I have a 69 malibu and recently rebuilt the engine and a put a new front end kit on and am now having problems with the brakes. I am getting no pressure and cann't stop. I tried bleeding them but got little results.(I will try again with extra help,I hate those one person bleeder kits)There seem to be no leaks in the lines but was told it could be my master cylinder. My questin is, is there a way to test a master cylinder.I would hate to replace it and find out it was something else. As you can tell I don't know alot about this stuff,so any help is appriciated.

Originally posted by 10bolt:
I have a 69 malibu and recently rebuilt the engine and a put a new front end kit on and am now having problems with the brakes. I am getting no pressure and cann't stop. I tried bleeding them but got little results.(I will try again with extra help,I hate those one person bleeder kits)There seem to be no leaks in the lines but was told it could be my master cylinder. My questin is, is there a way to test a master cylinder.I would hate to replace it and find out it was something else. As you can tell I don't know alot about this stuff,so any help is appriciated. You fix ur problem yet? I don't exactly have the greatest brakes either on my 71. Just curious to see if u got it all straightend out.

I had the same problem with my 70 Malibu. One day I got in the car to go to work and the brake pedal went all the way to the floor. I checked all the wheels and didn't notice any brake fluid leaking from the wheel cylinders nor was there any leaks anywhere else. I just assumed it must be the master cylinder. It was cheap, only $13.99 at Autozone. The item came with a bench bleeding kit, so I did that, put it in the car, and bled the wheel cylinders. (Those one man bleeding kits are worthless, as I also discovered.) I eventually got it all together, and lo and behold, still no brakes! So I just adjusted the push rod that connects to the brake pedal and now they work, but I have no brake lights, which is very strange. By the way, My car is set up with manual drum brakes. This is my story, for what its worth!

yes I finally finished putting a new master cylinder on and the brakes are working fine again.I guess I should have gone to autozone, 13 bucks,thats a great price.I spend 100 at Napa. No brake lights,I would try to get that fixed,the police are always staring at me when I drive along and am shure they would write me up quick for no lights.

The brake light problem is most likely easy to fix. It sounds like the pedal travel is simply too short to operate the brake light switch. Get under the dash and adjust the switch, and your brake lights should work just fine. It's located on a bracket behind the brake pedal.