 360. We have been experiencing brake fluid loss although there are no signs of visible leaks after almost emptying the resevoir in two weeks (far more than normal wear and tear):hissyfit: . On taking the 360 to the garage they confirmed no visible leaks and suggested brake fluid is leaking from the brake master cylinder into the servo. The garage recommends the replacement of both items in case the servo contains fluid. First off we wondered if anybody has experienced any similar problems and second what the point is of replacing the very expensive servo and not just the brake master cylinder.

Hi, Welcome to the forums and enjoy your stay here... May it be a long one.. Before you do any replacing: Is the car manual or Auto? If manual is there brake fluid shared with the clutch servo? Is the clutch servo leaking or are your dealers going to hit you for that as well? Des. . . ;)

"On taking the 360 to the garage they confirmed no visible leaks and suggested brake fluid is leaking from the brake master cylinder into the servo. The garage recommends the replacement of both items in case the servo contains fluid." Speaking from knowlege of the same problem in our old 340, we had dissapearing brake fluid. It was leaking into the servo unit. It could not be seen, but what emerged was that when enough liquid got into the servo, the brakes came on when we were driving, and stayed on, unles we stopped the car, switched off the engine, and pumped the brakes to remove the vacuum from the servo unit. We then drove about 10 miles nearer home, and repeated the same untill we arrived at the door. As brake fluid is water washable, my remedy, was to remove the master cylinder, remove the servo and thoroughly wash the internal of the servo with warm, not hot water. Let it dry overnight in a vertically inverted manner, ie any water would and could drip out, next day replace servo and renew the master cylinder. Bleed the brake system. No problems with it after that. Did speak to Volvo about this, and their comment was that they had never come across this before with a Volvo. It was a new scenario to them. Regards Malky

It sounds to me very much like the fluid is getting into the servo, and I can not see why, if you can thoroughly clean the servo, you would need to change it. I'd be tempted to clean out the servo, as previous poster, and just replace the master cylinder. Might be as well to replace the vacuum line to the servo as well, but thats not going to be mega bucks.