960 Power Brake Booster - Missing Seal + R&R Difficulty

[zippinbye]

Hi folks,

This is my second post as a new member. I'll try to keep this simple, regarding my 1995 960 sedan. The brake booster is a 10" unit and is hissing, plus has no reserve capacity. So of course there is a pneumatic leak. I pulled the master cylinder to find that somebody neglected to install the seal that I have seen pictured in between the booster and master cylinder (I assume this seal is for pneumatic purposes). I have discovered that the seal comes with the booster. But I'd like to try placing a seal where it belongs before considering the booster itself faulty. Trouble is, I cannot find the seal by itself for sale anywhere.

Can the seal be purchased alone? Or should I look in salvage yards?

Assuming I can't find the seal or in the event that I simply declare the booster worthless, can someone describe the job?

I don't have manuals yet ... it looks like a lot of high-up behind the dash work, if not dash removal. Hope I'm wrong! I ran it by a shop, and they were talking close to $1000. Of course they wanted to use a dealership-sourced Bosch unit that accounted for about half the estimate - I think it was close to six hours of labor in the quote. If that's the amount of time it takes a shop, I'll be slower, but I'll be using a Cardone remanufactured booster to keep the job in line with the car's value. It would be less than $200 for the whole deal, assuming my time is worth very little. Of course I'm holding out hope for just a seal taking care of the issue.

I'd appreciate any insight.

Thanks,

Rich in Las Vegas

[jimmy57]

Is there an o ring on the master cylinder?
Most volvo boosters are open where the M Cyl fits with the M Cyl sealed by the o ring.

The removal repalcement is not that bad at all. You will need sockets and a swivel joint and long (18 inch) extension(s) . Removing the pushrod requires fussing with the clip on brake pedal but it is not as bad as some that use a tougher to remove clip.

[zippinbye]

There's no o-ring or any kind of seal present between the master and booster. Based on vagaries of pics I have seen, it appeared to me that something larger than an o-ring belonged there. I had guessed it was thicker rubber. So it's just an o-ring? Than ought to be easy enough to source from a good hardware store or specialty supplier. In either case, having nothing there could cause a leak even if the rest of the booster is intact, correct?

Thanks for the description of the booster swap. Doesn't sound too bad.