Don't forget to lubricate the brake booster seal

Post by **oragex** » 15 Jun 2018, 02:37

Have a look here. I'd recommend doing this before the seal fails. The lubricant used by Volvo it's losing its properties after 10 years, and the seal starts deteriorating and finally leaking causing reduced braking power and worn out vacuum pump. This will start happen on all vehicles 8-10 years old.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuA8nuIeQb8

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Georgeandkira · Post by **Georgeandkira** » 15 Jun 2018, 16:12

Is there anything else to remove besides that grey, flexible cup thing?

I'd go out and look now but my car is parked on a busy street.

Post by **oragex** » 15 Jun 2018, 16:36

That's the only thing, plus flexible fingers and some stretching before as it's a (very) awkward body position with half the body under the dash board and legs pending out off the car..

Post by **abscate** » 17 Jun 2018, 05:26

I knew I had a kid only 5 foot 4 for a good reason. George, there’s no way you and I are fitting under there.

Georgeandkira · Post by **Georgeandkira** » 17 Jun 2018, 07:14

It appears my years of yoga kept me a little flexible. This is what I found.

1) There's an intact, accordion bellows style boot on the actuation shaft going to the firewall. It shows a little seepage on the inboard (small) end. The entire thing doesn't appear to want for lube.

2) There was a narrow (1/4" wide, 1/8" thick) band of foam around the base of this boot which fell away as it was dried out to uselessness. I could not see how to remove the boot without damaging it.

3) the hardware oragex shows in his video appears to be that of a replacement master cylinder as there is no rubber boot or anything else on the actuation shaft.

4) Is there more than one boot as there is on the steering column?

So do I tear the rubber boot off to get down to the grey plastic thing oragex peeled away so carefully? I'd love to lube the thing.

Post by **oragex** » 17 Jun 2018, 11:40

Someone mentioned he found some thin coat of lubricant on the white cylinder (which is what it should be) yet the seal was hissing a little bit. Makes me think that the lube used to coat the cylinder (and consequently the seal) does deteriorate with time. It's still there but not working any longer as it should.

Georgeandkira, could you take a picture? Maybe Volvo did change the design later on? However my replacement booster came off a 2007 and is the one shown in the video in this topic (my 2003 was looking the same as well)

Post by **erikv11** » 17 Jun 2018, 13:05

My S60 is an 06, in my thread the video (viewtopic.php?f=9&t=85448, bottom of first page) shows the black rubber boot. And as I mentioned over there, on mine the base of the boot also fell apart when I went to check the piston and I'd be interested to know if someone has a good replacement source.

Here's the video directly:

Post by **mrbrian200** » 17 Jun 2018, 22:00

Oh crap. I forgot.

Georgeandkira · Post by **Georgeandkira** » 23 Jun 2018, 08:09

I saw a picture of a replacement power brake booster and verified that the bellows I see in my footwell is on the booster. The dried out foam I pulled away is a perfunctory weather strip. I'm sure part of that foam ring is forever lodged between the firewall and booster.

I just can't bring myself to trash the intact bellows to do this job AS MUCH AS I WANT TO DO IT.

Post by **erikv11** » 23 Jun 2018, 08:44

To clarify George, there's no second boot under there, just yours like mine has a black boot not a gray one. Is the cylinder huffing and puffing at all on your car?

The boot has holes in it anyway, it is not an airtight (or dust-tight) seal, it might be worth it to pull it up and apply new PTFE-silicon grease. I will take a look today and see if the boot has stayed down on the seal since I finished this job last week. The whole thing didn't fall to pieces, just the foam at the base.