This doesn't look corroded?

 

i mean, i personally would say that looks corroded

 

There's a big difference between surface rust and corrosion that could cause the brake servo or any other part to fail. Sixpack577 says the brake servo on his truck was almost eaten through. I'm not going to argue with what he reports - he was there and I was not - but it seems his experience is an outlier. Regardless of that, it's true that replacing the brake servo is not difficult. Brake boosters rarely fail so they are inexpensive used.

 

 

I would take a picture of the old booster, but it went in a friend's scrap pile last year.
The paint on the bottom center of the hole behind the MC, and at the bottom of the booster had bubbled, and was full of rust underneath.
The metal was rotted thin, and springy and crunchy if you pressed your finger on it.
Enough to the point that bumps and vibration would've eventually caused a hairline crack or pin hole, and likely in the near future, it didn't look like it had another winter left in it.
Not a gaping hole either, but just enough to cause a vacuum leak.
I changed it for piece of mind.
I'm not saying it's common, but it happens.
According to CarFax, my D2 spent 4 winters in the north east, so that along with a leaking MC to eat the paint off first.

 

The rust on the master cylinder is just surface rust, far from being significant at this point. If the mastercylinder was going to be rebuilt instead of replaced it could easily be addressed with a little sandpaper or rust remover and paint.

As to the leak, power steering fluid has a fairly high detergent content, it might have done a reasonably good job at that leak rate of essentially washing the area off. I would suggest starting sticking your phone down in the leak area and taking some flash photos so we can see how serious a degreasing it needs. Then it will likely be easiest to start with aerosol brake cleaner to spray off the affected components so we can see the leak source.

Good luck.

 

Hi sorry for the lack of response. Been filling the power steering fluid up and moving the car from alternate side of the street parking now for 2-weeks. Need to make a decision on what to do. Any NYers, Long Island or NJ forum members here who can recommend an inexpensive shop to figure out how bad the leak is and if it's worth fixing? I need to make a decision whether to donate the car, sell or fix it.

Thanks in advance!

 

if the weather warms up enough to be able to work on it outside, i could meet you somewhere and take care of replacing the booster and/or master cylinder with spares from my parts truck. i have a brake bleeder system that i will be testing on my own truck within the next few days tat should complete the whole repair.
i'd be able to take a look at the power steering leak at the same time to see if i can work out where the problem lies. after identifying that, the course of action might be clearer.

 

I am happy to drive to Staten Island. Let me know. I can come next week. That would be amazing!!!!

 

That is a very generous offer! Good people in here