I have a bit of a strange question. I am currently living in Grenada where car parts are hard to come by, and I need to replace my master cylinder. My car, a 1997 Suzuki Sidekick, apparently utilizes several different types of master cylinders, and the particular kind I need is nowhere to be found. I have found one that matches mine almost perfectly. However, it has three brake line ports, whereas mine only has two. I was thinking that I could probably just plug the third brake line port with a bolt and call it good. Is there a reason why I shouldn’t do this? I imagine it wouldn’t interfere with normal brake operation. Thank you to whoever tries to help me out with this.
Sometimes you have to get creative when you can’t get your hands on the right fixes. Provided you test it very, very thoroughly when you get it installed (lots of pressing on the brakes at a very slow speed off the street to make sure it works) I don’t see a problem with it.
But if you can’t get the correct master cylinder, you might have trouble getting that also, so your backup plan would be to get a brass bolt with the proper thread pitch.
For the first several weeks it’s installed at least, I would pop the hood at least once a day and carefully inspect it for leaks. You do not want to discover that you have a leak in the system by having your brakes go out right when you need them.
Something like $100, and it would take about 5 weeks to get down here from the U.S. The master cylinder is leaking so bad now that I have to refill it once a day. My wife drives the car a lot so I’m looking to get it fixed asap.
Mine has a brake line port on top at the very front and on the driver side (which is opposite from the US down here) at the back near where it mounts to the booster. There is an electrical connection coming from the reservoir, which I assumed was either for ABS or the brake light (I’m not sure). I’m not sure which port you’re talking about it.
I would do this but the mechanics down here are notoriously crooked. Many people I know have had their cars come back to them without radios or with new dents and dings. The mechanics just say that’s how the car was when they brought it in. And there’s nothing you can do because the courts pretty much always side with the locals. I’ll probably end up trying to figure out how to rebuild it myself if this part doesn’t work. Aside from the extra port, the master cylinder I found really is a perfect match so I really think it might work. I’m just worried that plugging the extra port might cause problems I haven’t thought of. I’m not terribly familiar with the inner workings of a master cylinder.
I don’t think there’s any fundamental reason why that won’t work. Remember however that brakes are all about mechanical advantage, and the formula for mechanical advantage contains the diameter of the master cylinder piston. If that’s different from the oem, or the allowed stroke is less than needed, that may cause the brakes not to work correctly.
5 weeks to ship the correct part? That must be some form of ground/sea shipment. How about sending it by air by Fed Ex? Then you’d have it in a day or two. The effects of brake failure is likely gonna be much more expensive than the Fed Ex invoice. The alternative, public transportation or rent a car for a few weeks.
Thanks for the information. The shape and size of the new master cylinder appears identical to the old one. I think I’m gonna go ahead and give it a try. I suppose if it doesn’t work I could always clean it out and try returning it.