I had always seen the dual reservoir on master brake 
cylindars as one of the handful of good ideas in all 
the changes in design. Often though about putting one 
in my 48 dodge. 
 
As I understand it, the idea was for the brake pedal 
to push on two pistons packed in the same bore, one 
for the front brakes the rear for the rear. If you 
lost a brake line on one wheel, you still had brakes 
on the other set. simply beautiful. 
 
Now, I got this redneck wreck, an 85 olds 98. Driving 
down the mountain last night, I lost the brakes. I 
was coming into the first turn of a 4 mile twisty 10% 
grade, and it felt just like a lost a brake line on 
an old pre-dual reservoir brake system. 
 
I am lucky the coroner is not making this report. 
 
The master cylindar was not full, but neither was it 
so low as to trigger the fluid level sensor. I found 
that unlike master brake cylindar failures I have seen 
before, you could *not* pump up the brake enough to 
stop the car on level ground without putting it in 
neutral, and by the time I did get home- in first gear 
on the automatic tranny- I had to pop it into reverse 
to keep it from rolling down a slight grade so i could 
get it into park. 
 
Anyone know what new idea some twit at Olds had that 
would screw up a failsafe system? Judging by the grime 
on the aluminum casting, it looks like an OEM part. 
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 * OFFLINE 1.58 
--- Maximus 3.01
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