one break inop...other is fine

[B2C2]

I have the opposite problem. Left brake is soft. I looked at the left master and there is some evidence of leakage on the fittings leaving the cylinder. I have my mechanic looking at it tomorrow. My first thought was a leaky fitting that needs tightening and more fluid and bleeding to fix it. well see what he says tomorrow.

[bking]

Please let everyone know what you find.

[B2C2]

Well, there was no fluid in the master cylinder, so we topped that up and the brakes worked again. However when I taxied back to my hanger I discovered a line of fluid on the floor under the caliper location and sticky residue on the bottom of the caliper, so looks like the caliper seal needs to be replaced. They are working on it today. I think I managed to produce the fluid on the floor by sitting in the plane and pumping the brakes last weekend. I think its a pretty slow leak so no residue was there when I looked previously. I always look on the floor when doing a preflight for brake fluid so I'm sure it wasn't there before. Lesson being a slow enough leak at the caliper may not produce obvious leakage reside, as no braking is usually done in the hanger, but since the master cylinder reserve volume is pretty tiny, over time you can blow the fluid out and get no brakes.

[hharney]

If the brake pads get worn the caliper can exceed the limits of the seal and start to leak
This may have been the problem or maybe not

[B2C2]

well that's good to know. they are going to inspect the pads as well. They looked them over when I was there prior to disassembly and seemed to think there was time left on them but we'll see.

[cessnadriver]

Cole.
Just had the same situation with my SkyHawk-172. Came down to replacing the o-ring on the piston in the master cylinder. After replacing and bleeding the system the brakes works GREAT! Hope this helps.
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